Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park Kayak

Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, Bahamas · Bahamas

Moderate8 daysNorth America~£1,900 est.

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Overview

The Exumas run for 120 miles like a dropped necklace, and at their heart sits the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park — founded in 1958, the first marine protected area of its kind, and a no-take zone where reef life behaves as if humans were a rumour. For eight days you kayak cay to cay across water in shades the brochure cannot exaggerate, camping on designated beaches, snorkelling coral heads where nurse sharks, eagle rays and turtles drift past unbothered. The day that makes the trip is Shroud Cay: you ride a tidal creek through the mangroves clean across the island, climb Camp Driftwood's lookout, and drop onto an ocean-facing beach that resets your idea of blue. At park headquarters on Warderick Wells, a sperm whale skeleton lies articulated along the beach — the obligatory photograph. Logistics take planning: fly to George Town or Staniel Cay, arrange water-taxi transfers to the park, and carry every drop of fresh water — there is none on the uninhabited cays. Guided expeditions handle boats, permits and shuttles for around £1,900. The variable is the winter trade wind: a 20-knot easterly turns the banks choppy, so itineraries hop the lee sides with weather days in reserve.