Exuma

December to April is the most pleasant time: it is warm, sunny and fairly dry, with calm days for boat trips. From May to October it is hotter, more humid and wetter, and the sea is at its warmest. Hurricane season runs from June to November, and storms are most likely from August to October.

The biggest event of the year is the National Family Island Regatta in April. Traditional Bahamian sailing sloops race in Elizabeth Harbour off George Town, and the town fills with music and food stalls. Book rooms early if you plan to visit during regatta week.

Most top sights are in the Exuma Cays and are reached by boat. Many full-day tours from Great Exuma, Staniel Cay or Nassau combine several of them.

• Pig Beach on Big Major Cay is the home of the famous swimming pigs. They swim out to meet boats in the shallow bay. The pigs live wild on the uninhabited cay, so follow the rules posted on the beach and the advice of your boat captain.
• Thunderball Grotto is a small cave in a rock islet near Staniel Cay. You snorkel in and see light coming through holes in the roof and many fish. It was used for scenes in the James Bond films Thunderball and Never Say Never Again. Go at slack low tide, when the current is weakest.
• Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park protects a large area of the central cays and the sea around them. It is a full no-take zone: no fishing, conching, shelling or lobstering, and nothing living or dead may be removed. The reefs have many fish as a result. A park fee applies for landing, mooring or anchoring. Its headquarters on Warderick Wells has walking trails and a famous viewpoint, Boo Boo Hill.
• Tropic of Cancer Beach on Little Exuma is a long curve of soft white sand with calm, shallow water. It is one of the most beautiful beaches you can reach by car.
• Volleyball Beach on Stocking Island is a short water-taxi ride from George Town. It is the easiest beach day near town, with a beach bar and a sandy shore.
• Pig Beach on Rolle Cay, off northern Great Exuma, has a smaller group of swimming pigs. It is a shorter boat trip than Big Major Cay if you are staying on Great Exuma.
• Norman's Cay Plane Wreck (C-46) lies in shallow water off Norman's Cay in the northern cays. You can snorkel over the old cargo plane, which crashed when the island was a drug-smuggling base.
• Rollè Town Tombs are stone tombs from the 1790s in a small settlement on Great Exuma. They are one of the few early colonial sites you can visit in the Exumas.

In the north, the beaches of Allan's Cay are home to rare, protected rock iguanas, a common stop on speedboat tours from Nassau.

The best moments in the Exumas happen in and on the water.

• Feed the swimming pigs, the right way: give only fruit, vegetables, bread or pig feed, and use the feeding area or trough. Never give alcohol or junk food. The tourism board asks visitors to look but not touch, so do not pick up, chase or ride the pigs.
• Swim with nurse sharks at Compass Cay: at the marina dock on Compass Cay, calm nurse sharks gather around swimmers. Follow the staff instructions and keep your hands to yourself.
• See stingrays on Stocking Island: stingrays come into the shallows near Volleyball Beach. Never enter water where bait or fish scraps have been thrown in.
• Leave your boat's name on Boo Boo Hill: sailors climb this hill on Warderick Wells and leave a piece of driftwood with their boat's name. The views over the park are wide.
• Walk a sandbar at low tide: at Coco Plum Beach on Great Exuma, low tide uncovers long sandbars, and you can often see starfish in the shallow water. Look at them in the water and do not lift them out.

The Bahamas has many other Out Islands, each with its own character. Most are reached by a short flight via Nassau.

• For pink sand and a pretty colonial town, try Harbour Island.
• For quiet beaches and hills with old churches, visit Cat Island.
• For sailing between small cays and harbour villages, go to Great Abaco and Hope Town.
• For blue holes, bonefishing and a large barrier reef, choose Andros.
• For sport fishing close to Florida, visit Bimini.

• By air: Exuma International Airport (GGT) is on Great Exuma, about 10 km north-west of George Town. There are direct flights from Nassau, Miami and Atlanta, plus seasonal flights from Fort Lauderdale and Toronto. Staniel Cay and some other cays have small airstrips for charter and small scheduled flights.
• Day trip from Nassau: speedboat tours leave Nassau early in the morning and visit the northern cays, often including Allan's Cay, Big Major Cay and Compass Cay. Expect a long day with several hours on the water. Small-plane day tours from Nassau to Staniel Cay are a faster option.
• By boat: the Exumas are one of the most popular sailing areas in the Bahamas. Yachts arriving from abroad must first clear customs at an official port of entry.

There is no regular passenger ferry from Nassau to the Exumas. For official visitor information, see Bahamas Tourism: The Exumas.

• Car: there is no public bus. On Great Exuma, renting a car is the easiest way to reach beaches. The Queen's Highway runs the length of the island, and a short bridge links it to Little Exuma.
• Taxi: taxis wait at the airport and in George Town. Agree on the fare before you leave. Many drivers prefer cash.
• Water taxi: small boats cross Elizabeth Harbour from George Town to Stocking Island several times a day.
• Boat tours: the Exuma Cays have no roads between islands. You need a tour, a boat charter or a rental boat with a captain to visit them.
• On foot / cycling: George Town is small and easy to walk. Outside the town, distances are long, roads have no sidewalks, and the sun is strong.

• Is a car worth it?: yes, if you stay on Great Exuma and want to visit several beaches. A car does not help with the Exuma Cays, which you visit by boat.
• Driving side: traffic drives on the left, but most cars are left-hand drive, imported from the US.
• Roads: there is one main road, the Queen's Highway. Watch for potholes, people walking and animals, and avoid driving at night when possible.
• Parking: free and easy at beaches and in George Town.

Seafood is the heart of eating in the Exumas. Try fresh conch salad, cracked conch and grilled lobster in season. Local fish such as grouper and snapper are often fried or steamed with tomato and peppers.

For a casual local meal, go to the Exuma Fish Fry, a row of small seafood shacks by the water just north of George Town. On Stocking Island, the beach bars at Volleyball Beach serve grilled food and drinks with your feet in the sand. In the cays, the restaurant at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club is the main place to eat. Many restaurants add a service charge to the bill, so check before you tip.

The Exumas are generally safe, and crime rates in the Out Islands are lower than in Nassau. Lock your room and car, and do not leave valuables on the beach or on a boat.

• Boats and water sports: the water-sports industry is poorly regulated. Choose an established tour operator with safety equipment and life jackets.
• Sharks: do not swim at dusk or at night, and never enter water where fish are being cleaned or bait is used.
• Animals: the pigs can be pushy around food and may bite or scratch. Feed them only at the trough, look but do not touch, and keep children close.
• Sun and sea: the sun is very strong, and currents can be strong in the cuts between cays. Use reef-safe sunscreen and wear a shirt for long snorkels.
• Water: drink bottled or filtered water.
• Hurricanes: from June to November, check the weather forecast before booking boat trips.

The first people in the Exumas were the Lucayans, who were taken away as slaves by the Spanish in the early 1500s. For the next two centuries, pirates used the quiet cays as hiding places.

After the American Revolution, Loyalists from the new United States arrived around 1783 and started cotton plantations worked by enslaved people. George Town was founded in 1793 and named after King George III. The Rollè Town Tombs in Rolle Town date from this Loyalist era, the 1790s. The plantations soon failed in the poor soil. Landowner John Rolle left his Exuma lands to the people he had enslaved when he died in 1842. Today many local families carry the name Rolle, and the villages of Rolleville and Rolle Town are named after him.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the drug smuggler Carlos Lehder used Norman's Cay as a base for flying cocaine to the United States. The Norman's Cay Plane Wreck (C-46) in the shallow bay is a reminder of those years. In 1958 the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park was created, one of the earliest land and sea parks in the world.

Quick practical facts for the Bahamas at a glance: