Exuma or “the Exumas” stretch more than 100 miles and count more than 365 in number. The biggest cay is Great Exuma down near the bottom of the chart (yeah, hard to show the full expanse of them). The red box roughly shows the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. Established in 1958 (a fine year for Todd) as one of the first such parks in the world. A small group of naturalists sought to save a chunk of this beautiful area from developers. Lead by, ready for this, the grandson of Leonard Tolstoy, the famed Russian author, the group was successful in getting the government to establish the Bahamas National Trust and then the Park (all 176 square miles of it).
You can see where we are (red arrow) and all the little marks we created based on talking to our experienced cruising friends. Anchorages, a good snorkel/dive spot, and even a must go area where supposedly even Todd can catch a fish! But with all those islands and area there is just so much to explore, it will take years to even scratch the surface. (Honey, we are never moving off the boat.) The off-white is very deep water, think 3000 plus! The light blue is shallow (from about 50 on down). The tides move in and out of all the spaces between all those yellow islands, so we have to be mindful of the current flow.
As far as settlements, the story is fairly familiar. The Spanish, after Columbus in 1492, brought smallpox and a need for slaves and salt. Unfortunately, because of that, from the middle 1500s to the middle 1600s it was pretty quiet around here; there just wasn’t anybody left. Then came the pirates. They seemed to like the Bahamas, basically empty islands. Nassau was the real hang in the early 1700s – you’ve heard of the main dude, Edward Teach (Blackbeard) – and the Exuma’s were the backyard hideouts.
Finally in 1718, the English King granted the first real governorship, and Woodes Rogers did a good job rounding up the pirates and establishing order.
For us, Exuma is just a really big bunch of islands surrounded by beautiful water. Let’s go exploring!
Our Travels 