Reviewed by Adrian Sneed, Charter Broker at Sneed Tropical Yacht Charters — a family brokerage arranging Bahamas charters since 1992. Rates, taxes and fees checked August 2026.

Nassau is not really a destination on a charter itinerary. It is the hinge. It is where the yacht is waiting, where the crew provisions, where your flight lands and where the paperwork gets done — and then you leave. Understanding that changes how you plan the week, because the good decisions are about how fast you get out of the harbour and which way you turn.

Why almost every Bahamas charter starts in Nassau

Three practical reasons, none of them romantic.

The airport. Lynden Pindling International (NAS) is the main gateway to the country, and Nassau is one of the few destinations in the region with United States pre-clearance — you clear US immigration in Nassau before you board, and walk off as a domestic arrival at the other end. On the last morning of a charter, that matters more than it sounds.

The yachts are already here. Crewed boats base themselves where the guests, the fuel, the provisioning and the technicians are. Starting anywhere else usually means moving a yacht that was not planning to move.

The marinas can take them. Nassau Harbour and Paradise Island have the depth, the berth length and the port-of-entry status that a charter yacht needs. Much of the rest of the Bahamas does not.

You are not locked into it. Charters can begin in the Exumas, Bimini or Florida instead — but a yacht that has to reposition will quote a relocation fee for the time and fuel, and that is a real number, not a formality. We explain how that works on the Bahamas yacht charter page.

Where your yacht will be waiting

Three marinas take the great majority of crewed charter departures. Which one you use is usually decided by the yacht’s length and draft, not by preference.

The Marina at Atlantis, Paradise Island

Sixty-three slips with direct access from Nassau Harbour, taking vessels up to 250 feet, with a minimum of 12 feet of water at low tide. Atlantis describes it as the only true hurricane-protected marina basin in the Bahamas. It is the address for larger motor yachts, and the one guests recognise.

Nassau Yacht Haven, East Bay Street

One hundred and thirty slips, vessels to 220 feet, 12 feet at low tide, and a designated port of entry. It calls itself the largest marina in Nassau and the oldest continuously operating marina in the Bahamas. There is no fuel service on site, which the crew will plan around rather than mention to you.

Palm Cay Marina, south-east New Providence

One hundred and ninety-four slips, vessels from 18 to 100 feet, 8 feet at low tide, and a port of entry. Its advantage is geographic: it sits on the Exuma side of the island, roughly 28 miles from the start of the chain, against about 36 nautical miles from Nassau Harbour up to Highbourne Cay. Leaving from Palm Cay can save you a couple of hours of the first day, which is the difference between arriving somewhere and arriving somewhere in daylight.

Where you go from Nassau

Two directions, and almost everyone picks the first.

South-east into the Exumas

A chain of roughly 365 cays running south-east from Nassau, most of them uninhabited, in water shallow enough that the colour becomes the point. From Palm Cay the first anchorage is a few hours away. A typical week works down the chain and back: Allen’s Cay and its rock iguanas, Highbourne Cay, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park at Warderick Wells where nothing may be taken from the water, Big Major Spot for the swimming pigs, and Staniel Cay for Thunderball Grotto, the cave used in the 1965 Bond film. Full detail on the Exumas yacht charter page.

North-east to Eleuthera and Harbour Island

A longer open-water leg and a different week: pink sand at Harbour Island, the clapboard streets of Dunmore Town, Spanish Wells, and far fewer yachts than the Exumas in high season. It suits people who want villages and dinners ashore rather than empty anchorages. See the Eleuthera yacht charter page.

You can combine them in ten days. In seven, choosing one and doing it properly beats covering both badly — and the crew will tell you the same thing.

Not staying a week? A Nassau day charter takes the same yachts out for four, six or eight hours — Rose Island, the sandbars and back the same afternoon.

There is a third option that does not start here at all. The Abacos, 89 nautical miles north, are sheltered, short-hop cruising with real settlements, and a yacht will usually reposition from Nassau to meet you there for a relocation fee.

What a charter from Nassau costs

Rates do not change because you leave from Nassau — they change with the yacht. The ranges, the Advance Provisioning Allowance and the Bahamian taxes are set out in full on the Bahamas yacht charter page. What is specific to Nassau is this: it is the one departure point that normally carries no relocation charge, because the fleet is already here. Every other starting point adds one.

See also our guide to yacht charter cost.

When to go

We charter Nassau year-round, with caveats. December to April is the settled, busy, expensive stretch, and Christmas and New Year book furthest ahead. May, June and November are the value windows — warm water, thinner crowds, prices that have not yet moved. August through October is hurricane season; charters still run, but they run with a weather plan and flexible thinking, and that is a conversation to have with a broker rather than a box to tick.

Nassau’s own advantage in a marginal week is that it is easy to leave from and easy to get home from. If a system is tracking, being a short taxi ride from an international airport is not nothing.

What is included, and what is not

Charters here are quoted either all-inclusive or plus expenses, the second running fuel, provisioning and dockage through an Advance Provisioning Allowance. Which one you are looking at changes the real number a lot, so we set it out in writing before you commit — the mechanics are explained in full on the Bahamas yacht charter page.

Nassau yacht charter FAQs

What happens after you send your dates

Four things, in this order.

• One dedicated broker. You deal with the same person from first enquiry through to disembarkation, not a call centre or a rotating queue.
• A reply within 24 hours. A broker reads every enquiry personally and comes back with a shortlist, or an honest answer if your dates are tight.
• No obligation at enquiry. We shortlist and quote against your dates before you commit to anything. If nothing fits, we say so.

Send your dates

Tell us the week, the island group and how many are aboard, and your broker comes back with the yachts that are actually free — and what they will cost with APA included. Get your shortlist.