Bahamas Motor Yacht Charter Itinerary: 7 Days in the Exumas

Charters embark around midday in Nassau, where your crew welcomes you aboard with a cocktail and a short orientation. There's no rush — the only objective today is the run out to the islands and settling in.

Once clear of Nassau Harbour, the yacht runs out to the northern Exumas and drops anchor off a quiet cay by mid-afternoon, with the whole evening ahead.

The rest of the day is yours: the jet skis and seabobs off the swim platform, a first swim in water that reads turquoise to the bottom, the jacuzzi as the light drops, and the chef's first dinner on deck.

Today's one objective is one of the most photographed sights in the Exumas: the wreck of a drug-runner's plane that went down in the shallows off Norman's Cay in the 1980s, now resting in a few feet of clear water. Your crew runs you out by tender to snorkel it straight off the surface.

Norman's Cay was the center of Carlos Lehder's smuggling operation in that era; today it's quiet, with a low-key beach club ashore.

With the morning's adventure done, the yacht slips to a secluded anchorage for the afternoon — a swim, the jacuzzi, and dinner aboard as the light goes.

Shroud Cay sits at the northern edge of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, an uninhabited island laced with mangrove creeks. This is a day the tender earns its keep: the crew runs you up Sanctuary Creek, a natural channel that winds through the mangroves to a sand-dune beach on the ocean side.

Along the way you'll spot turtles, rays, and small sharks in the shallows, and at the right tide there's a current at the mouth strong enough to ride. The yacht holds in the deeper anchorage on the bank side while the tender does the exploring. Just south of here lies Little Hall's Pond Cay, Johnny Depp's private island — the first of several celebrity addresses on the chain.

Set up on the ocean side for a while, then back aboard for the evening. Fishing is closed throughout the Land and Sea Park, so this stretch is for swimming, snorkeling, and exploring.

The headline today is the nurse sharks at Compass Cay, a colony of tame, harmless sharks that gather at the marina dock and glide right up against you in shin-deep water. It's a genuinely memorable hour, and a favorite with kids.

If there's swell running and the group's up for it, the tender can run you over to Rachel's Bubble Bath nearby — a tidal pool that foams up when the ocean washes over the rocks.

The rest of the afternoon is on the water: a snorkel, the jet skis and seabobs, and a cocktail on deck before dinner.

If one day defines a motor yacht week in the Exumas, this is it. Pipe Creek is a maze of sandbars and shallow channels between the cays — too skinny for the yacht itself, which is exactly why the tender matters. The crew runs out at the right tide and sets up the day on a private bank of sand: shade, loungers, drinks, and lunch on an island that didn't exist a few hours earlier and won't by evening.

Spend it swimming, on the toys, and doing nothing in particular. The yacht holds nearby in deeper water and the tender ferries between the two as you like.

It's the simplest day of the week, and usually the one people remember most.

Staniel Cay is the one place on the route where going ashore is part of the appeal — though even here it runs by tender rather than dock. Start with the swimming pigs at Big Major Cay, a short ride from the anchorage; they paddle straight out to meet you and are as entertaining as advertised.

Then snorkel Thunderball Grotto, the sea cave used in the James Bond film, timed for slack tide when the current eases and light pours through the openings in the roof. In the late afternoon, head over to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for a drink and the rustic, weathered charm the place is known for.

When you've had your fill ashore, the tender runs you back to the yacht for dinner. For anyone keen, this is also a good base to take the tender out through a cut into Exuma Sound and troll the deep side for mahi or wahoo.

The last full day drops south of Staniel, into water few charter weeks reach. At Rudder Cut Cay you can snorkel David Copperfield's submerged sculpture — a life-size grand piano with a seated mermaid, set on the sand in about fifteen feet of clear water.

Rudder Cut and nearby Musha Cay make up Copperfield's private island estate, among the most exclusive addresses in the Bahamas; the surrounding sandbars and flats are some of the emptiest in the chain. Spend the afternoon on the sand and in the water — a final, quiet beach day.

Because the yacht is fast enough to make the return in a single morning run, there's no need to reposition north tonight. The final night stays out here, deep in the islands, under the stars.

After a final breakfast aboard, the yacht makes a relaxed mid-morning run back across to Nassau.

Your crew arranges a seamless transfer to Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS) or your onward connection, with guests typically ashore by midday.