A bareboat in the Bahamas is a different job from a bareboat in the Virgin Islands, and the companies that charter here know it. The water is shallow over enormous distances, the charts are older than the sandbars in places, and the anchorages in the Exumas are open to the direction the winter fronts arrive from. None of that is difficult; all of it is different.
The published price
Read on 11 September 2026, The Moorings prices a seven day Exumas bareboat charter for two from 4,529 USD and an Abacos week from 5,579 to 24,179, and states additional costs from around 1,300 for two people in both. A skipper added to an Exumas bareboat is 345 USD a night, which is 2,415 over a week, and is the cheapest way to buy the local knowledge the ground asks for.
The three things the banks demand
Reading water color, because dark blue is deep, pale green is thin and brown is coral, and that is the working navigation over the banks. Timing the cuts between cays so the tide is not running against the wind, which makes a standing wave in the narrows. And watching the front forecast from November to March, because the wind clocks into the north west for a day or two roughly weekly and most Exumas anchorages are open to it.
Which ground for a first bareboat
The Abacos. The barrier cays keep the sea flat, hops are five to fifteen miles, settlements are close together and there is nothing to navigate around except the Whale Cay Passage, which must be run outside the barrier and closes in a north east swell. The Exumas are more open, more remote and better, and they are the second Bahamian week rather than the first.
The paperwork
A cruising permit and a fishing permit are issued together on clearing in, priced by boat length, and the charter base normally handles them. Passports for everybody. No sailing qualification is legally required, but every fleet asks the named skipper for a resume and most want recent experience on a comparable boat, and a thin resume means a skipper for the first day or for the week.
Questions people ask about bare boat charter Bahamas
How much is a bareboat charter in the Bahamas?
The Moorings prices a seven day Exumas bareboat for two from 4,529 USD and an Abacos week from 5,579 to 24,179, plus additional costs from around 1,300, read on 11 September 2026.
Which ground suits a first bareboat?
The Abacos. The barrier cays keep the sea flat, hops are five to fifteen miles and settlements are close together. The one hazard is the Whale Cay Passage, run outside the barrier and closed in a north east swell.
Do you need a qualification?
Not legally, but every fleet asks the named skipper for a sailing resume and most want recent experience on a comparable boat. A thin resume means a skipper for the first day or for the whole week.
What does a skipper cost?
The Moorings charges 345 USD a night to add one to an Exumas bareboat, which is 2,415 over a week and the cheapest way to buy local knowledge of the banks, the cuts and the fronts.