This Uncrowded Caribbean island Has Picture-Perfect Beaches, Countless Sandbars and the World’s Most Beautiful Water 

It’s hard to see where the water ends and the sky begins. I’m wading on a sugar-white sandbar in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with nothing around but turquoise-tinted clouds. There are shades of blue here I’ve never seen. Or imagined. 

This is White Bay. It’s part of a chain of tiny cays to the southwest of the island of Great Exuma in The Bahamas, a destination that remains one of the Caribbean’s great uncrowded sanctuaries. Great Exuma is the gateway to the Exuma Cays, that chain of some 365 islands, each one a tiny paradise with white-sand beaches, some with luxury resorts, others with swimming pigs. You can charter a boat and explore its natural wonders, hopping around to deserted islands and secret sandbars, heading up to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club or spending the day bobbing around in the water with a Kalik in your hand. 

But Great Exuma is a destination unto itself, and remains one of the best-kept secrets in the broader region. Exuma’s biggest island, home to its international airport (with nonstop flights from the United States and Canada, and an airport expansion project already underway), is surrounded by sugar-white beaches at practically every turn, each one seemingly more beautiful than the next — and almost uniformly uncrowded. That means you can pick a day, find your beach, and spend the rest of the day seeing nary another soul. 

It’s a place where you can fall into the lovely, captivating rhythm of the Out Islands of The Bahamas, where the story is the authentic, undiluted vacation experience, where you can immerse yourself in Bahamian culture, try the freshest conch salad you’ve ever tasted or try The Bahamas’ brilliant People-to-People Program and spend the evening having an unforgettable meal with a Bahamian family. 

You can find a lovely, down-to-earth resort, from places like Hideaways at Palm Bay (Rooms from $165) or the historic Peace ’n Plenty, replete wit)h its own beach club on nearby Stocking Island (rooms from $350) the Grand Isle residential resort; or the Exuma Point ($203). 

You can venture to George Town and get a slice of life in one of The Bahamas’ loveliest capitals. Just make sure you get a cold mango daiquiri from Sonia, right on the harbor.

But it all comes back to that water. You can laze on the impossibly white sand, take long walks on beaches like Hooper’s Bay or Coco Plum (or take the trip down to Tropic of Cancer on Little Exuma, connected by a small bridge from the mainland). You can rent a car and spend your vacation beach-hopping. 

Or you can go bone fishing all over the island (including near White Bay), or take the charter and find your cay for the day. 

Or you can just savor the sea here. It’s a spiritual experience. The water is mystical. I’ve been just about everywhere in the Caribbean and the water in Exuma, it’s, well, it’s different. You can’t really explain Exuma. You have to live it, to feel it. 

Sure, you can see the blue from photos (astronauts even see it from space). It’s a place where the beauty is otherworldly, where the water is a blue you haven’t thought possible. Electric blue. Windex. Azure. Aquamarine. These are the words people throw around, but they don’t really do it justice. They can’t. You have to be there. So what are you waiting for?