BeachGirl247

We will have almost 5 days to spend in the area. We are arriving at 3pm on Wed and departing at 3:30 on the following Monday.

We want to stay at St. Francis on Stocking Island for sure. However, we wonder if staying at the Four Seasons for one night upon arrival for r&r after traveling a day 1/2 would be nice. And it could offer more exploration at the north end of the island if we got a rental car upon arrival the following day. (I have a free night's stay but don't care if we use it this trip.)

I am wanting to see and do:

Tropic of Cancer Beach
Beaches of Stocking Island
Sunday Pig roast at Chat-n-Chill
Exploring beaches by boat or using Starfish for their excursion
Long Island day trip if it is available and makes sense

I was thinking:

Day 1: Rent a car upon arrival and overnight at 4Seasons for r&r

Day 2: head out the next day for exploring north of the hotel around Coco Plum Beach and having lunch there.

Then head back to Georgetown to return the car and ferry over to St. Francis on Stocking Island to check in. (need to know how often the ferry runs.)

Day 3: explore the beaches of Stocking Island. Do I need a car? Bike?

Day 4: rent a boat to explore other beaches or take the Long Island day trip if they are doing this.

Day 5: Pig Roast at Chat-N-Chill for sure.

Day 6: We have until our plane leaves at 3:30pm. What to do? Rent a car in the am and go to Tropic of Cancer beach and eat lunch there? OR, relax at Stocking and enjoy our last beach day there.

Is this too much for a short visit?

We like to relax at the beach and explore, too.

What do you think?

mnag

Sounds like too much for a 5 day trip in my opinion. Especially the day trip to LI part. LI is wonderful but I think needs a whole other trip to do it justice. I would spend the day exploring other beaches in Exuma.

BeachGirl247

Thanks, mnag. It's hard not wanting to put more in to the trip when it takes so long for us to get there.

BeachGirl247

I've nixed the Long Island day trip.

I'm on the fence about where to stay the first night if anyone can chime in on their experience there. I know it's a remote location but hopefully, someone can chime in.

Thanks.

blamona

A couple of observations:
You'll have to leave Long Island out, you're packing way too much into those days, as everyone underestimates how long Great Exuma is. From airport to 4 Seasons in 1 direction is at least 1/2 hour. There is nothing on that end other than marina, 4 Seasons and Grand Isle complex, and about 15 minutes from that Coco Plum Beach. (Which is stunning by the way.) From airport to the other direction is Georgetown, so another 45 minutes. (So from 4 Seasons to Georgetown is a little more than an hour) Georgetown has water taxi to Chat N Chill, which is the only way to go-you need a boat to reach it. There is also a taxi from Club Peace and Plenty to their beach shack restaurant and beach, again, the only way to go. To get around Stocking to those 2 places, you need a boat, there are no roads (unless things have changed in the last 4 years.) you have to reach the different beaches by boat. If it's not too late, I would base out of Georgetown, much easier base to do what you want to do. You may want to call Starfish to see if they'll pick you up at Stocking and take you around. If you get a boat from them (with captain) you can actually explore the best beaches of the cays, plus Tropic of Cancer. (Do not miss Moriah Cay, and Duck Cay is pretty cool too.) If Starfish won't pick you up, then you'll be pretty much stuck at Stocking Island. Where you are staying is more of a "get away from it all" than a base to explore. (Stickly my opinion-you may want to ask them how to get around.)

The only way to Chat N'Chill to my knowledge, is either private boat or the water taxi from Georgetown. When I last visited Stocking Island, there were no roads, not even paths to the different beaches.

As for Tropic of Cancer Beach, from Georgetown it took us at least 1 hour to get there. (We were exploring so probably took longer.) There is nowhere to eat around there--so you must bring food with you.

My opinion again, but if you only have "almost" 5 days, and want to do everything you want to do, you have a better base in Georgetown, I would check out Club Peace and Plenty and Palm Bay Beach Club. Or at least ask St. Francis if you can achieve what you want to achieve.

BeachGirl247

Thanks, Blamona. We will have a boat rental the entire trip. I think I may ditch the Four Seasons as I knew it was far but didn't know it was that far up the island. If I have to miss Coco Plum Beach that is fine. We explored for a couple of days at Cat Island and really enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful beaches and wanted to get to some of them on Exuma, too.

Chat-N-Chill is still accessible only by boat. We'll kayak over from St. Francis or take our rental boat.

I have Starfish down already and have tried contacting them to see what they can offer while we are there. I'll keep trying!

Thanks for taking time to help out.
BeachGirl

MollyM

Hi BeachGirl,
In December I took a day trip to the Exuma Cays from Nassau and it was amazing. I would definitely recommend you have one whole day to just boat from cay to cay. Allen's Cay (at the tippy-top) is an undeveloped island crawling with hundred of wild iguanas! They are friendly though, and we jumped off the boat and fed them grapes. It was a really cool experience. On the next cay over is a place called Norman's Beach Club. Exactly the kind of laidback beach shack you'd imagine, but the food was incredible! It's the perfect place for some fresh fish and a few margaritas. The cay has great beaches, too.

I didn't have a chance to do this, but one of the cays has swimming pigs surrounding it, which I heard was really cool to see. I'm heading back to the Exumas in a couple weeks, so if your trip is after May 15, I'll have more to report!

BeachGirl247

Thanks Molly. I bet that was a great day trip. I do want to get to those you mentioned but they are too far from where we are staying. We're at the south end of the Exumas -- Georgetown/Stocking Island. We're hoping to make it to make it to the north end and Staniel Cay next year.

I'm looking forward to your report, Molly! Have a great trip.