Adventure Bahamas

Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas has been running shark encounters off New Providence since 1979. The Extreme Shark Adventure is a two-tank dive: first a free-swim alongside Caribbean reef sharks on a wall, then a semi-circle at 12 metres depth while a professional feeder brings the sharks in close with a pole spear and bait box. This is not a simulated experience. These are wild sharks in open ocean, fed by a person who has done this thousands of times.

The Exuma Cays stretch 120 miles southeast of Nassau—365 islands and cays, most uninhabited, with water between them that shifts from jade green to deep cobalt within metres. The swimming pigs of Pig Beach have their own mythology now, but the pigs are real and the beach at Staniel Cay is exactly as remarkable as the images suggest. Thunderball Grotto nearby is a cave system that fills with marine life at high tide and was used as a set in two Bond films.

The Bahamas has more than 700 islands and 2,500 cays. Most of the adventure is between them.

Stuart Cove’s — shark diving off Nassau

Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas operates from a purpose-built dive facility at South West Bay on New Providence, 45 years after the company was founded. The fleet of nine boats runs morning and afternoon dive trips to walls, wrecks, and reef systems within 20 minutes of the facility. The 13 different wreck locations include the Tears of Allah and the Ray of Hope—both purpose-sunk, both now heavily colonised by reef life.

The Extreme Shark Adventure runs daily in the afternoon. Divers descend to a sandy bottom at 12 metres. A professional feeder enters the feeding area. Caribbean reef sharks—typically 8–12 individuals—approach for the bait. Divers observe from a kneeling semi-circle approximately 3 metres back. The free-swim on the first dive is less structured—sharks are present throughout but not concentrated around a feeder. Both dives run back-to-back on the same boat trip.

Stuart Cove’s also operates SUB Bahamas personal submarines for non-divers—battery-powered two-person underwater vehicles that descend to 30 metres in controlled conditions. The Learn to Dive programme is PADI-certified and runs as a discover scuba experience for complete beginners in the morning before afternoon trips. Rated 4.4/5 with 2,522 TripAdvisor reviews.

Exuma Cays — the archipelago adventure

The Exuma Cays are the Bahamas’ most dramatic island chain—a 120-mile string of limestone cays and sandbars separating the shallow Exuma Sound to the east from the deep Tongue of the Ocean to the west. The water colour contrast between the two is visible from the air. The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, established in 1958, covers 176 square miles of marine protected area in the northern Cays—no fishing, no removing of anything from the water. The reef systems inside the park are among the healthiest in the Caribbean.

From Nassau, the Exuma Cays are accessible by powerboat in 1–3 hours depending on destination, or by small plane in 20–30 minutes to Great Exuma airport. The swimming pigs at Pig Beach on Big Major Cay are a 45-minute boat ride from Staniel Cay. Thunderball Grotto is a 5-minute boat ride from Staniel Cay—a sea cave with a hole in the top that floods with light at high tide and is inhabited by hundreds of reef fish, rays, and nurse sharks. It was used in the filming of Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983).

The Iguanas of Allen’s Cay—a colony of rare Allen’s Cay rock iguanas found nowhere else—are accessible as part of most Exuma powerboat day trips from Nassau. The animals approach boats directly and feed from hand.

Blue Lagoon Island — shark snorkelling and eco-adventures

Blue Lagoon Island’s adventure programme includes snorkelling with nurse sharks in a natural lagoon—the sharks are habituated to human presence and move around snorkellers without alarm. The island also runs a Segway safari on a dedicated track through the interior, kayak circuits of the outer lagoon, and paddle boarding on the sheltered western beach.

The dolphin encounter is the island’s main activity and the most structured—a supervised in-water session with Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in a managed area. Sea lion encounters run in an adjacent area. Both require advance booking and have age and weight limits. The island is 15 minutes by ferry from Nassau and operates entirely as a managed day experience—no independent access.

For snorkellers, the nurse shark snorkel at Blue Lagoon is the most accessible shark encounter available from Nassau without a dive certification. Nurse sharks are docile bottom-dwellers that pose no threat to snorkellers—the experience is dramatic enough to be memorable without the intensity of the Stuart Cove’s reef shark dive.

Island hopping by speedboat — pigs, turtles, and open ocean

The standard Nassau island-hopping tour covers three or more stops by speedboat: a swimming pig encounter at a Rose Island pig colony, snorkelling on a reef with green turtles, and a beach stop. The 4–5 hour format leaves from Nassau or Paradise Island with pickup from most hotels. Tour operators carry lifejackets, snorkelling gear, and a cold lunch on board.

More ambitious operators run full-day Exuma powerboat adventures—departing Nassau at 7am and covering Pig Beach, Thunderball Grotto, the Iguanas of Allen’s Cay, and a sandbar lunch stop in the 8–9 hour round trip. These trips cover 150+ miles of open water and require calm sea conditions—operators monitor forecasts and occasionally adjust or cancel. Worth booking early in the trip to allow a rebooking day if weather delays.

The catamaran eco-snorkel at Sea Garden Conservation area is the most environmentally considered option—a naturalist-guided snorkel of a protected coral nursery with a focus on reef ecology and coral restoration. Two to three hours. Smaller group and slower pace than speedboat tours.

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