Staniel Cay to Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park: tours, guides and your own skiff

Staniel Cay has an 18-slip marina at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, anchorages for visiting boats and a 3,000-foot airstrip, and it is reachable by boat, scheduled flights, charter airplanes and private planes³. This page covers the ways to go from there into the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, which the getting there hub places among the other routes in.

Ways to reach the park from Staniel Cay

Option	Who it is for	When	Source
Normans Cay and Exuma Land and Sea Park tour, Staniel Cay Adventures	Private groups	Private tour	7
Mermaid Melody group tour, Staniel Cay Yacht Club	Yacht Club guests; includes the park area	Wednesday only	6
Pablo Escobar’s Adventure group tour, Staniel Cay Yacht Club	Yacht Club guests; includes Normans Cay and the park	Saturday only	6
Independent local guides	Half-day or day-long excursions; not affiliated with the Yacht Club	Arranged with the guide	6
Your own skiff	Visitors with a skiff	Your schedule	6

The Yacht Club can provide a list of independent local guides for snorkel, diving and fishing trips as well as half-day or day-long excursions⁶. You can also explore with your own skiff⁶. The two group tours above are open only to Yacht Club guests⁶. The Wednesday tour is the Mermaid Melody and the Saturday tour is Pablo Escobar’s Adventure, so the day you arrive decides which one you can join⁶. If you are not a Yacht Club guest, the private Staniel Cay Adventures tour and the independent guides are the routes left, along with your own skiff.

Booking a private park tour

Staniel Cay Adventures offers the Normans Cay and Exuma Land and Sea Park boat tour as a private tour⁷. Ask the operator for the price and length of the park tour. Staniel Cay Adventures prices exclude 10% VAT and a 5% credit card processing fee⁴.

On its Swimming Pigs Staniel Cay day tour, lunch is not included and the operator offers snacks, water and soda⁴. Bring cash for lunch.

If you are coming from Nassau for the day instead, the Nassau day trip comparison lists the tours and prices.

Going in your own skiff

A skiff trip gives you the schedule, and it also makes you responsible for the rules. These rules are in force:

The park is a no-take zone: no fishing, conching, shelling or lobstering, and nothing living or dead may be removed⁵.

All vessels, including dinghies and jet skis, must run at idle speed in any mooring field or anchorage⁵.

Anchoring is not permitted in the mooring fields, on coral reefs or in certain other designated areas⁵. Trash disposal is not available in the park, so take out everything you bring in⁵. Poaching brings fines and confiscation of vessels⁵. For where the boundaries run, read the park boundaries map before you leave the dock.

Park fees and calling ahead

You pay park fees through the Trust’s ParkPay app or site². All marine and park fees carry 10% Bahamas VAT at checkout². The park takes no reservations, and pre-payment does not guarantee a mooring². Three mooring fields ask boats to call the park on VHF channel 09 in advance to request a mooring: Warderick Wells North, Emerald Rock and Pirates Lair².

The park office answers on VHF channel 09, calling “Exuma Park”, and keeps hours of 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 9am to noon on Sunday¹. The office is on a remote small island, so reaching it can sometimes be challenging¹. Channel 16 is monitored 24 hours a day for emergencies¹.

The ParkPay page also lists a landing fee for charter day-tour boats: $12.73 before VAT, plus $12.73 per additional person, for a guided tour landing at Warderick Wells². Ask a tour operator whether the price you are quoted includes it. If you take your own skiff to a mooring field, the full rate tables are in Exuma Park boat fees. Fees change, so check the Trust’s ParkPay page before you pay.