Category: Sava

Swimming With Sharks and Pigs in Exumas

When we came to The Exumas, the swimming pigs was a goal. Swimming with sharks was an added bonus! Here’s what it’s like to go swimming with sharks and pigs in Exumas – not at the same time.

Compass Cay

Just a half day south of Warderick Wells is an adorable island called Compass Cay. The entire island is run by the marina, which rents out private cottages by the week and houses some pretty snazzy boats. We saw a boat with a waterslide!

Compass Cay Marina is also home to some friendly nurse sharks. We had to visit!

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Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

Living and traveling on a sailboat means we don’t always have control over our time or our destinations. That’s how we ended up sailing the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.

sailors rule: don’t make plans. they’ll change

We intended to head to Eleuthera after Nassau but the wind disagreed. When sailing, the wind wins most arguments. We wanted to leave on Tuesday and the wind forecast for the entire week was from the east. Eleuthera is due east, while the Exumas are southeast. Since we wanted to leave Nassau this week, we came to Exumas.

Exuma Cays sailboat
Sava in Exuma Cays

Our route

We spent one night anchored in Norman’s Cay, one night in Shroud Cay, followed by a night in Hawksbill Cay, and last night in Warderick Wells. The last three are part of the beautiful Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park, now one of my favorite parks in the world.

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Nassau Day Tripping With Guests

Planning for new overnight guests makes me stressed. I want to be a good host, but don’t know how to prepare people for life on board. It’s cramped, the amenities aren’t the greatest, and anything can go wrong. The weather is a huge factor and we have no control over it. Despite my concerns, we just had our first long weekend visitors, and it was a success! Since their visit was short, we spent the time Nassau day tripping. You don’t need to travel too far from Nassau for fun and adventure.

Nassau First Impressions

We sailed into Nassau last Thursday from The Berry Islands and it was a big change. Traffic, noise, big buildings, garbage and smells. On the other hand there are friendly people, boat suppliers, cute seafood shacks, and great hot sauce!

Nassau is a good location for frequent flights, marinas, and stocking up your boat. But if we had known better we would have bought more nonperishables in Florida. The supermarket prices are way higher here! A packet of hot dogs is $6 and sausages start at $10, for example.

Getting around Nassau was okay. We got lost on the bus once and walked a lot.

Brian and I spent one day and two nights in Nassau, welcomed Dave and Freya from Toronto, and got out of the busy downtown to visit some local islands for the weekend. We had a lot of fun just outside of Nassau day tripping.

Rose Island

The first island we sailed to from Nassau was Rose Island. The anchorage was beautiful with super clear water and great swimming and snorkeling. We took the dinghy to a couple of spectacular nearby beaches.

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