The Exumas Sailing Itinerary
Overview
There are things that have startling effects on our psyche: first job, first kiss, and then there’s the first time you sail the Exumas. This was actually my second time sailing the pristine, vibrant blue water that makes up the Exumas, as the first time was during my ASA 104 training years ago. The raw, undeveloped beauty of this chain of islands is mesmerizing. Captains marvel over sand shifts as they ebb and flow like currents, coral heads dot routes yearning to be stopped at for snorkeling, and everywhere you look is a breathless picture-perfect postcard view.
Itinerary Stops
An overview of our one way Exumas itinerary with locations
Charter Company - Dream Yacht Charter
Previously known as Navtours, Dream Yacht Charter took over and is centrally located in the group of buildings next to Palm Cay marina. There’s great facilities at this marina with showers, bathrooms, a nice coffee shop, and the Pink Octopus restaurant, which makes for a great first evening meal. Note that Solomon’s grocery store is a drive away and we provisioned by hiring a taxi.
A couple of tips:
1) Probably unlikely you will be able to do early checkout as it is quite a long sail to the Exumas.
2) Be really careful on exit and entrance to Palm Cay. There’s a sharp turn that is marked but throws people off. I’ve seen people aground here as I exited.
Vessel Selection - Lagoon 450S
As a big Lagoon fan, I went with the same 450S we used in the BVI. We had a total crew of 8 people, which worked well with the four-cabin layout.
A couple things to note about our boat:
1) The automatic bilge on the starboard hull was faulty and kept going off unnecessarily. We identified this during checkout, had it worked on by a technician, but it kept going off all charter, which was maddening, but also drained electricity. We ultimately had to disable it for the trip.
2) There was a generator and air conditioning, but there was no water maker on this boat. Given the sparse facilities along the Exumas, in hindsight we should have chartered a vessel with a water maker. Yes, we ran our freshwater tank completely dry and took ocean showers starting halfway through!
Day 1 (Saturday): Palm Cay Marina
Strategy
It’s a solid 6 hour sail at minimum from Palm Cay Marina to the nearest Exuma islands. You also want to be careful navigating with the coral, so unlikely you will make a direct sail straight there, even if wind conditions are ideal. For this reason we boarded the boat in the late afternoon on day 1 and planned to spend the evening at the marina. In the map graphic above there is the Pink Octopus restaurant, where we ate and stayed late into the night drinking. Their conch fritters are the perfect way to get in the mood for a Bahamian itinerary!
Day 2 (Sunday): Palm Cay Marina to Highborne Cay
Palm Cay Marina to Highborne Cay : 31.9nm
Strategy
View from beach of Highborne Cay
Our first leg of the journey was one of the longest as the Exumas island chain doesn’t start until you are over 30nm east of Nassau. I’ve been to Highborne Cay before and thought a good way to ease into a more rural trip with limited facilities would be to reserve dock space and get off the boat after a full day of sailing. It also would allow us to decompress at their restaurant and bar, rather than having to cook dinner immediately after docking.
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
We had made reservations for our one night at Highborne Cay well in advance, knowing it might be popular during the Christmas / New Year’s week that we were chartering. It worked out perfectly as the marina had our spot waiting for us. Just be careful on your entrance to Highborne Cay Marina as there are some rocks and shallows to avoid. If you are in good light, it’s easy, but if you are approaching as it gets dark you should keep a light on the markers that have been placed on those rocks.
Highborne Cay Marina, info@highbourne-exumas.com, +1 242 427 1003
Onshore
People are often shocked to find out that Highborne Cay could be considered one of the more developed islands in the chain. However, it’s a great introduction to the Exumas as you can take a bike out of Highborne Cay Marina and explore the paved roadways that have many places to pull off and take a swim.
Day 3 (Monday): Highborne Cay to Shroud Cay
Highborne Cay to Shroud Cay : 13.5nm
Strategy
I had hyped up Shroud Cay to the crew based on my first experience, which we replicated wonderfully. You can anchor or take a mooring on the West side of the island, near the mouth of the mangrove entrance. Taking our dinghy in, you will need to navigate slowly as it can get shallow, but this is fine as the area is teeming with sea life to look at. Eventually you get to the East side of the island where there is an exit toward the Exuma Sound at a spot called Camp Driftwood. We pulled our dinghy to shore and swam/rode the “washing machine” for about 45 minutes.
Note, try to time it so you depart your boat on your dinghy about 1.5 to 2 hours before high tide.
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
We had no issue finding a mooring ball in the section south of the rocky peninsula (marked in image). The mooring looked well maintained and we set up for a long afternoon, made sure we had plenty of fuel in our dinghy.
The route to the Washing Machine is easy to see, but we have marked it on the image in orange. Note that during our tide times we were fine passing through part of the rocky peninsula in the dinghy.
Onshore
The obvious destination is the Washing Machine that everyone raves about. Once you do that you may want to take a hike up to Camp Driftwood. The first time I came to Shroud Cay I was enthralled listening to my sailing instructor explain how a DEA agent set up camp here to spy on Pablo Escobar’s Norman Cay set up. The orange line in the image shows the way to the trails, from the Washing Machine beach, that can lead you to the uppermost point.
Day 4 (Tuesday) / Day 5 (Wednesday): Shroud Cay to Warderick Wells Cay
Shroud Cay to Warderick Wells: 18.0nm
Strategy
I didn’t visit Warderick Wells last time I was in the Exumas but had heard about the horseshoe shaped mooring field that is right next to the headquarters for the Land and Sea Park. We would be spending New Year’s Eve here and wanted the perfect spot to ring in the new year.
We also had packed with us old laptop computers donated by the crew. The Exumas Land and Sea Park is always in need of certain items and particularly getting them to the headquarters given the remoteness of their location.
Exumas Land and Sea Park, exumapark@bnt.bs, +1 242 601 7438
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
We navigated to the Exumas Land and Sea Park’s mooring field at the northern part of Warderick Wells Cay. It was very empty when we arrived (note that we did this trip in 2020, so COVID may have affected travelers). Once you radio in the park tells you which mooring and they are generally sized based on your vessel’s length.
Be careful as you moor as there is a swift current through the deeper part of the field. Keep the rear of your boat in the center channel as you attach to the mooring, otherwise you may get slightly grounded on sand.
Onshore
First off, “onshore” is tough to describe our experience here. During low tide we could step off the back of our boat, into the large sandbar in the middle of the mooring area. You could walk across this sandbar, lay in it and float a bit, etc. It was truly incredible, and we extended our stay here by an extra day to really enjoy it.
We also swam to the beach the first day, but as noted earlier about the current, it was an easy swim there, but getting back was very tough and we had to use the dinghy for most people (we had one rock star swimmer).
Otherwise, there are some nice hikes to take on the island where you can see the local fauna and have incredible views of the Exumas.
Day 6 (Thursday): Warderick WellsCay to Compass Cay
Warderick Wells to Compass Cay: 16.1nm
Strategy
Compass Cay at sunset
After five days of mostly rural, uninhabited destinations, some of the crew wanted a little more liveliness. We also were out of freshwater as a couple newbies on the trip took extended showers! So, we adjusted our trip to go to Compass Cay, where we were able to get a dock space for the evening. Admittedly I was also excited about seeing the famed nurse sharks that stay around the docks.
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
The entrance to Compass Cay Marina requires careful navigation. Our orange line is representative, but watch the beacons and buoys, and look out for shifted sand shallows. Our entrance into Compass Cay Marina was quite the sight as we had multiple mega yachts docked and they had us pull in between two 150+ foot boats and tuck in behind one. The crews and guests were all watching us with drink in hand looking for some good schadenfreude. Luckily, we were all ready and it was uneventful.
Onshore
If you arrive at Compass Cay Marina, the first thing you will notice are the abundance of nurse sharks. These sharks are extremely docile and there is a swim area where people pet and “play” with the sharks. Most people were respecting the sharks with the usual morons that seemed to think nature is their toy.
The other main attraction of Compass Cay is swimming in Rachel’s Bath, which is effectively a lagoon near the ocean that bubbles as waves crash through.
Day 7 (Friday): Compass Cay to Staniel Cay
Compass Cay to Staniel Cay: 12.8nm
Strategy
By now you may have guessed that we were doing a one-way charter. I absolutely recommend this for the Exumas as they are lengthy chain that basically cuts your trip in half if you must return the boat to Nassau. Dream Yachts lets you drop the boat at Staniel Cay, which lined up with the last two “must-dos” of the Exumas: Pig Beach and Thunderball Grotto.
We left very early on our last day to make sure we had time for both before we refueled and docked at Staniel Cay.
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
Pig Beach is the iconic, Instagram famous beach where supposedly baby pigs swim to you lovingly. In reality it’s massive beasts that ravenously eat anything in your dinghy or hands. But that said, you should experience it once.
Thunderball Grotto was made famous by a James Bond movie of the same name and is a great diving/snorkeling island where you can enter an enclosed swim hole by diving under rocks.
During the day we anchored north of both locations and in the evening we had agreed to return the boat to Staniel Cay Yacht Club, where we docked.
Staniel Cay Departure Strategy
There’s a few logistics to cover as we closed out the trip. morning, we refueled right by Staniel Cay Yacht Club. It was a bit of a wait as there was only one active station, but not too bad.
After docking, in the evening, we ate at the yacht club where there are multiple options.
The next morning we had flights out of Staniel Cay Airport to take us back to Nassau. We arranged for golf carts to take us to the airport from the yacht club, which was amusing, but highly effective.
