Looking for the perfect getaway with equal parts relaxation and adventure, for any age group? On top of that, add in some of the coolest things you’ve ever seen, like swimming pigs. I know, Exuma sounds like a dream come true… it is!
Exuma is a chain of 365 islands (also referred to as cays) in the Bahamas, most famous for their swimming pigs and crystal clear waters.
It is not the easiest to get to, so it has been on my bucket list for a LONG TIME. Exuma is not all that far from Miami, so we could technically go on our boat, but we’re not familiar with the islands, and in retrospect, having a local guide made all the difference.
Before all the details, here’s a quick recap of an incredible weekend….
Beach House in Great Exuma
We flew into Great Exuma (the largest of the islands) from Miami on a charter plane, since there wasn’t a whole lot of commercial flight options from Miami and we were a rather large group. Upon arriving, we went straight to our beautiful beach house with a private beach. We spent the first 2 days relaxing at the house and eating delicious food, prepared by an incredible local chef, Shariqua of Customized Catering and Chef Services.
Did we bring enough?
Our beautiful beach house
Our incredible private beach.. Look at the color of that water
Some of my favorite girls
She loves her godfather
The drone following us around
One of many delicious meals by Shariqua
Coastline Adventures Day Trip
On the third day we had an all-day tour with Coastline Adventures to explore the other cays. They were amazing and I highly recommend using them! It was an extremely long day trip- but it’s the only way if you want to explore several cays in the same day, especially since they’re rather far apart. Just to give you an idea, check out the map below…
Image borrowed from https://sailstraycat.com
Unfortunately, we got a late start and had to skip some of our planned stops. When our tour was supposed to begin, a horrible storm was coming in, so we had to wait a couple of hours for it to pass and part of our group decided to stay behind, in fear of having the 1-year-old on the boat if we got caught in bad weather along the way.
Once we finally began our day trip, it was one amazing stop after another….
SHARKS AT COMPASS CAY
Our first stop was to swim with the nurse sharks at Compass Cay. Nurse sharks, although appearing scary, are quite harmless and Compass Cay was the perfect place to interact with them. Compass Cay is a private island that allows people swim with their sharks for $10 per person. Although the sharks are not locked in there, it is full of them because they are well fed, so they tend to stick around. They are really more like pets… They are used to having people around, so they swim right up to you and you can pet them.
Sharks everywhere
Nurse sharks
I was warming up to them…
SWIMMING PIGS AT BIG MAJOR CAY
Next stop was Big Major Cay, an uninhabited island, that is full of pigs. Not just regular pigs- but swimming pigs! Somehow these pigs learned that they would get fed if they swam out to the boats and that is exactly what they do. As soon as your boat pulls up, the pigs start swimming towards you looking for food.
Hungry piggies
Climbing up on the side of our boat for some bread
These pigs are NOT small
I loved the little one
Hanging out with some piggies
Lots and lots of pigs
He was hoping we had some more food for him
ROCK IGUANAS AT ALLAN CAY
Next was Allan Cay to see the Rock Iguanas. I DO NOT like lizards, so these were not my favorite! And there’s tons of them. It took me quite a while to warm up to them.
Rock Iguanas everywhere!
My hubby feeding one
Finally petting an iguana
SANDBAR, THUNDERBALL GROTTO & OTHER STOPS
Along the way we had a few other stops that were equally incredible. We went to a sandbar with the most beautiful water and just hung out for about an hour, while our guides made us some fresh conch salad with conch they caught at the very beginning of our tour. We also snorkeled Thunderball Grotto- the James Bond movie, Thunderball, was filmed there. I didn’t have my camera for that, but check it out in the video above.
Crystal clear water
Sandbar with my bestie
Beautiful starfish everywhere
The Last Day in Paradise
On our last day in Exuma, we spent it by the beach at our house. It was a beautiful day and we couldn’t miss out on one more afternoon in paradise, before our flight home.
Someone loved the beach house and private beach with lots of toys
Quality time with my goddaughter
These are the best of times…
Wasting away the day in paradise
Heading home
Back to reality
Thanks for an incredible time Exuma. We will definitely be back soon!
4 Comments
Love the water, sand, house, pigs, sharks and the food! Love to go there. I think they filmed the Bachelor on that island during Bens season!
They sure did! I saw it too. Luckily the pigs I met were much nicer than the ones I saw on the bachelor.
Do you have a link to the house you stayed at and the website for the tour? Trying to make plans for next July!
Sorry, I just saw this. We had found on AirBnB