Yacht Charter Bahamas — The Exumas, Slowly

The Exumas are the rare destination where a yacht is not just the best way to see the place — it is essentially the only way. The cays are private or uninhabited, the resort presence is light, and the wins are all on the water: a sandbar that disappears at high tide, a grotto you swim into, a stretch of empty beach with two sharks in the shallows. A week on board reads completely differently from a week at Eden Roc Cap Cana or one of the Caribbean fly-in resorts.

What a real Exumas week looks like

Roughly seven nights from Nassau:

• Day 1: Board at Nassau (Lyford Cay or Atlantis Marina), short run south to Highbourne Cay.
• Day 2: Norman's Cay (the half-sunken plane in 3 metres of water is the photograph; lunch at MacDuff's).
• Day 3: Move to Shroud and Warderick Wells — the protected Exuma Land and Sea Park.
• Day 4–5: Staniel Cay — Thunderball Grotto at low tide, Pig Beach in the morning before the day boats arrive (08:30 latest), nurse sharks at Compass Cay.
• Day 6: Big Major's, Black Point, Little Farmer's Cay.
• Day 7: Slow run back via the swimming sandbar at Sandy Cay; dinner aboard.

The Pig Beach problem

A small but real detail. The pigs at Big Major's Cay ("Pig Beach") are now a tourist event. Day boats arrive from Staniel and Nassau between 09:30 and 11:00 and the beach fills up. The way to do it well is to tender in before 08:30 — early light, calmer pigs, no other boats. Most charterers ignore this and end up frustrated. The captains who work the chain plan the morning around it.

The protected park you should read about first

The Exuma Land and Sea Park — Warderick Wells and surrounding cays — is a no-take marine reserve managed by the Bahamas National Trust. No fishing, no shelling, no anchor in coral. Moorings are by request, paid ashore at the park office. It is also the cleanest stretch of water in the central Exumas. Captains do this every week; the office handles the formalities. You should know it exists because some guests want to dive or fish on a yacht charter and the park rules change the answer.

When to go

The Exumas have four windows:

• December to April — high season, busy at Pig Beach and Staniel, occasional fronts pushing through.
• May to July — the office's preferred window. Calm water, hot, fewer boats, no fronts.
• August to October — hurricane window. We do not run charters here in those weeks.
• November — quiet shoulder; possible cold fronts late in the month.

Getting in from Miami — and why it matters

Nassau (MYNN) takes anything; many guests jet in from Miami (KMIA) on a short hop — a 45-minute flight on a midsize jet. The office's most-booked pairing is a jet from KMIA into MYNN, car to the marina, board the yacht before lunch. See the office's dedicated charter page for how the Miami set-up is sequenced. For longer transatlantic legs, the Gulfstream G650ER is the standard from Europe; from New York or LA the Challenger 350 handles it comfortably.

What the office handles

For a week in the Exumas: customs clearance into Nassau, park permits, the Pig Beach timing, dinner ashore at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, and the jet back. The itinerary is shared on a single thread between the captain, the chef and the office, and adjusted against wind and guest energy. A short note via WhatsApp to +41 79 285 79 79 is the fastest way to start.