The Bahamas encompasses more than 700 islands, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t know them all. Here are a few well kept secrets to get you started.
The famous swimming pigs of Staniel Cay
Staniel Cay: home to the swimming pigs
This jam-packed area features amazing attractions ranging from swimming pigs to a sunken plane. At Big Major Cay look on in wonder as pigs and piglets make an appearance on the beach and disappear back into the wild. The Thunderball Grotto, the site of the James Bond film Thunderball, seems unimpressive from the outside, but once inside you’ll find a bright world of sea life waiting to be discovered. Snorkel off the coast to find Pablo Escobar’s sunken plane and encounter the corals and fish that have made it home since the wreck in the 1980s.
How to get there: Staniel Cay is accessible by boat, regularly scheduled flights, charter airplanes and private planes. For scheduled flights and charter services from Fort Lauderdale, you can take Makers Air. The island offers slips at the yacht club’s marina in addition to the many anchorages for boaters.
Where to stay: Staniel Cay Yacht Club offers cozy bungalows with ocean views and an adjacent restaurant. The bungalows give you direct access to the dock, the restaurant and the heart of the island. You can even go down the steps at the dock during low tide to feed stingrays and nurse sharks.
Snorkelling, Waderick Wells Cay, Bahamas
Waderick Wells Cay: some of the best snorkelling in the Bahamas
Be engulfed by a rainbow of fish (and rainbow parrotfish) at this nature reserve. Here you’ll find one of the most amazing snorkeling spots in the world and catch sight of sharks, turtles, starfish and more.
The Exumas Land and Sea Reserve has been crucial to the preservation of fish native to the Bahamas. For the best snorkeling spots, dock your boat at the visitor center and take your dinghy out to Emerald Rock to snorkel by the buoys.
On land, climb up Boo Boo Hill to see the blowholes and feel air shoot up from the rocks. On the beach outside the visitor center, you can find the skeleton of a 65-foot sperm whale that died from swallowing plastic bags — an important reminder as to why reserves like this must exist.
How to get there: Waderick Wells Cay is the center of the Exumas Land and Sea Park, so to enter you must go to the mooring area near the visitor’s office and pay a mooring fee. You can only arrive by boat, so most people make this a stop during their stay at Staniel Cay since it is nearby.
Where to stay: There are no hotels on the island since it is a nature reserve, but you can easily find a hotel at neighboring Staniel Cay.
Up close shark encounters, Compass Cay
Compass Cay: shattering shark myths
Sharks have a reputation for being the most dangerous predators of the sea, but watch that myth get busted by the nurse sharks at Compass Cay. Take a snorkel and goggles and come face-to-face with a friendly shark. Nurse sharks, typically bottom feeders, swarm the marina for food and attention.
The marina owners have a name for each shark, as they make daily visits. They surprisingly love to be petted and if you’re lucky, they’ll take you for a swim.
After you take a dip with the sharks, walk 10 minutes to the Atlantic side of the island to find Crescent Beach, with its powder-soft sand and clear water.
How to get there: Compass Cay is only accessible via boat. It can be reached through a charter or you can take a dinghy from Staniel Cay. Boat tours are available from the Exumas with Coastline Adventures.
Where to stay: The island does not have any hotels, so stay on Staniel Cay and make your way over.
Hawksbill Cay, the Bahamas
Hawksbill Cay: a true castaway island
Hawksbill is an uninhabited island on the north end of Exuma Land and Sea Park that provides magnificent sights. At low tide, a sand bar appears and creates a bridge between the northern and eastern part of the island, allowing you to wade all the way through.
Though the banks of the island are beautiful, walk across to the ocean side to enjoy a gorgeous view on an empty beach; it is common to be the only person on the beach. Explore the northern and southern coves at high tide to prevent being stranded at sea with your dinghy.
How to get there: Since the island is uninhabited and at the northern tip of the Exumas Land and Sea Park, you can only access it via sea. The best way to reach it is by chartering a boat for an excursion from Staniel Cay or taking a dinghy from Staniel Cay.
Where to stay This uninhabited island has no homes or hotels, so use Staniel Cay as a base while you island hop.
Beach huts, Harbour Island, the Bahamas
Harbour Island: the place in the Bahamas for pink sands
Famous for its pink sand beaches, Harbour Island promises to make your stay feel heavenly. Plenty of private boats are available to charter so you can go snorkeling, fishing or just boating for the day. Harbour Island is also a great main location for island hopping.
Take off on a boat for the day to explore surrounding smaller islands that have nothing but soft sand and warm waters. The island has several excellent restaurants that live up to luxurious experience the rest of the island offers. Pastel colored cottages line the beach and complement the pink sand.
With warm temperatures year-round, you can visit this luxury destination whenever suits your family.
How to get there: Harbour Island is accessible by plane, boat, and ferries. Fly for just over an hour from Fort Lauderdale to North Eleuthra with Silver Airways, then take a five-minute water taxi to Harbour Island. Also, a daily ferry departs from Nassau and heads to Harbour Island; check bahamasferries.com for availability.
Where to stay: Pink Sands Resort sits beachfront on three miles of pink sand. Dotted around the resort’s 20 acre garden grounds you’ll find family villas, cottages, apartments and very spacious suites. And if you want a break from the warm waters of the Caribbean, Pink Sands also features a freshwater pool, as well as tennis courts.
