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The Bahamas chain stretches 760 nautical miles from Bimini at the north (50 nautical miles east of Miami) to Inagua at the south (60 nautical miles north of Cuba), spread across 700 named islands and roughly 2,400 named cays, of which 30 hold a charter-relevant anchor. A 40m motor yacht working the Bahamas in February runs $130,000 to $175,000 per week before APA, roughly 5 percent below the equivalent BVI week. Nassau is the working charter base with three superyacht marinas (Atlantis Marina at Paradise Island, Albany Marina on the south coast, Palm Cay on the east end) and the Lynden Pindling airport handling direct lift from the US East Coast, London, and Toronto.
The point of the Bahamas on a charter week is the Exumas. The Exuma Cays chain runs 120 nautical miles south of Nassau through Highbourne Cay, Norman's Cay, Shroud Cay, Warderick Wells (the Exuma Land and Sea Park headquarters), Staniel Cay, Big Major Spot (the swimming pigs), Compass Cay (the nurse-shark beach), and the southern Exumas at Black Point and George Town. The water across the Exuma Banks runs 3 to 8 metres deep with the seabed visible from the deck at most anchors, the colour reads as turquoise rather than the deep blue of the BVI, and the swimming product is the clearest in the Atlantic charter market. The yacht is the trip in the Bahamas because the on-shore product is small (Staniel Cay holds the Yacht Club and the Pink Pearl, Compass Cay holds a single dock, the Exuma Park has a ranger station and 50 mooring balls and not much else) and the entire week sits at anchor.
The Bahamas is also the cleanest entry-level Caribbean charter for clients coming directly from the US East Coast. The Nassau changeover absorbs cleanly through Lynden Pindling with 90-minute lift from Miami, the cruising structure rewards 30m to 60m motor yachts, and the on-shore visa, customs, and clearance paperwork runs lighter than the Eastern Caribbean equivalents.
When to charter the Bahamas
December 15 to January 5. Christmas and New Year peak. Water 24 to 25 degrees Celsius. Northeast trade winds 12 to 18 knots. Atlantis Marina and Albany at peak utilisation, the Exuma chain absorbing 60 to 80 yachts at Highbourne, Norman's, and Staniel across the week. Rates at peak; book 9 to 12 months out.
January. Post-NYE shoulder through January 15 (rates 10 to 15 percent below peak), returns to peak from January 20. Water 23 to 24 degrees. The cleanest January window for charter inventory selection in the Bahamas. The cold-front passage risk (US cold fronts pushing south into the Bahamas) carries 1 to 2 events per month at this window.
February. Peak. Water 23 to 24 degrees. The cold-front risk tapers from mid-month. The strongest two-month window for a Bahamas charter is the second half of February through the first half of March, with the water warming and the cold-front risk dropping to 0 to 1 per month.
March. Peak through to Easter. Water 24 to 25 degrees. The Bahamas Family Island Regatta calendar runs at the end of April (George Town) and absorbs the southern Exumas charter inventory at that window.
April. Peak through Easter, shoulder from the week after Easter. Water 25 to 26 degrees. Trade winds tapering through April 15. The cleanest charter window for water temperature; rates at peak through Easter.
May. Shoulder. Rates 25 to 35 percent below peak. Water 26 to 27 degrees. The charter fleet begins the May to June repositioning. The Bahamas weather window holds clear through May 25, after which the hurricane season risk window opens.
June to November. Hurricane season. Most crewed charter inventory closes. Charters in this window run operator-by-operator with deductible-shifted contracts and weather-window flexibility built into the itinerary.
The Bahamas cruising zones
Nassau and Paradise Island. The working charter base. Atlantis Marina at Paradise Island (160 slips to 220 feet, the only Bahamas marina taking 67m yachts at the inner pier), Albany Marina on the south coast (71 slips to 95m, the working superyacht slip in the country), Palm Cay on the east end (190 slips to 110 feet). The Nassau side holds the Atlantis casino and water-park complex, Albany holds the Albany golf course and beach club. Most charter weeks board at Atlantis or Albany and run south to the Exumas immediately.
Highbourne Cay and the northern Exumas. 35 nautical miles south of Nassau. Highbourne Cay holds a private marina with limited charter slips and the standing first-day anchor on a Nassau-to-Exumas rotation. Allen's Cay sits 3 nautical miles north of Highbourne with the working rock-iguana population and the standing morning swim anchor.
Norman's Cay. 5 nautical miles south of Highbourne. The Norman's Cay Beach Club holds the dinner anchor and the working bar calendar in the northern Exumas. The MacDuff's at Norman's Cay holds the alternative working dinner. The submerged Curtiss C-46 (the abandoned Carlos Lehder cocaine-running plane crashed in 1980) sits in 3 metres of water at the south end of Norman's Cay and the snorkel runs at the morning rotation.
Shroud Cay. 8 nautical miles south of Norman's. Inside the Exuma Land and Sea Park. The Shroud Cay creek system (mangrove tidal creeks running through the cay from west to east) is the canonical northern Exumas tender excursion, with the Camp Driftwood site at the east end. No anchoring in the park interior; mooring balls only.
Warderick Wells and the Exuma Park. Park headquarters. 14 nautical miles south of Norman's. The Boo Boo Hill memorial site, the Pirates Lair anchor, and the 22 mooring balls absorb the working overnight in the park. The park's no-take rule applies (no fishing, no shelling, no anchor on coral). A separate park permit applies for commercial charter yachts.
Staniel Cay and the swimming pigs. 25 nautical miles south of Warderick. Staniel Cay Yacht Club holds the dinner anchor (10 to 15 slips, transient inventory) and the marina-side bar calendar. Thunderball Grotto (the limestone cave from the 1965 James Bond film) sits 200 metres off Staniel and the snorkel runs at low tide between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Big Major Spot sits 2 nautical miles north of Staniel and holds the swimming pigs anchor (the pig population is feral, swimming pigs, photo at the morning rotation, do not feed without the captain's protocol).
Compass Cay. 10 nautical miles north of Staniel. The Compass Cay Marina (single dock, 12 slips to 100 feet) holds the working nurse-shark site. Approximately 12 to 18 nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum, harmless filter-feeders) gather at the dock and the swim happens off the dock platform.
Black Point and the southern Exumas. 6 nautical miles south of Staniel. Black Point Settlement is the largest community in the central Exumas (300 residents, Lorraine's Cafe for the working lunch, the post office in the centre). The southern Exumas spine runs to George Town at Great Exuma (60 nautical miles south of Staniel) with the Family Island Regatta calendar and the working southern charter base.
The Abacos and the northern Bahamas. 130 nautical miles north of Nassau, separate cruising ground. We cover the Abacos on the dedicated page. The Abacos absorbs a 7-day charter as a stand-alone rotation across Marsh Harbour, Hope Town, Treasure Cay, Green Turtle Cay, and Spanish Cay.
Bimini and the western edge. 50 nautical miles east of Miami. The closest Bahamas anchor to the US, the Bimini Big Game Club and Resorts World Bimini hold the marina inventory. Bimini works as a 1-night repositioning anchor on a Florida-to-Bahamas charter or a Bahamas-to-Florida disembarkation. Not a standing charter base.
A standard 7-day Bahamas circular week (Nassau-Exumas)
| Day | Anchorage | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Sat | Nassau board (Atlantis or Albany) | Boarding afternoon, short hop to Rose Island or run south to Highbourne for overnight |
| Sun | Highbourne and Allen's Cay | Allen's Cay iguanas morning, Highbourne lunch on board, Norman's Cay afternoon, dinner at Norman's Beach Club overnight |
| Mon | Norman's Cay and the C-46 | C-46 plane wreck snorkel morning, MacDuff's lunch ashore, run south to Shroud Cay overnight |
| Tue | Shroud Cay creek and Warderick | Shroud Cay tender excursion morning, run to Warderick Wells, Boo Boo Hill afternoon, overnight Warderick mooring |
| Wed | Staniel Cay and the swimming pigs | Run south to Big Major, swimming pigs morning, Thunderball Grotto at low tide, Staniel Yacht Club dinner overnight |
| Thu | Compass Cay and the nurse sharks | Compass Cay nurse-shark swim morning, lunch on board, return north toward Warderick or Norman's |
| Fri | Northern run back to Nassau | Final swim morning at Shroud or Highbourne, run back to Nassau afternoon, overnight Atlantis or Albany |
| Sat | Nassau disembark | Disembarkation morning |
This is the canonical Exumas charter week. It works on 30m to 60m motor yachts cleanly. The Compass Cay and Staniel anchorages tighten at standoff above 50m. The southern Exumas extension (George Town, 60 nautical miles south of Staniel) requires a 10 to 14 day window or an Exuma-only repositioning week.
Bahamas yacht size guidance
25m to 40m. The clean fit. The full Exumas anchor inventory absorbs at this size including the Staniel Yacht Club marina, the Compass Cay marina, the Park mooring balls, and the Highbourne marina. Thunderball Grotto at low tide works without size compromise. The shallow Exuma Banks reward the shallow-draft motor yachts and catamarans at this size.
40m to 60m. Workable across the Exumas spine. The Exuma Park mooring balls absorb at the outer field, Staniel and Compass Cay shift to standoff anchor with the tender absorbing the on-shore product. Atlantis and Albany absorb at the working slip inventory at Nassau.
60m to 80m. Atlantis Marina inner basin (220 feet maximum LOA), Albany Marina (95m maximum LOA) on the outer slips. The Exumas anchorages shift to deep-water positions off Highbourne, Norman's, and Staniel with the tender absorbing the on-shore product. The southern Exumas extension to George Town tightens at this size.
80m and above. Albany Marina is the working overnight base; Atlantis tops out at 67m (220 feet, the inner basin Slip 1 to 12). The Exumas anchorages absorb at standoff off the cays with the deep-water line on the east side. Above 90m the structure shifts to daytime cruising into the Exumas from Albany overnight.
Bahamas charter cost math
| Line item | Range (40m motor yacht, February peak) |
|---|---|
| Weekly rate | $130K to $175K |
| APA (28% to 32%) | $36K to $56K |
| Bahamas charter tax (10% of charter fee) | $13K to $18K |
| Bahamas cruising permit (per yacht, $1,000 to $3,000) | $1K to $3K |
| Exuma Land and Sea Park fees (per vessel per day) | $0.2K to $0.4K |
| Atlantis or Albany berthing (per night, February, 40m) | $1K to $4K |
| Restaurant ashore at Staniel, Norman's, or MacDuff's (per visit) | $0.3K to $0.8K |
| Gratuity (10% to 15%) | $13K to $26K |
| Full check | $200K to $290K |
The Bahamas charter tax runs at 10 percent of the charter fee (the highest in the Caribbean charter market) and the cruising permit applies on a per-yacht basis at $1,000 to $3,000 depending on yacht size. APA on a Bahamas week runs 28 to 32 percent given the moderate daily passage distances. The full check against an equivalent Mediterranean week sits at roughly 70 percent in dollar terms.
What we passed on
We pass on the swimming pigs at Big Major on the December 20 to January 5 holiday week as the primary draw of the charter. The pig population is feral, the photo opportunity absorbs 30 to 45 minutes, and the Big Major anchor absorbs 30 to 50 yachts at peak with the working swim density at functional only. Build Big Major in as a 30-minute morning stop on the Staniel rotation and treat the Exuma Park, Shroud Cay creek, and Compass Cay nurse-shark site as the working swimming product.
We pass on Atlantis Marina as the disembarkation base for clients prioritising privacy. Atlantis is the working Bahamas casino and water-park complex with day-tripper traffic at the marina and the lobby calendar at full density across the holiday weeks. Albany Marina is the working alternative at the south coast with the golf-course base, the Albany Beach Club, and an under-the-radar membership-anchored ambience. Most $500K-week charter clients prefer Albany for the boarding and disembarkation ends.
We pass on the Family Island Regatta at George Town as a non-sailing charter week destination. The regatta absorbs the southern Exumas charter inventory in the last week of April with the on-the-water density at functional only outside the racing fleet. For sailing-charter clients the regatta runs as the working draw; for motor-yacht charter clients the alternative is the first three weeks of April or the May shoulder.
We pass on the Bahamas as a sailing-charter destination on a 7-day week. The Exumas spine runs at 60 to 80 nautical miles per leg and the trade winds align south-southeast with the daily route; the working sailing-charter ground in the Caribbean is the BVI for line-of-sight short-passage cruising. The Abacos work for sailing weeks at the northern end of the Bahamas as a stand-alone rotation.
We pass on the Bimini-Nassau leg as a charter passage. The 130 nautical mile run from Bimini to Nassau across the Northwest Providence Channel is an open-water passage and the working structure is captain-only with the guests flying Miami to Nassau directly. The Bimini stop reads as a Florida-to-Bahamas repositioning rather than a charter anchor.
Multi-region pairings
The Bahamas-Florida one-way (Nassau or Bimini to Fort Lauderdale or Miami) is the standard cross-base repositioning run, absorbing the 90-minute air gap between Nassau and Miami and the 50 nautical mile cross from Bimini. The structure works as a 5-day Exumas charter ending at Bimini with the captain running the final cross.
The Bahamas-BVI direct cross is not practical (700 nautical miles, against the trade winds). The standard structure for clients wanting both is two separate charter weeks 6 to 12 months apart or a Bahamas-Florida-BVI rotation with the air leg in between. We cover the BVI on the BVI page.
The Exumas-Abacos cross runs 200 nautical miles north from Staniel to Marsh Harbour and works as a 10 to 14 day Bahamas-only rotation. The structure absorbs the Exumas swimming spine plus the Abacos northern cruising product across a single boarding. We cover the Abacos on the Abacos page.
The cross-pillar question (villa or charter)
The Bahamas villa inventory at Albany (private residences), Lyford Cay, Paradise Island, and the Exumas private cays (Musha Cay, the Disney-owned Castaway Cay alternative, the Norman's Cay private estates) runs $10K to $400K per week at the high end. For clients who want the Bahamas swimming product without the seven-night charter, a villa base at Albany or Lyford Cay plus day charters from Nassau or sportfish day-trips into the Exumas works at $3K to $15K per day. The charter is the cleaner answer for the Exumas swimming spine because the working product is the cay-to-cay rotation from the boat; the villa is the cleaner answer for Nassau and Paradise Island as a base destination.
The rest of the trip
VillasForKings covers the Albany residences, Lyford Cay, the Paradise Island estates, and the Exuma private cays including Musha Cay. HotelsForKings covers the Atlantis Paradise Island, the Albany Hotel, the Rosewood Baha Mar (Nassau), the Four Seasons Ocean Club at Paradise Island, and the Pink Pearl at Staniel Cay. RestaurantsForKings covers the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, the Pink Pearl at Staniel, MacDuff's at Norman's Cay, Lorraine's Cafe at Black Point, and the Albany Cracker Bay restaurant. BarsForKings covers the Norman's Beach Club, the Staniel marina-side calendar, and the Albany Pool Bar.
FAQ
What size yacht works best in the Bahamas? 40m to 60m motor yacht. The Exumas anchorages absorb at this size, the Nassau marinas (Atlantis, Albany) accept at full slip inventory, and the shallow Exuma Banks reward the moderate-draft motor yachts. Above 80m the structure shifts to Albany overnight base with daytime cruising into the Exumas.
When is the Bahamas at its best? The second half of February through the first half of March. Water at 24 degrees, low cold-front risk, full restaurant and bar calendar across the Exumas, and the Exuma Park mooring availability at moderate rather than peak utilisation.
Is the Bahamas a sailing or a motor yacht charter? Predominantly motor yacht. The Exumas spine and the shallow Exuma Banks reward 30m to 60m motor yachts and shallow-draft catamarans. Sailing yachts run the Bahamas at the Abacos end of the chain rather than the Exumas.
How does the Bahamas compare with the BVI? Different products. The Bahamas delivers the 120-nautical-mile Exumas swimming spine and a remote on-shore product; the BVI delivers a 32-nautical-mile dense island spine with line-of-sight cruising and a denser on-shore calendar. The Bahamas runs cooler water (23 to 25 degrees in January versus 26 to 27 in the BVI). We cover the comparison on BVI vs Bahamas charter.
Can a charter run the full Exumas chain in one week? The Nassau-to-Staniel rotation absorbs in 5 to 6 days cleanly; the southern Exumas extension to George Town runs an additional 120 nautical mile round-trip and requires a 10 to 14 day window. Most 7-day weeks turn at Compass Cay or Black Point and run back north to Nassau for the disembarkation.