Exuma

Four months before my 21st birthday in 2017, I had nothing planned and was stressing about what to do. Personally, I love traveling for my birthday because I don’t like stressing and making plans at home with friends and family. I was brainstorming and I knew in my heart I really wanted to go to Exuma. I am a huge lover of the ocean and the sun, so the island life is everything and more for me! Surprisingly, it worked out and I booked the flight, an Airbnb, and set the itinerary! I learned so much and Exuma seriously earned a special place in my heart.

Exuma became my top 3 favorite places to visit mainly because of the sparkling waters, the adventure, and how amazing the people are. It’s known for the swimming pig beach, swimming with sharks and rays, and of course the turquoise water. You’ll get to see so much marine life including huge starfish and sea turtles! We spent our five days embracing the clear water and powder sand beaches (this is not an exaggeration, that’s exactly what the beaches are like). So, if these are the types of things you enjoy, Exuma is for you, no doubt!!

I hopped on the plane after a long layover in Texas and finally arrived in Miami where we took a smaller jet to Exuma. The plane views were seriously jaw dropping. We could see the island and the amazing ocean colors from up above. As soon as we hopped off the flight, we immediately felt the warm, humid air and started meeting so many amazing people. Our Airbnb host picked us up and took us to get settled in. As soon as I got to the Airbnb, I quickly realized we didn’t get a place with A/C! This was the worst mistake that we could’ve made. Many people don’t care for A/C because they live the “island life” but it was very tough the first few nights.

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Here Are A Few Tips That Can Really Save You:

• Like always, buy your ticket on a weekday at night. We got our roundtrip tickets for about $480. Also, we flew out from Tucson and had layovers in Texas and Florida but we didn’t mind.
• Rent a car! We rented one from our Airbnb host for $60-$70 a day. Just know, they drive on the opposite side of the road than we do in Arizona.
• PLEASE invest in a good sunscreen and stay hydrated, I had a really bad sunburn that gave me a terrible tingling/itchy reaction and I couldn’t sleep or relax for about 2 days. No aloe vera, ibuprofen, hydration, lotion, or baths would help me!!
• Make sure your Airbnb has A/C because ours didn’t and we didn’t realize until we arrived. It was dreadful at first but this is normal on the island. It’s very humid and hot so A/C is very useful.
• Invest in snorkel gear from somewhere like Costco because our beach days would’ve been so much better!! The clear water allows you to see starfish, sand dollars, etc.
• The alcohol and food is one of the most expensive things on the island so eat local and don’t spend on a lot of alcohol if you want to save.
• Make friends and talk to locals, they’re amazing and they can give you tips on literally everything you need including good, inexpensive food and tours, events, and places to visit.
• If you love lashes like I do, I recommend getting lash extensions beforehand because my lashes would not stick on for the life of me because the glue wouldn’t dry!
• If mosquitos and bugs love you, take some good bug spray everywhere with you.
• You can take advantage of resort amenities, even if you are not staying there!
• This is a big one…the beaches sometimes have sand fleas! They do bite and if you itch, more bumps will appear so do not itch them!! Also, they appear in clusters which is usually how you’ll know it’s the sand fleas. I read that they are crustaceans and some type of body oil might help avoid the bites. When it’s windy, they fly into your legs and you’ll feel tiny pokes almost as if the sand is blowing hard onto you.

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Things To Do:

Island life is really about embracing the ‘now’ and taking the time to breathe. Everyone on the island is so kind and I’m convinced it’s because of this. When deciding what to do, you have a variety of options. You can spend the day at a beach, doing water sports like paddle boarding, taking a tour, or going island hopping. The most common tour is of course the swimming pigs, Staniel Cay where the nurse sharks are, Thunderball Grotto and other beautiful places you get to see. Exuma is meant for enjoying the turquoise waters and living your best life.

For my birthday, I decided I had no personal interest in the typical ‘party because you’re 21 now’ idea. I wanted to swim with the sharks and pigs. I wanted to experience the island life and I am so thankful I did this! We went with 4 C’s Adventure for our day tour. They were amazing to us and treated me so well for my birthday! I woke up before sunrise and got my day started here.

After watching the sunrise, I went back to the Airbnb and got ready to get picked up for the tour. The cost for the tour was around $150-$200. It’s worth every penny! The tour included about 5 different destinations and lunch (where they made me stand up and dance while everyone sang to me and I wanted to die)! Lol. By the end of the day, I was sunburnt, exhausted, and dehydrated, but it was an amazing birthday.

Chat ‘n’ Chill on Stocking Island

So, the day after I arrived, I explored and went to Chat n Chill and I really wish we spent more time here. To get there, you have to drive to the dock where a taxi boat takes you to the small island which costs around 15 USD. Chat n Chill is famous for the Sunday Pig Roasts! It is a very lively little island where you can feed the rays, play volleyball, hang on the tree swings, hop on smaller boats or jet skis, or just drink on the beach and relax. It’s filled with things to do!

Chat ‘n’ Chill is great because you can either be active and party, or you can relax and lay out on the beach. The people here are so friendly and there are a few delicious items to choose from to eat. There is the Conch Bar (my personal fav), the pig roasts served with so many good side dishes, and Chat ‘n’ Chill restaurant. This little island is also great for pictures and seeing marine life.

Swimming Pigs

The swimming pigs live on a smaller island called Big Major Cay or Pig Beach. They live alone but are very used to boats coming to visit. It’s such an exciting thing to experience, the pigs swim up to you and your boat as soon as you arrive! These cute babies love to get fed, they know as soon as boats pull in, they’re eating! Your tour guide usually provides the food for them but I’m sure you can take your own snacks for them as well. They’re super friendly piggies but they won’t pay any attention to you if you don’t have food lol.

I have to be very transparent, though. The beach is a little gross because the pigs and all their food sit in the water. I was too excited to notice and I was pretty grossed out after. This was especially because there were many other tourists visiting at the same time. However, I’d go to Pig Beach again in a heartbeat, and I can’t wait to visit again in 2020.

Thunderball Grotto

Thunderball Grotto is famous for being in two of James Bond’s films. The is an underwater cave that you snorkel into. You also are able to jump in from the hole up above (I’m doing this next time I go). When you snorkel, you can see exotic fish and you have a perfect view of the entire cave, it’s amazing.

Visit the Bahamian Rock Iguanas

Snorkeling

Coco Plum Beach

This iconic beach is the perfect place to spend a day on the island. It’s famous for the swings in the water and the powder-like sand. It’s also fairly secluded which I really enjoyed. You can plan a picnic or photoshoots for a day on the beach here. This is the beach I wished I had snorkeling gear for. There were so many sand dollars, star fish, and other marine life I wish we could’ve looked at! I was still able to see some since the water is so clear. Also, when it’s low tide (my favorite time), you can even see sandbars and walk around them. All Exuma beaches are amazing, but this was my favorite!

Swim with nurse sharks at compass cay

Visit Different Beaches

We found so many different beaches that we never actually figured out names for and they were secluded and seriously breathtaking! Take a drive around and stop at different beaches or visit popular ones. Some other popular beaches are Tropic of Cancer, Three Sisters, Coco Plum Beach, Norman’s Cay, Forbes Hill, Love Beach, and Jolly Hall Beach.

Other Things To Do

• Hooper’s Bay-great place for visiting sea turtles. I’ve also read that near Crab Cay there are plenty of sea turtles.
• Get a massage.
• See the sandbars-although we did this during the Four C’s tour, we were able to see them at Coco Plum beach as well. They’re common in Exuma!
• Party with the locals-Find out the local holidays and parties people are having.
• Drive around Georgetown and explore.
• Water sports-go sea kayaking, paddle boarding, rent a boat, go fishing, snorkel.
• Visit Peace and Plenty-they usually do events including live music (which is on Tuesdays I think!) and have good food and drinks. A lot of travelers come here too, so you can meet so many people!
• Rent ATVs.
• Explore the sandbars throughout the island.
• Shop and explore the town.

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Places to eat:

This might have been the toughest decision in Exuma. I found it difficult to decide what to eat because we were unsure of where to go on the island and everything is so expensive! Food at the market was pricey so we tried to be simple and do sandwiches etc. In all honesty, if it was up to me, I’d each conch salad all day everyday. It’s that good. I recommend using Yelp or asking locals! Here are also a few different options including some we did and did not try.

• Chat N Chill on Stocking Island-enjoy the Sunday pig roast or their conch bar! They had amazing conch salad (which is similar to ceviche), the pig roast wasn’t my favorite because I don’t like pork, but everyone else loved it!
• Plus39 Peace & Plenty-I loved this place! They had live music when I visited and the food was delicious! We had some drinks as well, I loved it!!
• The Palapa Bar & Grill-known for their delicious breakfast and cappuccinos. You can also walk down to the beach and rent paddle boards or kayaks.
• Exuma Point Beach Bar-Visit Maryann Rolle and her wonderful beach bar. She was one of the people who was greatly affected by Fyre Festival in 2017 and was featured in the Netflix documentary “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened”.
• Sandals Resort-if you’d like, you can pay about $200 USD here for unlimited food and drinks for a day.
• Shirley’s at the Fish Fry-I loved the coconut shrimp here, very friendly staff and good food!
• Splash Bar & Grill at Palm Bay Beach Bar-we had a few drinks here and small bites to eat. They have really cute swings at the bar, this was one of the days I was extremely sunburnt and had some type of rash so I didn’t enjoy like I could’ve.
• Tropical Breeze Beach Bar & Grill-people talk a lot about this place and their seafood nachos, must try!
• Lighthouse Café and Ice Cream Parlour-on a hot day, ice cream is literally perfection. I loved the ice cream here! Plus, it’s a cute spot for pictures.

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Where to stay:

I don’t have a very long list for where to stay because I truly prefer Airbnb since there are so many options for everyone’s budgets. Depending on the type of trip you want, you could do a fancy all inclusive resort like Sandals, Grand Isle Resort and Spa, or something smaller like Peace and Plenty. Click here for a direct link to several different options for hotels.

Another thing to note if you choose Airbnb, make sure you are choosing an area that isn’t too far away from everything. Also double check if it has A/C (we forgot to check and it was pretty miserable at first). Our Airbnb host also had a car for us to rent and it was such a good choice! Always check reviews for what’s nearby and how other people liked their stay.

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