The Exuma Cays string 365 islands across roughly 120 miles of the clearest water in the Bahamas, and a private crewed yacht is the only way to reach the best of them. Swimming pigs, a James Bond grotto, nurse sharks you can pet, and a 176-square-mile marine park where nothing is taken — they sit on cays with no airport, no resort, and often no other boat in sight. A week aboard a crewed Bahamas charter turns that scattered chain into one well-run trip.

Why charter the Exuma Cays?

The Exuma Cays are a chain of 365 cays running about 120 miles from roughly 35 miles southeast of Nassau down to George Town on Great Exuma (Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, 2026). Most of those cays are uninhabited, privately owned, or protected — which is exactly why a yacht beats a resort here. You are not driving to a beach; you are anchoring off your own.

The heart of the chain is the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, established by the Bahamas National Trust in 1958 as the first land-and-sea park in the world. It covers 112,640 acres and has been a no-take marine reserve since 1986 — the first in the wider Caribbean — so its conch, grouper, and lobster populations stay visibly healthy (Bahamas National Trust, 2026).

That protection shows up underwater. Reefs are denser, fish are bigger and less skittish, and the water clarity over the white-sand banks is the kind people fly across the world to see. And our Bahamas charter destinations reach well beyond this one chain — but the Exuma Cays are where most charter weeks are won.

How to get to your Exuma charter: Nassau is the gateway

Nearly every Exuma charter starts in Nassau, because there is no direct flight from the U.S. mainland into the Exuma Cays themselves (Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, 2026). Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS) is where you clear customs and immigration, and from there you reach the yacht one of three ways. Knowing which embarkation point fits your group is the single most useful thing to settle before you book.

The three ways to board

1. Board in Nassau and cruise down. The simplest logistics: you step aboard in Nassau and the crew runs the yacht across the bank to the northern cays. Plan on a transit day, but you get the full passage and zero extra flights.
2. Fly Nassau → Staniel Cay (about 40 minutes). Small regional carriers like Flamingo Air and Titan Air hop you to Staniel Cay, the most popular embarkation point because it sits right next to Pig Beach, Thunderball Grotto, and Compass Cay (Staniel Cay Adventures, 2026). You meet the yacht mid-chain and start the highlights on day one.
3. Fly Nassau → George Town (GGT). Exuma International Airport on Great Exuma anchors the southern end of the chain — a good embarkation or disembarkation point if you want to run the Exumas one direction.

Customs and immigration for the Exuma Cays are handled in Nassau on arrival, so guests are already cleared into the Bahamas before the short flight or cruise to the cays (Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, 2026). The common embarkation and disembarkation points are Nassau, Staniel Cay, and George Town — and many groups fly into one and out of another so they never backtrack.

One scheduling note: travelers routing through Fort Lauderdale can skip Nassau entirely on some days, with a roughly 90-minute direct flight to Staniel Cay on Makers Air. Most guests still overnight in Nassau on one end of the trip, and where to stay there depends on which airport and marina you’re using — enough of a topic that we’ll cover the best Nassau hotels by embarkation point in a separate guide.

Why power yachts rule the Exumas (and sailing rules the BVI)

Power catamarans and motor yachts dominate the Exuma charter fleet, while the British Virgin Islands lean heavily toward sailing yachts — and the reason is geography, not preference. The Exumas demand more boat speed and shallower draft than the compact, trade-wind BVI. Here’s why that matters for the trip you actually get.

The cays are spread out, not line-of-sight. In the BVI you island-hop in short, sheltered legs you can practically see from one anchorage to the next, under steady trades — sailing is the point. The Exumas run 120 miles with real open-water crossings: the bank crossing out of Nassau, the coral-studded Yellow Bank, and Exuma Sound on the ocean side. Speed is what lets a one-week charter actually reach Staniel, Compass Cay, and Warderick Wells and still get back.

The banks are shallow. The Great Bahama Bank averages only about 10–15 feet deep, and the sandbars and cuts are shallower still. A catamaran drawing 3–5 feet — or a power cat — tucks over sandbars and into bays that a deep-draft monohull simply can’t enter.

If you’re weighing hull types, our breakdown of a power catamaran versus a sailing catamaran goes deeper, and our BVI-versus-Bahamas comparison lays the two destinations side by side. The short version: pick the BVI to sail, pick the Exumas to explore.

The signature stops you’re chartering for

The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park alone spans 176 square miles, but the chain’s signature stops cluster within a day’s cruise of Staniel Cay (Bahamas National Trust, 2026). A crewed itinerary threads them together in a way day-trippers never see — these are the anchorages your captain will build the week around.

Big Major Cay — the swimming pigs

Pig Beach on Big Major Cay is home to around 20 free-roaming pigs and piglets that swim out to greet boats (Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, 2026). They are the most photographed residents of the Bahamas for good reason — but feed them only fruit and vegetables, and let them come to you. The crew handles the dinghy run and the etiquette.

Staniel Cay — Thunderball Grotto

Thunderball Grotto, a sunlit underwater cave off Staniel Cay, was the dive set for the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball and again for Never Say Never Again (Staniel Cay Adventures, 2026). Snorkel it at low or slack tide, when the currents ease and the submerged entrances are easiest to reach. In our experience the safe window is short — often just the half-hour around slack — so the crew plans the day’s route to drop you there at exactly the right time.

Compass Cay — swim with nurse sharks

At Compass Cay Marina, habituated nurse sharks glide around the dock pilings and let visitors wade among them (YachtCharterFleet, 2025). Nurse sharks are harmless bottom-dwellers, and it’s one of the most memorable hours of any Exuma week — especially for kids.

Warderick Wells & Shroud Cay — the park

Warderick Wells is the headquarters of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, famous for the Boo Boo Hill driftwood-sign tradition and a beach displaying a pilot-whale skeleton (Lindblad Expeditions, 2023). Just north, Shroud Cay hides mangrove creeks and a natural current ride locals call “the Washing Machine.” This is the protected core of the chain — and your park fees go straight to keeping it that way.

Norman’s Cay & Highbourne Cay — the north

Norman’s Cay carries the Exumas’ strangest history: it was the Medellín Cartel’s Bahamian base around 1978–1982, and a Curtiss C-46 that crashed short of the runway in 1980 still sits in the shallows as a snorkel wreck (Out Island Life, 2025). Nearby Highbourne Cay makes an easy northern gateway, with snorkeling, fishing, and living stromatolites — among the oldest life forms on Earth.

A sample 7-day Exuma Cays itinerary

A classic Exuma Cays charter runs seven nights, threading the northern and central cays from Staniel Cay up to Warderick Wells and back. This is one realistic week aboard a crewed power catamaran, embarking at Staniel Cay to put the headliners first; your captain adjusts daily for weather, tide, and what your group loves.

Day 1: Staniel Cay — board and settle

Meet the yacht at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, get the safety and toy briefing, and ease into the first sunset with a swim off the swim platform.

Day 2: Big Major Cay & Thunderball Grotto

Morning at Pig Beach before the day boats arrive, then snorkel Thunderball Grotto at slack tide. Anchor overnight in the lee of Big Major.

Day 3: Compass Cay & Pipe Creek

Wade with the nurse sharks at Compass Cay, then gunkhole the sandbars of Pipe Creek — the kind of shallow maze only a shallow-draft boat reaches.

Day 4: Warderick Wells

Pick up a park mooring, hike to Boo Boo Hill, and snorkel the protected reefs. A quiet, no-take-reserve day.

Day 5: Shroud Cay

Run the mangrove creek by dinghy to the ocean-side beach and ride “the Washing Machine” on the incoming tide.

Day 6: Highbourne or Norman’s Cay

Snorkel the sunken plane at Norman’s Cay and toast the last full day at a northern anchorage.

Day 7: Cruise to Nassau or fly out

Disembark at Staniel Cay for the hop back to Nassau, or cruise north if you boarded in Nassau.

Best time to charter the Exuma Cays

The best time to visit the Exumas is mid-December to mid-April, when the weather is driest, the seas are calmest, and air temperatures sit around 75–85°F (DiscoverBahamas, 2025). That’s high season, so the best yachts book months out. Searches for the best time to visit Exuma have climbed sharply year over year, and the honest answer rewards a little flexibility.

March and April are the sweet spot — peak conditions with thinning crowds, especially after Easter. May, June, and November are strong shoulder months: warm water, fewer boats, and softer pricing. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, with the real storm risk concentrated in August through October. For a region-wide view, see our month-by-month guide to the best time to charter in the Caribbean.

What an Exuma Cays charter costs

All-inclusive crewed catamarans in the Exuma Cays run roughly $20,000 to $90,000+ per week, with most boats based around $27,000–$38,000 before tax; motor yachts typically start near $40,000 and climb past $90,000 for larger vessels. What you pay depends on the boat, the season, and the size of your group.

View data table

Vessel type	Typical weekly range (USD)
Crewed catamaran (all-inclusive)	$20,000 – $70,000
Crewed catamaran (typical base)	$27,000 – $38,000
Motor yacht	$40,000 – $90,000+

Source: Excludes 10% VAT, 4% charter tax, and customary 15–20% crew gratuity.

Most Exuma Cays crewed catamaran charters are quoted all-inclusive: the base fee already covers food, drinks, fuel, water toys, and dockage, with no separate provisioning or APA added on. You pay the base plus 10% VAT, a 4% charter tax, and a customary 15–20% crew gratuity at the end. A roughly $35,000 all-inclusive week lands near $44,000–$48,000 all-in (Bahamas Motor Yachts, 2026).

Some larger motor yachts still run on the traditional plus-expenses model, where an Advance Provisioning Allowance of about 25–40% covers fuel, food, and dockage on top of the base. If that’s new to you, our explainer on how APA works and our take on all-inclusive charters are worth a read. One Exuma-specific line item the crew handles for you: the boat’s Bahamas cruising permit and the Land and Sea Park’s fees, including a $14-per-person, per-day park charge inside the reserve (Bahamas National Trust, 2026). For how the Bahamas compares on price to other regions, see our Caribbean charter cost breakdown by destination.

Start planning your Exuma Cays week

The Exuma Cays reward the travelers who arrive by sea — and the difference between a good week and a perfect one usually comes down to the right boat and the right embarkation plan. Tell us your dates and group size and we’ll match you to a power catamaran or motor yacht that fits, then handle the Nassau logistics end to end. Start a yacht search at Vital Charters, or read our full guide to planning a Caribbean charter first.