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.

A day charter is a different thing from a week aboard, and the mistake people make is booking it like a tour. You are not buying a seat on a boat with forty strangers and a set route. You are taking the whole yacht, with its captain and crew, and deciding on the morning what the day looks like.

What you actually get

The yacht, exclusively, for the hours you book. A captain and crew who know the water east of Nassau well enough to read it rather than follow a line on a plotter. Water toys on most boats. And a route that gets adjusted in front of you — if the wind has come round and the anchorage you planned is uncomfortable, the crew moves you somewhere that is not.

What it is not: a scheduled excursion, a shared vessel, or a fixed itinerary printed a week in advance.

Four, six or eight hours

The hours are the biggest single lever on the price, and on how the day feels.

Four hours

A half day. Realistically that is one destination and one long stop — out to Rose Island, three miles east of Paradise Island and about twenty-five minutes away, a swim, the pigs, and back. It works well as a morning before an afternoon flight, or an addition to a cruise-ship day. It does not leave room for a second stop without rushing the first.

Six hours

The one most groups end up taking. Two stops, an unhurried lunch at anchor, snorkelling somewhere with structure, and enough slack that nobody is watching the clock. If you are undecided, book six.

Eight hours

A full day, and the only version that lets you go further than the immediate cays — a sandbar that only exists at the right state of tide, a beach with nobody on it, a slow run home in the late light. Also the right choice for a group that wants the day to be the occasion rather than fit around one.

One honest limit: the Exumas are not a Nassau day trip. Highbourne Cay is 36 nautical miles out, Staniel Cay 73. On most yachts that is the whole day spent running, with a swim in the middle. If the swimming pigs at Big Major and Thunderball Grotto are the point of the trip, you want an overnight or a week — see Bahamas yacht charters.

Where a Nassau day charter goes

Almost everything worth doing in a day sits east of Nassau Harbour, in the shelter behind the cays.

Rose Island

Three miles east of Paradise Island, about twenty-five to thirty minutes out, and uninhabited. Long sand beaches, reliable snorkelling, and a group of swimming pigs — which surprises people who assume you have to run to the Exumas for that. On most day charters this is the anchor point of the whole trip.

Sandbars and shallow anchorages

The banks east of Nassau throw up sandbars that surface for a few hours either side of low water and then disappear. They are the reason to have a captain who works this water daily rather than a route that was decided on Tuesday.

Reefs and wrecks

Snorkelling stops within the day-charter range include reef heads in ten to twenty feet and, depending on the yacht and the conditions, film-set wrecks off the north shore. The crew will pick based on wind direction and how confident your group is in the water.

What a Nassau day charter costs

From $6,000. Where you land above that depends on two things: the hours you book and the yacht you take. A larger yacht with more crew and more toys costs more for the same four hours than a smaller one does for eight.

The part worth reading twice: not every day charter is all-inclusive. On some yachts the rate covers fuel, crew, food, drinks and any dockage. On others, some or all of those sit outside it and are billed separately. Neither is wrong — but a quote that looks $1,500 cheaper is not cheaper if fuel and catering are not in it. When we shortlist, we tell you what each rate contains and what it does not, in writing, before you decide.

Bahamian VAT applies to charter on top of the rate. Gratuity for the crew is customary and discretionary, and is not part of the quoted figure.

What is included, and what is not

It varies by yacht, which is exactly why we spell it out per boat. Typically inside the rate: the yacht, the captain and crew, standard water toys, and ice. Typically variable: fuel for the hours run, food and beverages, any marina or dockage fees, and transfers to the marina. Always outside it: VAT, and gratuity.

Guest numbers on a day charter are usually capped by the yacht’s licence rather than its size, so tell us how many are coming at the enquiry stage — it changes the shortlist more than people expect.

Nassau day charter FAQs

What happens after you enquire

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, how many hours you want 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.