Exuma Sailing
Itinerary, Bahamas
Travel Information
Sailors can arrive the day the trip starts as
we lodge at a small inn located in George Town or Barre Terre the first night.
Check into your room and enjoy a cold drink or beer and some conch fritters
before dinner with your staff. Your staff will meet you for an orientation
meeting and dinner, time to meet everyone on the trip, go over trip plans,
issue dry bags and find out everyone's expectations for the coming days. After
an early breakfast the next day you will meet the staff to sort through
personal gear, pack the Sea Pearls and support motorboat and start the sailing
expedition up the Exuma Cays.
The expedition will be made in twenty-one foot
SeaPearls with a support boat. Meeting your guides and fellow adventurers,
familiarizing everyone with the boats and final preparation of the SeaPearls
will take place before our first sail.
Soldier Cay, Black Cay, and Glass Cay, one mile
across the Bahama Bank, are the first barrier islands you will encounter as we
sail out of town.
Your first nights stay will be camping at one
of the many uninhabited Cays, 5 to 10 miles north of Great Exuma. Weather and
the time of our departure will determine our first campsite. Your Seapearl will
carry your personal gear, sleeping bag, tent, sleeping pads, camp chairs and a
cooler. We will provide drybags for your gear. We will set up camp together,
have dinner and start to relax into the rhythm of the tides and beach.
After a hearty breakfast we will strike camp
and continue on our journey North. The prevailing winds are from the South East
and usually provide a comfortable reach or downwind sail. The SeaPearls are
easy to sail and very stable with their water ballast system. If the winds are
up we simply reef and head out. The draft of the SeaPearls is only a couple of
feet and with the raising of the lee-boards and rudder we can skim through the
shallows. The Exuma Islands provide a lee side to sail behind if the wind is
up.
On day two or three we may make a stop at
Farmer's Cay or Black Point. A hearty meal, music and island friendship are a
welcome diversion from camping and sailing. Just north of Farmers Cay is Oven
Rock and a cave to explore. Further on our expedition is White Point campsite
with a nesting Osprey to watch over us. Sailing, meals, snorkeling, exploring
ocean cliffs, walking private beaches, visiting iguanas and comradeship will
fill your days on the trip.
Staniel Cay is our next town with two marinas, grocery
stores and restaurants, but on most trips we bypass Staniel Cay and explore
further north- time and weather permitting.
We will return to Staniel Cay as it is our final
destination.
The area around Staniel Cay offers many attractions. One of
the main attractions is an island which is hollowed out to form a cave
Thuderball Grotto. The cave can be entered only by snorkeling your way inside.
Scenes in the movies Splash and Thunderball were filmed here. After a swim in
Thunderball Grotto a trip to see the swimming pigs is usually in order.
Our last night on the trip will be spent on Staniel Cay in a
Bahamian Cottage with a hot shower, dinner at Thunderball Club or the Staniel
Cay Yacht Club, breakfast at Staniel Cay Yacht Club followed by your charter
flight back to George Town.
Flying over the route traveled with its deep blue water,
white sand beaches and friendly islands will have you planning your next trip
back.
* This is an expedition style trip-
distances and places visited will depend on conditions at the time of the trip.
Also keep in mind that the trip can be strenuous as everyone will be helping to
set up and break camp each day. Once those duties are taken care of everyone
can relax and enjoy the sailing, clear blue water, fantastic sunsets and good
food & drink!
|
Exuma Sailing
Expedition Reservations |
For reservations
click here or
call 888 I GO PLAY (888 446-7529).
*Prices do not include tax. See
our reservations page for
tax information. |
