A Caribbean Retreat (Bahamas + Exumas)

A TRAVEL COUPLE’S GUIDE THROUGH THE BAHAMAS & EXUMAS

Miraculous marine life, wild swimming pigs, and friendly nurse sharks are exactly what to expect when visiting the Bahamas and Exumas, as long as you know where to go. Similar to our 2017 island adventure in Greece, we boarded the beautiful Yacht Ocean Club for a 5-day excursion across the crystal clear and sky blue waters of the Exumas islands. As we trekked through the seas, we made a few stops at some of the most unusual and entertaining (oink, oink!) islands on Earth.

Pig Island at Big Major Cay - Exumas, Bahamas

One of the more unusual, and absolutely most memorable, of these islands was at Big Major Cay (a.k.a Pig Island) located in Staniel Cay. Even after seeing what this island had to offer through various Instagram and Blogger accounts prior to our visit, we were still unprepared for how remarkable this experience would be. As we drew closer to the island on our small tender boat, a large cluster of wild pigs began to make their way out of their forested cover and out into the water towards us and hungry for the food we had to offer! We were absolutely stunned by the domestication of these wild animals as we fed them carrots, hotdogs, and granola until they completely wiped us out of all food on board.

Generally wild by nature, the pigs actually acted extremely similar to dogs and with a gentle stroke on their backs, they would immediately stop, drop, and roll onto their backs asking for a belly rub! Featured below is one little piglet Lauren could not help but bring all of her attention to.

Swimming with Nurse Sharks - Compass Cay Marina - Exumas, Bahamas

Aside from Pig Island, many of the other islands and coves visited had extraordinary marine life as well. Over at Compass Cay Marina, we had our first experience swimming with sharks together! However, just like the domesticated pigs over at Big Major Cay, these nurse sharks were also harmless and loved the human interaction and attention as well! That is, as long as we had food (special thanks to this man for providing the fish to lure these big-boys over to the dock)!

Since nurse sharks are actually very tame and have grinder teeth rather than incisors, we were more than excited to get face-to-face with these larger-than-human fish and even run our hands through their course, sandpaper-like coats.

Swimming with Nurse Sharks at Compass Cay Marina.

While we swam above, below, and together with these nurse sharks, we also planted a GoPro at the sea bottom to get a new perspective on these foreign creatures.

Other Aquatic Sea Life - Snorkeling Our Way Through the Exumas

On the topic of marine life, our fantastic crew aboard the Yacht Ocean Club had a few outstanding coves and coral reefs in mind for us as well. Our favorite (pictured below) was a coral reef cove situated under a teeny-tiny island approximately the size of half a basketball court! Literally only about 25 yards in diameter, we were mesmerized by the aquatic scenery and life that lived below.

We free dived and snorkeled with a variety of aquatic sea life such as Sea Turtles, Sting Rays, Groupers, Spiny Lobsters, Blue Tang (Dory!), and explored the colorful coral lining the floor. We even viewed a few dolphins leaping out of the water from our yacht along the way! Thanks to the GoPro's underwater capabilities, we were able to capture some of the shots below.

Lauren & Lexi Free Diving Over Coral Reef.

Deep Sea Fishing Excursion - Boy's Trip - Exumas, Bahamas

While the girls enjoyed a relaxing day on the yacht deck as well as a rigorous Yoga class instructed by one of our certified crew members, the boys ventured out into 2,000-3,000 foot depths on a deep-sea fishing endeavor! Although the fishing was quite slow, the boys managed to reel in a few Mahi Mahi, Groupers, and Barracuda that we had for dinner on our last night (minus the Barracuda, not sure how that one would taste, so they tossed him back into the big blue)! Jalen was ecstatic with his 4-5 foot Barracuda pictured below - his largest fish reeled in to date!

Through and through, our trip around the islands of the Exumas was one for the ages. All of the time spent together, with family, and discovering the vast and distinctive qualities that make the Bahamas so unique was such a surreal experience.

Throughout the course of the trip, we had a chance to capture many of the highlights via our new drone, the DJI Mavic Air, along with our GoPro Hero 6. Below are just a select few of the aerial shots from our tour throughout the many islands of the Exumas and Bahamas.

Aerial Photography