With a year-round warm climate and welcoming waters, the islands of The Bahamas are favorites among the superyacht set. But, if you’re new to yachting, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. For insight into cruising The Bahamas, Our editor, Diane M. Byrne, sat down with John Pinder (below), the parliamentary secretary for the country’s Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation. For him, encouraging you to come isn’t just his job, it’s personal. He’s a direct descendant of the first settlers of Hope Town and Cherokee Sound in Abaco.
Diane M. Byrne: Cruising The Bahamas, of course, is a favorite pastime for lots of people. If you had the opportunity to sit with someone who’s brand new to yacht ownership, what would you say if they said, “Well, tell me about The Bahamas; what can we do?”
John Pinder: The Bahamas is 100,000 square miles and thousands of cays and islands. The superyacht community can really get to the majority of our islands. You could go to Paradise Island to the casino and the nice restaurants, you can have world-class service, and then you can venture out a little bit to the Abacos or Eleuthera or the 360 islands in the Exumas and feel what else we offer. Get on shore, go talk with some of the Bahamians and feel our culture, then get your anchor ready to go further south. Pull up on a beach or an island that nobody else is at, and sit there in the afternoons and see the turtles swim by, maybe throw a line out and grab dinner that night, and go walk on the beach. Take a nice snorkel around and see the natural beauty of our marine ecosystems.
But particularly for superyachts, you can spend a month and do various things from high scale to mom-and-pop restaurants to just hang out by yourselves. There are boutique marinas throughout the central Bahamas, so you can stop in and get provisions. Get on land and see a little bit of what’s going on. Then go to one of the other islands to see what it has. You can hang out with the big iguanas in North Exuma, and go see the Abaco parrots in South Abaco and the flamingos down south in Inagua. There’s a world of things to do. It’s 100,000 square miles of pristine and crystal blue water. It’s a playground for those who love us.
Diane M. Byrne: Because of such diverse space, does each island chain have its own personality? Obviously, they’re all Bahamian, but is there a special feel or flavor to them?
John Pinder: Yes, every island in The Bahamas has a uniqueness. You know if you’re speaking to somebody from Exuma, or Long Island, because every island has an accent, and every island has their unique twist to our Bahamian culture. But also the great thing about sitting there and having a conversation with a local is that they’ll tell you the best spots. They’ll tell you where the best features are. They’ll say, “Around the corner, around that rock, that’s where you get the best hogfish.” So, it’s not only feeling the culture, but it’s being able to get some local knowledge on where to go and what to do. And we’re all friendly. You might find someone jump aboard and show you where to go.
Every Island has its own culture, like the pineapple festival in Eleuthera, and the mutton festival in Long Island. We have a lot of different festivals and activities, highlighting each of the islands. And let me not forget about sailing. Sailing is embedded in the Bahamas. So every island has its own sailing regatta. The locals take wooden sailboats with cotton sails, which we used to use as our workboats—we used to take them fishing, but now we race them. And that’s a true cultural experience. So if you plan your trip right, you could anchor off and from the back of your yacht enjoy true sloop sailing, an experience of Bahamian cultural heritage. They’re spread out throughout the islands. Some are smaller, some are bigger; it just depends on where you are. So there’s a lot to see.
Diane M. Byrne: Conservation is increasingly important. The yachting community wants to be protective of the waters they’re visiting. Are there any conservation activities that owners and guests can get involved in while they’re cruising The Bahamas?
John Pinder: We conserve a great deal of square miles so that we can have a nursery, a breeding ground for our marine life. So when you grab a queen conch and you’re cleaning it up to make a conch salad, and you throw some in the water, stingrays come swimming around your feet to eat it. Or maybe you’re cleaning your fish and you see a bunch of reef sharks running around. That’s the experience: the pods of dolphins, whales pass, manatees in the harbor. There’s a reef ecosystem that is second to very few in the entire world. It’s the third-largest barrier reef in the world, one of the most energized and vibrant reefs worldwide. We are preserving and making sure that those things are there for generations to come.
There are a lot of associations that do projects throughout The Bahamas. The Bahamas was in the forefront of sustainability. First of all, our entire tourism is built on sustainability. We cannot have anything happen to our beaches, our mangroves, our reefs, or our islands because that’s what people come to see. That said, there are many organizations like the Bahamas National Trust and Friends of the Environment, and they do projects in different islands at different times of the year. So yes, when they’re cruising through, if they want to help out, there are events and projects in our national parks. You should be mindful of certain areas when you drop an anchor. Make sure to avoid our reefs and our coral. It’s a personal responsibility to help protect our environment.
The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investment and Aviation bahamas.com
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