The whole Exuma chain in ten nights: Nassau to George Town

Board at Albany, lunch under way across the bank, and the first night at Highbourne with the nurse sharks off the dock and the iguanas of Allen's Cay a tender ride away. 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
• Nurse sharks and iguanas
• First sunset over the banks

The long walk across the island to the west beach, chairs and piña coladas on the sand, burgers at MacDuff's, buggies back. The cartel's DC-3 to snorkel in the afternoon.

• The walk to the west beach
• MacDuff's for burgers
• Snorkel the drug plane

The park headquarters and the sandbar anchorage. Boo Boo Hill, the driftwood pile, jet skis round the cays and a snorkel on the reef.

• Boo Boo Hill
• Jet skis through the park
• The protected reef

Forty minutes north to one of the prettiest cays in the park. Wardens have cleared a trail through the scrub to the ruins of a Loyalist plantation, and the trail ends on a beach where the only footprints are yours. Kayaks and paddleboards in the lee, and the float-off day if the water is flat.

• The trail to the Loyalist ruins
• A beach with nobody on it
• The float-off, if today is the day

Swim with the nurse sharks under the Compass Cay dock, find Rachel's Bubble Bath, and have the beach picnic in your own bay at Pipe Cay. Sunset in the turquoise maze of Pipe Creek.

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

Feeding and swimming with the pigs first, Thunderball Grotto at low tide, and Staniel Cay Yacht Club for drinks and pool before the nurse sharks arrive under the dock at sunset.

• Carrots for the pigs
• Thunderball Grotto
• The yacht club and the sharks at sunset

Stay a second night and see the other side of the island. The themed night on board is tonight, with a torch-lit dinner on a nearby beach if the group would rather be on the sand.

• Round the island
• The themed night
• Or dinner on the beach by torchlight

Half an hour south past Musha Cay, David Copperfield's private string of islands, which you cannot land on without an invitation but can admire from the water, to the largest settlement in the cays and the least touristy: a village where straw is still plaited on the porches, Lorraine's Café serves the lunch, and the blowhole on the Atlantic side fires with the swell. The day boats do not come here.

• Musha Cay from the water on the way
• A real Exumas village, lunch at Lorraine's Café
• The blowhole on the Atlantic side

An hour south to a cay of fifty people. Turtles in the harbour, Oven Rock cave to climb into, Ty's Sunset Bar for a rum punch as the sun goes down over the banks. The quietest night of the trip.

• Turtles in the harbour
• Oven Rock cave
• Sunset at Ty's

The one longer run, down the sound to Elizabeth Harbour, the biggest anchorage in the chain. Lunch at Chat 'N' Chill on Stocking Island, conch salad made in front of you with the stingrays nosing round your ankles, the walk up to the Monument for the view back over the whole chain, and the farewell dinner on board.

• Chat 'N' Chill on the beach
• Stingrays in the shallows
• The Monument walk

Exuma International Airport is fifteen minutes from the dock, with direct flights to Miami, Atlanta and Toronto in season and Nassau every day.

• Fifteen minutes to the airport
• Direct flights to the US in season