Cramming a week of fun on Exuma into two blog posts hasn’t been easy. I shared our first batch of photos on Tuesday, and today I’m sharing the rest. We did so much exploring on the island–hitting up something new each day–that it’s hard to recap it all. Even still, just last night, we found out about another beach that we missed. “Damn!” I exclaimed as Sona snuggled in beside me in bed. “Turns out, we missed a really beautiful beach in Exuma.”
Ah, well. We’ll just have to go back, won’t we? 😉
My parents spent a morning diving while we were on the island. (Truth be told, this was one of Exuma’s pitfalls. We’re not really sure if it is because Exuma just isn’t a great diving location or because there is only one dive shop on the island and they were, shall we say, not exactly thorough, cautious, or conscientious of the divers. Still, even with a lackluster dive experience, my parents have said they want to go back.)
While they dove, Sona, Finn, and I took off to find Hooper’s Bay, which is a semi-hidden beach that boasts a large turtle population. It took 30 minutes of turning around, stopping in local shops to ask for directions, and trespassing in order for us to find the location. And even though it was a windy and choppy day, meaning visibility wasn’t great, we were still so happy to have found this little bay, which was beautiful.
Like most places we ventured in Exuma, we had the whole beach to ourselves.
This photo may not look like much, but I’ll always love it because Finn waited for me at the end of the pier, holding his hand out, asking “You need help, Momma?” (I’m still hobbling a bit from an ankle injury a month ago.)
There were quite a few photo-ops, as you can tell.
That night, we went to Blu on the Water for dinner, which is right in Georgetown and only a 5 minute drive from where we stayed. It was probably my favorite dining experience. The food was good–not the best we had, but quite good–but it was the view that made it so unique. The restaurant juts over a dock, and we saw a couple of sea turtles, a huge ray, and 3-4 sharks circling right under where we sat. Finn really loved watching the animals, and the atmosphere is unparalleled.
Mimi, showing Finn the sharks. (I might have said “Make sure you hold him tight!” a thousand times.)
On Wednesday, we decided to take the water taxi to Chat N Chill, which is a restaurant/beach hang out/bar on Stocking Island, just a 10-15 minute ride from Great Exuma. It’s one of Exuma’s best know spots, as it is the kind of lively beach bar at which you could easily drink away a day–or seven. We arrived early, wanting to beat the crowds, and the place was pretty quiet.
It was great to get Finn out on the water again, which he loves, and I think he enjoyed playing around the beach at Chat N Chill more than any of us.
He made a few island kitty friends while we were there.
He drank a strawberry daiquiri, rolled in the sand, and danced, enthusiastically, to the Caribbean music blaring in the background.
Since the restaurant was on island time–like everything in the Carib–and wouldn’t start serving until later in the afternoon, we decided to only stay a couple of hours and then head out and try to hit up another beach.
Enter what I’m pretty sure all of us would say was our favorite experience in Exuma: searching for sand dollars at Coco Plum beach during low tide. Holy moly–that place is a living, breathing Windows screensaver circa 1998. That is to say: you MUST go.
If you do, make sure you go right at low tide–the lower, the better. That is when the water retreats and gives way to the most gloriously shallow, clear sandbars you’ve ever seen, and you can practically walk to neighboring islands.
Because of that phenomenon, the spot is perfect for searching for sand dollars, which we did. We found 10 in just 20-30 minutes; I’ve never even found 1 on any other beach before!
For some reason, Finn was a little ocean shy this trip. In Grand Cayman, he loved playing in the water. This time, he preferred the pool. However, Coco Plum was so clear and calm, even he ventured out with us, and I’m so glad we all got to experience it together.
You can’t really tell, but we are a good 50 yards off of shore, here.
Coco Plum also has Insta-worthy swings in the water, which even though they need some TLC, make for a lot of fun (and good photos).
Our last day, we spent a lot of time at February Point, playing in the pool and exploring the property. We also hit up two beaches that were left on our list: Jolly Hall and Tropic of Cancer.
Tropic of Cancer is probably Exuma’s most well-known beach–and for good reason. It’s just a never-ending expanse of white sand and water that is dang-near neon blue.
We’d made a stop early in the week, just to take a peek at it, but we didn’t stay. I’m glad that we urged ourselves out of our poolside beach chairs just in time to hit it up once more before sunset on our last day.
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I think it’s pretty clear that we all fell in love with Exuma–Finn included. There’s so much of the world to see, and Sona and I aren’t the kind of people who like going to the same place twice for that reason, but I have a sneaking suspicion that we may just break that rule to see Exuma, again.
Your photos and family are beautiful. We started going to Exuma with our 3 kids around the same age as your son Finn. It has spoiled them to any other beach in the world. It is truly an “old fashioned” Bahama experience that is wonderful and unique. It’s certainly gotten more popular over the years which I guess is good for the locals. We’ve watched it grow and get a bit more crowded every year. In the old days, you could find 20-30 sand dollars on Coco Plum. We were just there and found none. Nonetheless, there are just so many other places to go to see unspoiled nature. The starfish beach on Stocking island is amazing and you should put that on your next trip. You’ll easily find a dozen or more mature starfish over a foot in diameter in the water near the beach. Truly beautiful to see the patterns. Believe it or not, the food is massively improved over what it was even 5 years ago. So the trajectory is good. There have been some very well trained chefs who’ve opened over the years but because everything (ingredients) are 2x, it’s hard to be high-end and find enough people willing to pay $40 for dinner there. Unfortunately, the biggest resort on the island is “all inclusive” (Sandals) so their guests never leave the premises to help the local economy. They just employ people, which helps, but doesn’t add a lot to services for other tourists. Hopefully over time places like Feb Point and Grand Isle keep growing and add even more for the locals. They both have very good restaurants. It is, as you found, one of the true secret places for a wonderful, relaxed, local atmosphere free of crowds in the Caribbean (even thought it’s technically not in the Caribbean). Thanks for highlighting it’s beautiful scenery, water (which is truly unique in the world) and people. Everyone’s so friendly there, which we love. Best of luck and maybe we’ll see you down there sometime!