Staniel Cay Yacht Club: Best of the Exumas
Staniel Cay Yacht Club is the central Exumas hub — dock-side nurse sharks, with Thunderball Grotto, Pig Beach and Compass Cay under 30 minutes by crewed yacht.
Staniel Cay Yacht Club is the beating heart of the central Exumas — a marina, island bar, and cluster of waterfront cottages founded in 1956, sitting on a cay of fewer than 120 full-time residents. What most guides miss is that its real value isn’t a room to book or a slip to reserve; it’s the location. From the anchorage you’re minutes from Thunderball Grotto, a short dinghy ride from the swimming pigs, and a short run north to the nurse sharks of Compass Cay — which is exactly why a crewed Bahamas yacht charter tends to pivot around it across the islands of the Bahamas.
What is Staniel Cay Yacht Club?
Staniel Cay Yacht Club is a marina, restaurant, and cottage resort founded in 1956 by Bob Chamberlain and Joe Hocher, and it has been the social center of the central Exuma Cays ever since (Wikipedia, 2026). The island around it is tiny — fewer than 120 full-time residents — so the club effectively is the town: the place every boat in the central Exumas eventually ties up, refuels, or wanders in for a drink at the island bar.
Today the club is a compact waterfront operation: a clubhouse restaurant, an island bar, roughly a dozen brightly painted cottages over the water, and a working marina. That marina is the practical anchor of the whole area — and the reason a crewed yacht can range so freely from here without ever worrying about fuel or water.
Staniel Cay Yacht Club’s marina runs 18 secure slips and 21 rental mooring balls, with a fuel dock, reverse-osmosis fresh water, ice, bait, and shore power. It handles vessels up to roughly 210 feet and up to 12 feet of draft at low tide, making it the central Exumas’ main resupply point (Staniel Cay Yacht Club marina information).
Why is Staniel Cay the hub of the central Exumas?
Staniel Cay sits at the center of the Exuma Cays’ most famous cluster of attractions: Thunderball Grotto lies just west and Big Major Cay just north, so within about a 30-minute tender ride you can reach the grotto, the swimming pigs, and the nurse sharks of Compass Cay (Wikipedia, 2026). No other single anchorage in the Exumas puts this many marquee sites within such easy reach, which is why itineraries keep circling back to it.
View data table
| From Staniel Cay to | Approx. tender time | What’s there |
|---|---|---|
| Thunderball Grotto | ~5 minutes (west) | James Bond snorkel cave; tide-dependent entry |
| Pig Beach, Big Major Cay | ~10–15 minutes | The famous swimming pigs; boat-access only |
| Compass Cay | ~25–30 minutes (about 8 miles north) | Marina where you get in the water with nurse sharks |
Are the Staniel Cay nurse sharks the ones you can touch?
Yes, nurse sharks really do gather at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club docks, where the club protects them as resident “pets” (Staniel Cay Yacht Club marina information) — but they aren’t the famous get-in-the-water experience most people are picturing. That one is Compass Cay, about eight miles north. Both spots have genuine nurse sharks; the difference is whether you’re watching from a dock or swimming alongside them.
At Staniel Cay, the sharks congregate in the evening at the marina’s fish-cleaning station, where crews clean the day’s catch and the scraps go into the water. You watch — and gently pet — the docile sharks from the low end of the dock. They’re protected here, and the club is blunt about it.
“The nurse sharks are pets. Any person or vessel seen harassing them will be asked to leave,” per Staniel Cay Yacht Club’s marina guidelines, which also prohibit fishing in the marina to protect the resident sharks. Nurse sharks are bottom-dwelling, slow-moving, and largely harmless to swimmers, though they deserve respect at feeding time.
How do you get to Staniel Cay?
Staniel Cay is reachable only two ways — by boat, or by a short flight to the island’s own airstrip. There’s no public ferry, and the cay sits roughly 75 miles south of Nassau and about 250 miles southeast of Florida, in the central Exuma Cays (Wikipedia, 2026). That isolation is the whole point: it’s what keeps the water clear and the anchorages quiet.
Arriving by yacht is the natural way to do it. Most boats anchor at Big Majors Spot — the large, well-protected sand-holding anchorage off Big Major Cay (the pigs’ island) just northeast of Staniel Cay — or in the quieter channel between the two cays. From either, the marina, the grotto, and the pigs are all a short tender ride away.
If you’d rather not reposition across open water, you can fly in. Staniel Cay’s 3,031-foot asphalt airstrip takes small scheduled and charter flights — roughly a 30-minute hop from Nassau — so guests can meet a crewed yacht right at the island instead of sailing the whole way down.
Staniel Cay has no public ferry and no bridge; access is by private boat or a short flight to its single 3,031-foot airstrip. It lies about 75 miles south of Nassau and 250 miles southeast of Florida, which is why arriving crew often fly Nassau-to-Staniel and board a yacht already positioned in the cays (Wikipedia, 2026).
What is there to do around Staniel Cay?
Almost everything that makes the Exumas famous sits within reach of Staniel Cay — Thunderball Grotto alone drew more than 16,000 visitors in a single winter season (Wikipedia, 2026). The short list starts with three names that draw people to the Bahamas in the first place: the grotto, the pigs, and the sharks.
- Thunderball Grotto — the James Bond snorkel cave minutes west, best entered around slack tide. Read our full guide to snorkeling Thunderball Grotto.
- The swimming pigs — a couple dozen pigs on uninhabited Big Major Cay swim out to greet arriving boats. Here’s how to visit Pig Beach by yacht.
- Compass Cay nurse sharks — the in-the-water shark encounter, a short cruise north.
- Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park — just north of Staniel Cay, this was the world’s first land-and-sea park when it was created in 1958, and a no-take marine reserve since 1986.
- Sandbars and the island bar — Pipe Creek’s shifting sandbars for a swim stop, and the yacht club bar itself for a Goombay Smash at sunset.
The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, immediately north of Staniel Cay, was the first land-and-sea park of its kind in the world (established 1958) and has been a no-take reserve since 1986, protecting more than 100,000 acres (Bahamas National Trust). Nothing may be removed — a big reason the snorkeling here stays exceptional.
Staniel Cay is also a genuine Exuma Cays charter waypoint for provisioning. Cruisers restock at the island’s small grocery stores — the “pink store” and the better-stocked “blue store” — while the marina handles fuel, water, and ice.
When should you visit — and how does Staniel Cay fit a crewed week?
The best time to sail the Exumas is the dry season, roughly December through April, when the weather is settled and the water is clearest; Atlantic hurricane season officially runs June 1 to November 30 (NOAA). Timing matters more every year, too: the Bahamas set a record 12.5 million visitors in 2025, up 11.4% year over year (Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, 2026), and the central Exumas feel that traffic at the marquee sites by midday. If you want the island at its liveliest, the New Year’s Day Regatta — when cruising yachts race traditional Bahamian sloops off Staniel Cay — is the busiest, most festive week of the year.
However you time it, the crewed advantage is the same: your captain owns the tide table and the cuts, so the day sequences itself. A typical Staniel Cay day runs the grotto at slack tide, the pigs early before the day-boats, and Compass Cay when the current’s right — three of the Bahamas’ most famous stops, all from one anchorage, with none of the timing left to chance. When you’re ready to build the week, start a yacht search at Vital Charters and we’ll base your Exumas itinerary around Staniel Cay.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get to Staniel Cay?
Staniel Cay is reachable only by boat or by a short flight to its 3,031-foot airstrip — there’s no public ferry. It sits about 75 miles south of Nassau and 250 miles southeast of Florida. Most visitors arrive by yacht and anchor at Big Majors Spot, or fly in on a small scheduled or charter flight (roughly 30 minutes from Nassau) to meet a crewed yacht already in the cays.
Are the nurse sharks at Staniel Cay Yacht Club safe to pet?
Yes. The nurse sharks at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club docks are docile, bottom-dwelling, and largely harmless, and the club protects them as resident “pets.” You watch and gently pet them from the low end of the dock, especially in the evening when the fish-cleaning station draws them in. Give them space at feeding time and never harass them — the club will ask offending visitors to leave.
How far is Staniel Cay from the swimming pigs?
The swimming pigs live on Big Major Cay (Pig Beach), an uninhabited cay only about a 10-to-15-minute boat ride from Staniel Cay. The pigs are accessible by boat only and often swim out to meet arriving vessels. From a Staniel Cay anchorage it’s one of the easiest marquee stops to reach — best done early, before the day-boats arrive.
Where do you actually swim with nurse sharks near Staniel Cay?
The in-the-water nurse shark encounter is at Compass Cay, roughly eight miles north of Staniel Cay — not at Staniel Cay itself. Staniel Cay Yacht Club’s docks have their own resident nurse sharks, but there you watch and pet them from the dock. Compass Cay is the marina where visitors wade in and the sharks swim right up to them. On a crewed charter both are easy to fit into the same week.
When is the best time to visit Staniel Cay?
The best time is the dry season, roughly December through April, when the Exumas have settled weather, calm seas, and the clearest water for snorkeling. Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, so late summer and fall carry more storm risk. The New Year’s Day Regatta is the island’s busiest and most festive window if you want the full Staniel Cay scene.
Base your week at the Exumas’ hub
From Staniel Cay a crewed captain runs the tides and the cuts, so the grotto, the pigs, and Compass Cay all fall into one easy day.
