The water curls around a white sandbar, spreading into shades of turquoise so vivid they almost seem invented. A few miles away, yachts gather near a tiny cay, their hulls suspended above the sea. Beyond them, an empty beach waits behind a stretch of shallow water, with no footprints and no buildings in sight.
This is Exuma, a Bahamian archipelago of 365 islands and cays where the sea defines nearly every trip. And where the water, well, you know how I feel about it.
And getting here is about to become significantly easier.
American Airlines is adding a third daily flight from Miami to George Town, Great Exuma, from Dec. 17 through April 5. The expanded winter schedule will give travelers three daily options during one of the most popular periods for a Bahamas vacation.
The increase is part of American’s broader expansion across the Caribbean for winter 2026-2027, strengthening a route already central to Exuma’s tourism economy. The flights connect Miami International Airport with Exuma International Airport, the main commercial gateway to Great Exuma and neighboring Little Exuma.
Three daily flights can change the way you plan an Exuma trip. There are more choices for same-day connections through Miami, more flexibility for shorter stays and another reason to consider one of the most visually remarkable corners of The Bahamas this winter.
Exuma has always felt farther away than its geography suggests. The expanded service brings its sandbars, cays and intensely blue water closer than ever.
A Different Kind of Bahamas Vacation
Exuma is technically one destination, yet it contains several distinct versions of The Bahamas.
Great Exuma is the main island, home to George Town, Exuma International Airport, grocery stores, restaurants and the largest selection of accommodations. A small bridge connects Great Exuma with Little Exuma, where beaches become quieter and settlements grow smaller.
North of Great Exuma, the Exuma Cays continue in a long, slender chain toward Nassau. Some are privately owned. Others are uninhabited. A number are home to boutique resorts, marinas or small communities reached by boat or light aircraft.
The geography creates a vacation shaped by exploration. You may spend one day driving south toward Little Exuma, stopping at roadside restaurants and beaches along the way. Another day begins at a dock, with a captain taking you through shallow passages between cays.
The scenery changes constantly. Narrow ribbons of sand appear at low tide. Deep blue channels run beside water barely high enough to cover your ankles. Coral heads form dark patches below the surface, while bonefish glide through the flats.
Many Caribbean destinations are known for a particular beach or bay. Exuma’s appeal comes from the sheer quantity of extraordinary water surrounding you.
The Sandbars
The Exuma sandbars have become one of the defining images of The Bahamas.
At low tide, sand rises from the sea in long, white curves. You step from the boat into warm, shallow water and walk toward a strip of land which may disappear again several hours later.
Some sandbars are close to Great Exuma and easy to visit on a half-day excursion. Others lie deeper in the cays, reached during longer boat trips through the archipelago.
The experience feels different from spending a day on a conventional beach. There are no loungers, restaurants or rows of umbrellas. Your boat may be the only one nearby. Water surrounds you in every direction, changing from clear to aquamarine to deep blue as the bottom falls away.
A captain can often find a quieter sandbar even during the busiest winter weeks. Exuma is large enough to absorb its visitors, particularly once you travel beyond the best-known stops.
You can swim, walk through the shallows or simply stand in water reaching just above your ankles and watch the sea remake the landscape.
The best sandbars? White Bay, off the southwestern coast of Exuma, which you can only reach by flats boat. It’s one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever see.
Swimming Pigs and Thunderball Grotto
The swimming pigs of Big Major Cay are Exuma’s most famous residents.
Boats arrive offshore, and the pigs enter the water, paddling toward visitors with an enthusiasm usually reserved for pets greeting someone at the front door. The sight has become internationally known, drawing travelers from across The Bahamas and from Florida.
Big Major Cay is near Staniel Cay in the central Exumas, making the excursion particularly convenient when you are staying at Staniel Cay Yacht Club. You can also reach the pigs on full-day boat tours from Great Exuma, although the longer journey usually includes several additional stops.
Nearby Thunderball Grotto offers another of the region’s essential experiences. The limestone cave was used in the James Bond film “Thunderball,” and its name has remained attached to the site ever since.
You enter through the water, snorkeling beneath the rock into a cavern illuminated by shafts of sunlight from openings above. Tropical fish gather beneath the surface. The cave walls rise around you, creating a setting which feels hidden even when other boats are nearby.
Water conditions and tides influence how you enter, so visiting with an experienced captain is important. At the right tide, the swim is relatively straightforward. At other points in the day, the current can be stronger.
The pigs and the grotto often appear on the same itinerary, along with stops at Compass Cay, where nurse sharks gather near the marina, and Bitter Guana Cay, known for its population of endangered Bahamian rock iguanas.
Beaches With No Footprints
Exuma’s famous attractions bring plenty of attention, yet the beaches you remember most may be the ones with no names on a tour itinerary.
The archipelago contains hundreds of small islands and uninhabited cays. Captains know narrow coves where you can swim alone and long beaches where the only tracks belong to seabirds.
On Great Exuma, Tropic of Cancer Beach on Little Exuma is among the most beautiful. The beach takes its name from the imaginary geographic line crossing the island, marked by a small set of steps leading down to the sand.
The water is shallow, calm and brilliantly clear. A few villas line portions of the beach, though long stretches can remain nearly empty.
Coco Plum Beach, on the northern end of Great Exuma, is known for broad shallows and sandbars reached by walking through the water. Hoopers Bay is a favorite for its calm sea and frequent turtle sightings. Jolly Hall Beach offers another wide arc of white sand close to George Town.
The cays hold an even greater sense of solitude. A boat allows you to find beaches where nobody lives and few people visit. Your captain drops anchor, you swim ashore, and the island belongs to you for an hour.
Few places in the region offer so many chances to find a beach entirely to yourself.
Exploring Great Exuma and Little Exuma
A boat day is central to an Exuma vacation, though the islands reward exploration by car as well.
George Town is the commercial center of Great Exuma, overlooking Elizabeth Harbour. The town has a market, shops, restaurants and a dock used by water taxis traveling to Stocking Island.
Stocking Island is a narrow barrier island across the harbor. Chat ’N’ Chill is its best-known gathering place, a beach bar where boaters arrive for conch salad, grilled food and drinks beside the sand. Stingrays frequently swim close to shore, especially near the conch shack.
Driving south from George Town takes you through small communities and eventually across the bridge to Little Exuma. Santanna’s Bar and Grill is a popular stop near Williams Town, known for fried lobster, cracked conch and ocean views. Nearby Mom’s Bakery has become a customary stop for rum cake and coconut bread.
The pace is unhurried. Roads follow the island’s long, slender geography, with turns leading toward beaches, small settlements and waterfront restaurants.
A rental car gives you the freedom to spend one day away from organized excursions. You can visit a beach, stop for lunch and continue south until the road reaches the quieter edges of Little Exuma.
What Three Daily Flights Mean
American’s winter increase is especially valuable because Miami is Exuma’s principal gateway from the United States.
The hub draws connecting passengers from cities across the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, Texas and the West Coast. An additional daily departure creates more potential connections and reduces the chance of a long overnight stay in South Florida.
It also makes three- and four-night Exuma vacations more practical. With fewer flight choices, a missed connection or inconvenient departure could consume a large portion of a short trip. Three daily frequencies give travelers more ways to arrive and return.
The schedule will cover the Christmas and New Year period, Presidents’ Day week, spring break and the final weeks of the traditional winter season.
American already serves several destinations across The Bahamas from Miami, including Nassau, Freeport, North Eleuthera, Marsh Harbour, Governor’s Harbour and Bimini. The Exuma expansion reflects continued demand for the country’s smaller-island experiences.
George Town is also a starting point rather than the end of the journey. From Great Exuma, you can continue by boat to neighboring cays or arrange a separate flight farther into the archipelago.
Where to Stay: Staniel Cay Yacht Club
Staniel Cay Yacht Club places you in the middle of the Exuma Cays, close to many of the experiences which have made the archipelago famous.
The club dates to 1956 and remains a gathering place for yacht owners, private pilots and travelers staying in its waterfront bungalows. The atmosphere is relaxed and distinctly nautical, with docks extending into clear water and boats arriving throughout the day.
Its colorful bungalows are arranged along the water, several with decks overlooking the sea. The setting feels more like an island outpost than a conventional resort. You are here to spend your days on boats, snorkeling, fishing and exploring the nearby cays.
The Staniel Cay Yacht Club restaurant and bar form the social center of the property. Yacht crews, residents and hotel guests gather for seafood, cocktails and conversations about weather, fishing and the next island north.
Big Major Cay and its swimming pigs are nearby. Thunderball Grotto is a short boat ride away. Compass Cay, Bitter Guana Cay and a collection of sandbars and beaches can be visited on private or guided excursions.
Staniel Cay has its own airstrip, with service available from South Florida and Nassau. Travelers arriving on American’s flights to Great Exuma would generally need an onward flight or private transfer to reach Staniel Cay, so the property works best as either a separate cays vacation or part of a multi-stop Exuma itinerary.
Stay here when your priority is being close to the water and spending nearly every day exploring by boat.
Where to Stay: Peace & Plenty
Peace & Plenty gives you a George Town base with direct connections to the life of Elizabeth Harbour.
The historic hotel is near the center of town, making it convenient for restaurants, shops, water taxis and local excursions. Its rooms overlook the harbor or the property’s pool area, while the hotel’s dock serves as a departure point for trips across the water.
One of the property’s biggest advantages is the Peace & Plenty Beach Club on Stocking Island. A boat carries hotel guests across Elizabeth Harbour to a white-sand beach with loungers, food, drinks and calm water.
The arrangement offers two sides of Exuma in a single stay. You have the convenience of George Town when you need it, along with an island beach reached by a short boat ride.
Peace & Plenty also works well when you plan to rent a car. Exuma International Airport is on Great Exuma, and the hotel’s location gives you a practical base for drives toward Hoopers Bay, Coco Plum Beach and Little Exuma.
Evenings can remain close to the hotel, with George Town’s restaurants and harbor activity nearby. The waterfront location also puts you within easy reach of captains offering private charters and group excursions.
Choose Peace & Plenty when you want to divide your vacation between boat days, Stocking Island and road trips across Great Exuma and Little Exuma.
A Winter Built Around the Water
Exuma is rarely a trip organized around a resort schedule.
The destination pulls you outward. A boat waits at the dock. A sandbar appears with the falling tide. A captain points toward a beach across an empty channel. Lunch may be grilled fish at a small island restaurant or conch salad prepared beside the water.
Three daily American Airlines flights from Miami will make the trip easier during the season when much of the United States is looking south.
The appeal remains the same: yachts scattered across blue channels, pigs paddling toward the boat, limestone caves filled with sunlight and beaches where your footprints may be the only ones in the sand.
This winter, more travelers will have a direct path to some of the most beautiful water anywhere in the Caribbean.
What It Costs
The best part? It’s one of the most affordable fares in the Caribbean right now, particularly in an age of sky-high prices. I found fares between Miami and George Town for $350 on Google Flights, roundtrip.
