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Ahoy Club

Ten nights, two regions · 10 nights · Nassau to Harbour Island, or Nassau

The Exumas and Harbour Island in ten nights

The milk run, then across to Eleuthera for the pink sand, Dunmore Town and lunch at the Dunmore

Best months

November - May

How long

11 Days / 10 Nights

Start and finish

Nassau to Harbour Island, or Nassau

Planned by

The Ahoy Club charter team

The idea of the week

The week above with three nights added, and the extra days spent somewhere different rather than more of the same. Seven nights down the Exumas, with two at Staniel, then one longer day across Exuma Sound to Eleuthera and two nights at Harbour Island: three miles of pink sand, a village of pastel clapboard houses you get around by golf cart, horses on the beach and the best tables in the Bahamas outside Nassau.

It finishes at Harbour Island, where North Eleuthera airport is ten minutes away by water taxi, or the yacht runs back to Nassau over the last morning. Superyacht charters start on any day of the week, so the route stands on its own. Legs are approximate, at a steady ten knots, and the captain adjusts them for the weather and the tide on the day. The banks are shallow, so the yacht moves in daylight and takes her time.

The route

  1. 1Highbourne and Allen's CayHighbourne Cay, northern Exumas · 38 nm · 4 h
  2. 2Norman's CayNorman's Cay, northern Exumas · 7 nm · 45 min
  3. 3Warderick WellsWarderick Wells, Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park · 17 nm · 1.75 h
  4. 4Staniel Cay and Big MajorStaniel Cay, central Exumas · 18 nm · 1.75 h
  5. 5Staniel Cay, the other sideStaniel Cay, central Exumas · Stay, or 2 nm round the island
  6. 6Compass Cay and Pipe CreekCompass Cay and Pipe Creek, central Exumas · 7 nm · 45 min
  7. 7Shroud CayShroud Cay, Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park · 24 nm · 2.5 h
  8. 8Governor's HarbourGovernor's Harbour, Eleuthera · 54 nm · 5.5 h
  9. 9Harbour IslandHarbour Island, off Eleuthera · 30 nm · 3 h
  10. 10Harbour IslandHarbour Island, off Eleuthera · Stay
  11. 11Harbour Island or NassauHarbour Island, or Nassau · Water taxi, or 55 nm · 5.5 h

What the crew arrange along the way

The beach picnic, on a sandbar or in your own bay

The crew land a table, chairs, umbrellas and a kitchen and cook lunch there, with the yacht in view. Ellie's favourite is the little bay at Pipe Cay, but the Exumas have more picnic beaches than we could list, and a sandbar that only exists at low tide is the Bahamas version.

A themed day or night on board, at least one

The Bahamas is about the boat, so we plan at least one themed day or night. Tell us the idea before the charter and the crew have the costumes and decorations ready. Pirate night suits the Exumas: half these cays were pirate anchorages.

The float-off day

Ellie's ritual. Every toy that floats goes in the water: the pool detached from the boat, the mats, the loungers. The esky goes in with them, and everyone drifts off together for the afternoon with drinks and snacks and nothing to do. Any yacht with floating mats can do it; the ones with a sea pool do it best.

Family & friendsLonger tripBeachesTwo regions

Day by day

1

Highbourne and Allen's Cay

Highbourne Cay, northern Exumas · 38 nm · 4 h · Board, cross the bank, iguanas before dinner

Board at Albany and go, four hours across the Yellow Bank with lunch under way. Highbourne for the night, with the nurse sharks off the marina dock, and the tender to Allen's Cay next door, where the endangered rock iguanas come down the beach to meet anyone with a piece of fruit. Before the move in the morning, walk from the marina across to Horseshoe Bay: a white beach with hammocks and pontoons, a little bar on the sand that opens at midday if you call ahead, and buggies for anyone who would rather ride. Grapes for the iguanas.

  • Straight out from the airport
  • The iguanas of Allen's Cay
  • Nurse sharks at Highbourne
2

Norman's Cay

Norman's Cay, northern Exumas · 7 nm · 45 min · The walk, the piña coladas, the plane

Tender into the marina and walk the island until it opens onto the west beach, with chairs on the sand and piña coladas waiting. Burgers at MacDuff's, buggies back for anyone who wants one. In the afternoon, snorkel the cartel's DC-3 drug plane lying in the shallows off the lagoon.

  • The long walk to the west beach
  • Piña coladas, then burgers at MacDuff's
  • The DC-3 in six feet of water
3

Warderick Wells

Warderick Wells, Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park · 17 nm · 1.75 h · The Land and Sea Park

The park headquarters, with the moorings in a crescent of sand round a sandbar that appears at low tide. Boo Boo Hill with a piece of driftwood for the pile, jet skis round the cays, a drift snorkel over a reef nobody fishes.

  • Boo Boo Hill
  • Jet skis round the sandbar
  • The protected reef
4

Staniel Cay and Big Major

Staniel Cay, central Exumas · 18 nm · 1.75 h · Pigs, the grotto, the yacht club sharks

Feeding and swimming with the pigs first, by tender or jet ski before the day boats arrive. Thunderball Grotto at low tide. Then Staniel Cay Yacht Club for drinks and pool, and the nurse sharks gathering under the dock at sunset.

  • Carrots for the pigs at Big Major
  • Thunderball Grotto
  • The yacht club, then the sharks at sunset
5

Staniel Cay, the other side

Staniel Cay, central Exumas · Stay, or 2 nm round the island · The float-off day

A second night, same anchorage or round the island. The float-off day: pool off the boat, mats and loungers in, the esky with them, and the afternoon drifts by. A torch-lit dinner on an empty beach nearby in the evening.

  • The float-off
  • A new side of the island
  • Dinner on the sand by torchlight
6

Compass Cay and Pipe Creek

Compass Cay and Pipe Creek, central Exumas · 7 nm · 45 min · Sharks, Rachel's Bubble Bath, the picnic

Swim with the nurse sharks at the Compass Cay dock, walk to Crescent Beach on the Atlantic side, and find Rachel's Bubble Bath at the north end if the swell is running. The beach picnic in your own bay at Pipe Cay, and sunset drinks in the creek.

  • Nurse sharks at Compass Cay
  • The Pipe Cay picnic
  • Sunset in Pipe Creek
7

Shroud Cay

Shroud Cay, Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park · 24 nm · 2.5 h · The creeks and the washing machine

The mangrove creeks by jet ski, tender and paddleboard through to Driftwood Beach, and the washing machine when the tide is right: noodles, in one side, round to the other. The last Exumas night, and the closest point to Eleuthera for tomorrow.

  • Through the creeks to the Atlantic beach
  • The washing machine
  • Last night in the park
8

Governor's Harbour

Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera · 54 nm · 5.5 h · Across Exuma Sound to Eleuthera

The one sea day, across the deep blue of Exuma Sound with breakfast and lunch under way and the fishing lines out behind. Eleuthera's capital is a town of pastel houses on a hill above a wide bay, with French Leave Beach on the Atlantic side a short walk over. If it is a Friday, the whole town is at the fish fry on the beach.

  • A sea day with the lines out
  • Pastel Governor's Harbour
  • The Friday fish fry, if it falls right
9

Harbour Island

Harbour Island, off Eleuthera · 30 nm · 3 h · Pink Sands Beach and Dunmore Town

Three hours up the coast and round into the harbour. Harbour Island is like going back in time: pastel clapboard houses with picket fences, golf carts, and the oldest settlement in the Bahamas. Walk the streets of Dunmore Town in the afternoon, then the whole of Pink Sands Beach, three miles of it, before dinner at the Landing or Rock House.

  • Dunmore Town on foot and by golf cart
  • Pink Sands Beach, all three miles
  • Dinner at the Landing or Rock House
10

Harbour Island

Harbour Island, off Eleuthera · Stay · Horses on the beach, turtles, lunch at the Dunmore

Ellie's Harbour Island day. Ride horses along Pink Sands in the morning, get around the island by golf buggy, and have a long lunch at the Dunmore, the hotel on the beach, with another walk along the sand before or after. Swim with the turtles where the crew know they gather on the way back to the boat, dolphins if you are lucky, and come back ashore for pre-dinner drinks on the Dunmore's beach chairs. Sip Sip for the lobster quesadilla if lunch runs to two. Vic-Hum Club later for anyone who wants to dance in a room with a basketball court.

  • Horse riding on Pink Sands
  • Swim with the turtles on the way back to the boat
  • Lunch at the Dunmore, pre-dinner drinks on its beach chairs
11

Harbour Island or Nassau

Harbour Island, or Nassau · Water taxi, or 55 nm · 5.5 h · Disembark

Fly out of North Eleuthera, ten minutes away by water taxi, with connections through Nassau and direct flights to Florida. Or the yacht leaves at dawn through Current Cut and Spanish Wells and has you at Albany for an afternoon flight from Nassau.

  • North Eleuthera, ten minutes by water taxi
  • Or back to Nassau over the morning
Ahoy Club

Make this week yours

Tell us the dates and who is coming.

This is a sample week, planned by the Ahoy Club charter team from trips we have run before. Every stop moves with the weather, the tide and the group. We reshape it around your yacht and your dates, book the tables and quote the rate.

Australia

+61 (02) 9327 3333

Europe

+33 4 9367 3735

USA

+1 561 813 7511

ahoyclub.com · charter@ahoyclub.com
https://ahoyclub.com/charter/itinerary/bahamas-exumas-10-days

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