Liveaboard Diving in Exuma Cays

What To Expect On An Exuma Cays Liveaboard

A chain of 365 islands called Cays, surrounded by sapphire blue waters and untouched beaches, makes up the Exuma Cays. This string of islands in the Bahamas only stretches 209 km (130 mi) and starts just 55km (35 mi) under the capital city of Nassau. These islands are only populated by 7400 people, meaning a lot of privacy and a lot of untouched nature; the perfect recipe for a great experience. There is a high abundance of marine life, including all the species of sea turtles which you can see throughout the year, along with eagle rays, dolphins, reef sharks, and seahorses. November through to February heightens the chance of seeing humpback whales and hammerhead sharks. Due to the extreme lack of runoff into the water, visibility is great all year round.

The most famous dive area is the Exuma Land and Sea Park; it is one of the National Park and Protected Areas managed by the Bahamas National Trust, meaning protecting their environment is a priority for them. There you will have the chance to dive along underwater walls, flourishing and untouched reefs and last but not least; sharks. They have dive sites of multiple depths so divers can enjoy a scuba experience here. With its protection, it is a kind of environment you won't find in many other places.

One of the most popular dive sites within the Land and Sea Park is Jeep Reef. It has one of the healthiest and most colorful reefs ever. There is a constant current flowing over it which aids the coral in staying healthy, which then also results in a high population of fish. Its trademark is the coral-encrusted jeep that is situated by the reef.

While in the Exuma Cays you will have the chance to visit multiple dive sites, each with their own unique experience. There are a few dive sites which consist of beautiful, thriving sea walls such as the Whale Tail Wall, where eagle rays are often spotted and Pillar Wall, which begins at 12 meters (40') and drops down more than 100m (333'), especially great for deep divers.

There is also a wreck you can dive around; the Austin Smith Wreck, lying down at 18 m (60') and is about 25m (82') long and after being down there for 21 years, its misfortune has created a spectacular dive site. If you seek even more excitement then you will find this at The Washing Machine, a place where the tide can literally make you tumble around, if you wish. If you would rather watch from the sidelines it still has an impressive reef teeming with life. Regarding reefs, the Amberjack Reef, another site, is an incredibly alive patch of reef. Thousands of fish will surround you, and multiple reef sharks call that patch their home.

Another unique experience that the Exuma Cays provides is the chance to dive in a blue hole; as this is quite close to Nassau, it can be done either at the beginning or the very end of the trip. This dive site is named the Lost Blue Hole. The hole itself is 60 meters (196') deep, with numerous levels of excitement. The rim lies at 12m (40') which is inhabited by endless corals, stingrays a school of fish. At 24m (80') there is a lobster filled crevice and during the spring months, black nose sharks inhabit the holes deepest level.

These are just a few dive sites a Bahamas liveaboard could visit, there are many more, each with something special to offer. Many of the sites you will visit are only accessible by liveaboards, which eliminates it being overcrowded, a big plus.

Itinerary Details

The length of the liveaboard itinerary, which visits the Exuma Cays, is usually 8 days, 7 nights, with the departure being from the capital city Nassau. The prices start from US$300 a day, however, this price could exclude things such as gear rental which starts from around US$175 extra for the entire trip, insurance, which is something that is highly recommended everyone get before joining the liveaboard and lastly if you choose to use Nitrox then this will also come as an extra cost, please always check the specifics as they can vary. At the moment a liveaboard goes out to the Exuma Cays multiple times a month, all year round. The number of people onboard may vary, however, this is usually around 15 people.

Divers are required to have their Open Water certificates, but all levels are welcome apart from that. The staff onboard are all trained professionals whose main priority is safety and enjoyment, you will always receive a safety briefing before each dive, followed by what we hope to be an exciting and fulfilling dive. You will be offered luxurious and comfortable accommodation onboard, with a professional and experienced crew. You will boing approximately 5 dives a day (including night dives) and in between these you will be served food from international cuisine with beverages constantly available.

Best Time To Travel

Diving in the Exuma Cays is possible all year round. Each season provides divers with a different kind of diving experience. When it comes to temperatures and diving conditions, they vary but not to extremes that would prevent anyone from getting into the water. November commences the winter weather, bringing in cold fronts from time to time. Mostly these are mild though. The waters around this time are around 25-26 degrees Celsius (77-80 degrees Fahrenheit) so even though it is winter, they are still pleasant temperatures. The summer months, June to September, have the best conditions with waters being around 30 degrees Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit). The riskiest month for storms is August; however, they are not frequent.

Liveaboard Departures

The departure city for Bahamas liveaboards that visit the Exuma Cays is the capital city of Nassau. There they have an international airport; Lynden Pindling International airport, which is the easiest port of entry into the Bahamas. The main dock on Nassau is the Prince George Wharf. The Exuma Cays start only 55km south of Nassau, so getting there is not a long trip.

To get a taster of the diving world of the Bahamas, Nassau and its neighboring island of Paradise Island provide numerous opportunities. Some including shipwrecks, one dive site also has a large Blue Hole and you can visit the humorously names 'Fish Hotel' dive site which has an abundance of large schools of fish. Their sites are of all different depths so any divers can go exploring there.


Exuma Cays Diving Reviews

  • 9.0 Superb
  • 96 Verified Reviews
  • 7.6 Good
  • Anthony C
  • United States United States

Diving Exuma Cays was good. I'm comparing it to diving at Cozumel and the Galapagos, so there is a high bar for expectations.

Diving Exuma Cays in April on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Sarah R
  • United States United States

The walls and swim throughs here were outstanding.

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Stephen Z
  • United States United States

Beautiful conditions with a variety of sealife.

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Quinn B
  • United States United States

I had an incredible experience! Warm clear water, great visibility, awesome walls, plentiful sea life.

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Harvey C
  • United States United States

I'd give the diving 4 stars on a Caribbean scale. Most sites were pretty healthy, although some had excessive algae overgrowth. Soft corals and fans were doing very well; hard corals less well. On several dive sites there was hard coral being cultured to re-plant.

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Aqua Cat

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Bradley B
  • United States United States

Awesome, great visibility, healthy reefs and abundant sharks and fish

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Nicole S
  • United States United States

Lots of nice sites with plenty of fish.

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Brian J
  • United States United States

Wonderful weather, day diving, deep diving, reef diving, night diving, all was offered.

Diving Exuma Cays in February on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Russell B
  • United States United States

Excellent: Captain took us to some great sites. Excellent visibility and good bottom time

Diving Exuma Cays in March on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • John G
  • United States United States

Loved getting to know more of the Exumas where I dive regularly. The Washing Machine was a highlight.

Diving Exuma Cays in April on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Rob R
  • United States United States

Weather reduced visibility a bit, but water was comfortable for me with 3mm shortie throughout the week (11-18 May). A variety of dives including coral heads, wall dives, drift dives and the blue hole made for a great time.

Diving Exuma Cays in May on the Aqua Cat

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Russell B
  • United States United States

If I had been better prepared I may have made more of the 25 dives, I had not been diving in several years and I took a few dives to get comfortable.

Diving Exuma Cays in May on the Aqua Cat

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Cheryl T
  • United States United States

Beautiful! Clear water!!!

Diving Exuma Cays in May on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Michael P
  • United States United States

Beautiful. Lots of color and soft corals. No nudis but whatever.

Diving Exuma Cays in June on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Gary V
  • United States United States

I have dived from many islands in the Bahamas. This was my first liveaboard. Diving the Exuma Cays was similarly good Bahamas diving and sometimes excellent. The major problem in the area was the algae covering much of the reefs in the area. It is truly sad diminishing much of the beauty of the reefs.

Diving Exuma Cays in June on the Aqua Cat

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Katelin N
  • United States United States

It was great! Some dive locations weren’t as healthy looking, but still fun to dive.

Diving Exuma Cays in July on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Max E
  • United States United States

Brilliant! Clear and eaay diving with tons of life and amazing reef structure.

Diving Exuma Cays in September on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Brad J
  • United States United States

Fantastic. So much marine life.

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Dakota R
  • United States United States

Beautiful and incredible. Only one dive had a strong current.

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.2 Superb
  • William L
  • United States United States

The corals were colorful and healthy. Diving was planned at slack tides so we could enjoy drifts in both directions.

Diving Exuma Cays in February on the Aqua Cat

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Greg S
  • United States United States

Soo many great dive sights

Diving Exuma Cays in February on the Aqua Cat

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Richard W
  • United States United States

Awesome, I dont think I have ever used that word so often in a 2 week periodf

Diving Exuma Cays in July on the Aqua Cat

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Daniel (Dan) F
  • United States United States

Exuma Cays is a remote diving location and the crew made certain we saw the best of the best.

Diving Exuma Cays in October on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Albert L
  • United States United States

Beautiful, good variety of life

Diving Exuma Cays in October on the Aqua Cat

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Philip P
  • United States United States

The diving was good, but the sea life was less than expected.

Diving Exuma Cays in February on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Nick R
  • United States United States

Great coral, beautiful water, sharks!

Diving Exuma Cays in June on the Cat Ppalu

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • John W
  • United States United States

Awesome! The reef is very good condition compared to the Red Sea and the GBR.

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Elaine Y
  • United States United States

beautiful flat turquoise water

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer

  • 5.6 Review score
  • Ryan S
  • United States United States

There were only 3 dives we needed a safety stop. Most of the dives were less then 5 meters deep

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 6.0 Review score
  • Maureen F
  • United States United States

Ok. Some sights were better than others. Some sites had clear water and life and others were very light on sights/life.

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • BRANDY F
  • United States United States

Excellent. Healthy reefs, animals. Clear waters. Variety of sites and styles.

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Adam S
  • United States United States

Awesome. Lots of variety of sites and life.

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Peter L
  • United States United States

Beautiful walls, and reefs, visibility was just okay.

Diving Exuma Cays in April on the Aqua Cat

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Heather E
  • United States United States

Fabulous reefs structure and marine life

Diving Exuma Cays in April on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Ariel Y
  • United States United States

Beautiful! Very healthy reefs

Diving Exuma Cays in April on the Cat Ppalu

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Michael P
  • United States United States

Overall it was very good. Healthy ecosystem with lots of different experiences.

Diving Exuma Cays in April on the Aqua Cat

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Stephen S
  • United States United States

Beautiful colorful shallow dives

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Aqua Cat

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Steven K
  • United States United States

We enjoyed the Exuma Cays diving, it was a nice balance of shallow and deep and we got to see lots of great wildlife

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • John D
  • United States United States

There were no bad dive sites. We spent most of our time in Eleuthera.

Diving Exuma Cays in September on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Quannie T
  • United States United States

Beautiful shallow waters with super clear visibility.

Diving Exuma Cays in November on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Eli R
  • United States United States

Many dive sites offered and definitely warm even in December. Lots of variety.

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Aqua Cat

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Andrew L
  • United States United States

Amazing! The Cays are beautiful and the marine life was amazing! It will be tough to beat.

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Tammy O
  • United States United States

Crystal clear waters with beautiful reefs and full of life

Diving Exuma Cays in February on the Aqua Cat

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Carson P
  • United States United States

Gorgeous! The water was so clear and it felt like I was in an aquarium.

Diving Exuma Cays in April on the Aqua Cat

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Jere L
  • United States United States

Easy dives, good vis, OK corals, less than world class fish life

Diving Exuma Cays in June on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Brandon W
  • United States United States

Saw a great amount of sea life. Beautiful reefs and great clarity.

Diving Exuma Cays in June on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Laurina W
  • United States United States

It was alright. Visibility was so-so.

Diving Exuma Cays in July on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Robert K
  • United States United States

The shallow reefs were very nice. Visibility was 80+ feet most days. Sharks were seen on most dives

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Cat Ppalu

  • 7.2 Good
  • Michael B
  • United States United States

visibility was not good. The first day of intro dives was not impressive.

Diving Exuma Cays in February on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Vania C
  • Brazil Brazil

Wonderful sites, lots of marine life.

Diving Exuma Cays in November on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Vinicius S
  • Brazil Brazil

Good diving, good visibility.

Diving Exuma Cays in February on the Aqua Cat

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Ocean F
  • China China

Crystal clear water, great variety of marine lives, both shallow and deep dive sites are beautiful

Diving Exuma Cays in March on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Hugo L
  • Canada Canada

The exuma cays was à great place with a colourful coral reefs

Diving Exuma Cays in April on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 7.6 Good
  • thomas W
  • Denmark Denmark

Lots of excellent wall dives and swimthroughs. The coral was diverse and colourful. Marine life excellent even though we went in “low shark season”

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Martin S
  • Canada Canada

really nice coral and rock structure was beautiful

Diving Exuma Cays in November on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Antonio Ginés B
  • Spain Spain

Precioso. Gran variedad de fauna marina y preciosos corales.

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Louis M
  • Canada Canada

Great. The water was always warm. The visibility was very good.

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Andrea B
  • France France

Nice snappers and corals but would have loved mori fish diversity, especially more big animals, more sharks

Diving Exuma Cays in October on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Yannig W
  • France France

Beautiful to outstanding but depends on the sites.

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Aqua Cat

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Alex J
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Great visibility, lots of reef sharks

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 6.8 Review score
  • Antoine C
  • France France

Coral reefs are nice but I was expecting more actions and fishes under water

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 8.4 Very good
  • David E
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Okay a little disappointed in the lack of fish

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.2 Superb
  • James B
  • Canada Canada

To muck green slime on the reef

Diving Exuma Cays in February on the Aqua Cat

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Malgorzata S
  • Poland Poland

Beautiful and easy, good for beginners

Diving Exuma Cays in March on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Victoria T
  • Australia Australia

Beautiful shallow, colourful coral reefs

Diving Exuma Cays in August on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Kimberley S
  • Canada Canada

Incredible blue water and lots of sharks!

Diving Exuma Cays in October on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Federico B
  • Chile Chile

Nice but not extraordinary, a bit monotonous at times

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 7.2 Good
  • Brendan M
  • Ireland Ireland

No Tropical Fish on the Reefs in the Bahamas

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 6.4 Review score
  • Kristian S
  • Norway Norway

Some nice coral reefs, not so much fish Many sharks

Diving Exuma Cays in December on the Bahamas Aggressor

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Chris H
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Outside of the national park was average however this was due to poor weather previously. Inside the national park the diving was amazing.

Diving Exuma Cays in January on the Cat Ppalu

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Michele B
  • Italy Italy

Strong wind from the east limited the choice of the dive sites. But the crystal clear water and the abundance of marine life made the dives interesting and exciting

Diving Exuma Cays in March on the Blackbeards Morning Star

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Frank K
  • Germany Germany

Easy diving; Good for beginners

Diving Exuma Cays in October on the Blackbeards Sea Explorer