Exuma Park day trip itinerary: Nassau tours, Staniel Cay stops and park rules

A day trip to the Exumas is a long day with a short list of stops. Tours leave Nassau in the morning and are back the same day. This page covers the options, the stops, and the rules that matter if your tour lands inside the park. Other trip lengths are on the Exumas planning hub.

Day trip options from Nassau

Four listed day trips show the range. Prices are the operators’ own and change, so check the booking page before you pay.

Option	Price	How it runs
Powerboat tour with swimming pigs, Powerboat Adventures	$299 per adult plus 10% tax; children $190 plus tax	Boats leave around 9am from the Paradise Island ferry terminal and return around 5pm1,4
Powerboat tour, Bahamas Air Tours	$550 per person	3-hour boat ride one way, 4 Exuma attractions5
Plane tour, Bahamas Air Tours	$850 per person	30-minute flight, 7 Exuma attractions5
Flight from Nassau, Staniel Cay Adventures	$597 round trip	Departs Nassau 8:00 AM, arrives 8:45 AM, daily2

The Powerboat Adventures price includes a cooked lunch, a conch salad show and an open bar¹. Staniel Cay Adventures quotes its prices before 10% VAT and a 5% credit card processing fee², so the final bill runs higher than the headline fare. Compare totals, not headlines. The Nassau day trip guide goes through what to ask before you book.

What a day around Staniel Cay can hold

The Staniel Cay Adventures excursion from Nassau lists seven stops². Three well-known stops each have their own page.

Stop	What to know	Guide
Big Major Cay	The cay has no residents, and the pigs are not native to it8	Swimming pigs
Compass Cay	The marina has a famed population of docile nurse sharks that draws visitors from as far as Nassau9	Nurse sharks
Thunderball Grotto	Staniel Cay Yacht Club lists it as a nearby attraction10	Thunderball Grotto

The island they cluster around has its own guide on the Staniel Cay page. Pick two or three stops, not all of them: a day with fewer stops leaves more time in the water.

Where the park starts

The park’s south-west corner is at 24°14′25″ N, 76°36′02″ W³. Staniel Cay (about 24.17° N) and Big Major Cay (about 24.18° N) lie south of it¹¹. A tour that stays at those stops does not enter the park, so the park’s mooring, anchoring and landing fees do not apply to it.

A tour that does enter the park pays park fees. The Trust lists a charter day-tour landing fee at Warderick Wells, with a guided tour, of BSD 12.73 before VAT, plus BSD 12.73 for each additional person⁶. All marine and park fees carry 10% Bahamas VAT at checkout⁶. Ask your operator whether its price includes the landing fee. For the park’s own sites, see Warderick Wells and Shroud Cay.

Rules on a day inside the park

If your tour lands in the park, these rules apply.

The park is a no-take zone: no fishing, conching, shelling or lobstering, and nothing living or dead may be removed⁷.

All vessels, including dinghies and jet skis, must operate at idle speed in any mooring field or anchorage⁷.

Trash disposal is not available in the park, so take out everything you bring in⁷. Open fires and fireworks are not permitted⁷. Pets are restricted to beaches and may not go on trails or into the brush⁷. The north tidal creek on Shroud Cay is a strict idle speed, no-wake zone, and motorized vessels may not enter the other tidal creeks there⁷. Read the full park rules and the no-take zone guide before you go.

If you run your own boat for the day

The park does not take mooring reservations, and pre-payment does not guarantee a ball⁶. Fees are paid through the Trust’s ParkPay page⁶. Anchoring is not permitted in the mooring fields, on coral reefs or in certain other designated areas⁷. The park office answers on VHF channel 09, calling “Exuma Park”³. It opens Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 9am to noon, and it sits on a remote island, so a call can take time to get through³.

Full rates by boat length are on the park fees page. If a short day starts to feel too short, the three-day itinerary and the seven-day boat itinerary spread the same stops over more time.