Staniel Cay: The Ideal Destination For Your Exuma Wedding
Staniel Cay in the Bahamas is an insanely beautiful destination to host the perfect Exuma wedding you’ve always imagined. The Crown Jewel of the Bahamas Out Islands, Staniel Cay offers a magical setting for a simple but elegant wedding.
Why Host Your Bahamas Destination Wedding on Staniel Cay
Staniel Cay is one of the magical islands located in the Exuma Cays, southeast of Nassau, Bahamas. Although it’s a small island, it has all the facilities you need for a beautiful island wedding ceremony. What’s more, with a full-time residential population of less than 100 and not many tourist visits, it would almost feel like you’re celebrating your big day on your own private island.
Just like other wedding destinations in the Bahamas, Staniel Cay is so beautiful that your wedding pictures may never do it justice. But, this small island offers much more – intimate encounters with nature that you would never find anywhere else. After your wedding ceremony, your wedding party can enjoy once-in-a-lifetime experiences like swimming with sharks and feeding almost extinct iguanas. You can also indulge in the usual island fun such as snorkeling, diving, boating, and more.
Getting To Staniel Cay For Your Bahamas Destination Wedding
Even though Staniel Cay is in the Bahamas Out Islands, you don’t have to worry about how to get there. Unlike other private destinations, getting to Staniel Cay for your Bahamas destination wedding is easy and straightforward. You can board a direct flight to the island with Staniel Air from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport in Florida. If you’re outside the U.S. or can’t fly out of Florida, several airlines have flights to Staniel Cay from Nassau. Furthermore, the Staniel Cay Airport is located at the center of the island. So, you can easily reach your destination wedding venue within five minutes.
Buyout the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for Your Exuma Destination Wedding
Staniel Cay isn’t a tourist-centric Bahamas destination, so you won’t find high-rise hotels and popular resorts on the island. Nevertheless, it has a handful of luxury villas, all-inclusive resorts, and beachfront vacation homes where you can host a private wedding ceremony. However, we recommend the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for your exclusive Exuma wedding on Staniel Cay.
The Staniel Cay Yacht Club has nine waterfront bungalows, four waterfront suits, a villa, an airstrip, a restaurant, a casual bar, and a club. You can buyout the Yacht Club to celebrate your big day with your loved ones. You and your partner can stay in the Club’s villa and lodge your guests in the waterfront bungalows and suites. All the accommodation options are amazing, with balconies literally hanging over the clear Exuma turquoise waters.
You can say “I do” and host your wedding ceremony on the beach located just five minutes away from the property. Alternatively, after exchanging your vows on the beach, you can host an intimate reception dinner in the Yacht Club’s waterfront restaurant or Captain’s Lounge. You can also have a pre-wedding dinner on the Deck or a bachelor/bachelorette party at the Club.
In addition to the intimate setting for a private wedding ceremony, the Staniel Yacht Club also offers several activities that will make your Exuma destination wedding a memorable event. This includes guided tours, pig swimming, sandbarring, and more. Also, the Yacht Club will provide you with a bicycle to get around the island, as well as a boat for personal excursions.
Fun Activities To Do During Your Exuma Destination Wedding in Staniel Cay
During your Exuma destination wedding, your guests can enjoy the time of their life with numerous fun activities on Staniel Cay. Most especially the close wildlife encounters that you can’t get anywhere outside Exuma.
1. Swim with Pigs
Your wedding party can take a quick ten-minute ride to go swimming with pigs on Pig Beach. This is a fun, must-do activity that will make your Exuma destination wedding ceremony an unforgettable experience. In fact, it’s likely to be the highlight of your wedding – after your beautiful ceremony, of course. Pig Beach, officially known as Big Major Cay, is inhabited exclusively by the pigs, and it’s so much fun swimming with them. If your guests are nervous about swimming with the pigs, they can simply feed the pigs from the boat.
2. Swim with Nurse Sharks
Yes, you read that right. You and your guests that are looking for a more thrilling experience can go swimming with nurse sharks. We know that sounds dangerous, but it really isn’t. The reef sharks of Compass Cay, nearby Staniel Cay, are friendly and mostly harmless. You can even pat the nurse sharks on the back as you swim alongside them. Just imagine how a video of you swimming with sharks will look – awesome!
3. Feed Endangered Iguana
There are only about 5,000 Northern Bahamian Rock Iguana left in the world, and they are exclusively found in the Exuma. Feeding this endangered Iguana species during your Exuma wedding in Staniel Cay is another exciting wildlife encounter for your wedding party. You’ll find them out and about on the beach or the rocks at nearby Bitter Guana Cay. They grow between two to four feet long, and you can easily spot them with their distinctive thick-ringed tail and brown skin spotted with pink.
4. Explore Thunderball Grotto
Rising between Staniel Cay and Pig Island is a rock formation with a hollowed grotto where you can go snorkeling or scuba diving. The Grotto is a famous scene in the James Bond movie, Thunderball, and is named after it. You can swim through the several dark tunnels to the center of the cavern, where beams of sunlight shine through an opening at the top. There you can explore the beautiful underwater life filled with varieties of sparkling, colorful fishes.
5. Visit Staniel Cay Beaches
Besides hosting your ceremony on the beach close to Staniel Cay Yacht Club, you can visit the other four beaches on Staniel Cay. You can just go sunbathing to relax and take in the Bahamian breeze after the ceremony. Or, take your boat out fishing with your partner. You can also indulge in other water sports such as kayaking and surfing. Whatever you choose to do, you’re likely to have the beach to yourself, as the island isn’t choked with tourists.
Interested in Hosting Your Exuma Destination Wedding on Staniel Cay?
Congratulations on making the perfect choice for an Exuma destination wedding. Your wedding is definitely going to be a ceremony with many fantastic moments that will be remembered forever. Contact us at Chic Bahamas to put our wedding planning experience in Staniel Cay to work for you.