The Bahamas is the one Caribbean cruising ground where winter is not automatically the answer. Cold fronts come down off the American mainland from November to March and turn the wind north west for a day or two at a time, which matters enormously on banks that are shallow, open and almost entirely without shelter from that direction. The published pricing follows the weather closely.
Best time to sail bahamas: the ranking, and the criterion
- April to early June: The fronts have stopped, the hurricane season has not started, and the water is at its clearest before the summer haze. The Moorings prices a seven day Exumas charter for two from 4,529 USD, with a skippered package from 14,559 and crewed from 22,619, and this is the band where the lower end of those ranges is actually available rather than sold out.
- December to March: Second, and only because of the fronts. The temperature is perfect and the Abacos Sea is the most sheltered water in the country, which is why this is the busiest and dearest window: The Moorings prices an Abacos week for two from 5,579 USD to 24,179, the highest entry price of any base it publishes in the Americas. Expect to sit out a norther for a day or two somewhere in the week.
- July to November: Last. This is hurricane season and the bareboat fleets thin out, so what remains is largely the day market out of Nassau: Sailo lists 161 boats there at an average of 4,326 USD a day, the cheapest at 1,100 and the dearest at 11,810. Flat calm and very hot, with afternoon thunderstorms, and a week planned around a storm track is not a holiday.
What a cold front does to a Bahamas week
A front arrives as a clocking wind: south east, then south west as it passes, then hard north west for twelve to thirty six hours before settling north east. The Exumas anchorages are almost all open to the west, so the passage of a front means moving before it arrives rather than riding it out where you are. The Abacos Sea is enclosed enough that it matters less, which is most of the reason that ground costs more to charter.
Draught, which decides more than season does
The banks are two to four metres over long distances and the cuts between the Exuma cays run shallow at the edges. Catamarans dominate the Bahamas fleet for that reason rather than for comfort, and the tide tables matter more here than anywhere else in the Caribbean. Bases publish a draught limit for each boat and a list of cuts a given hull may not use, and that list is part of the charter agreement rather than advice.
What the two grounds cost against each other
Read on 11 September 2026, The Moorings prices a seven day charter for two from 5,579 USD in the Abacos and 4,529 in the Exumas, and states additional costs from around 1,300 for two people in both. The Exumas range runs to 49,919 against 24,179 in the Abacos, because the Exumas carry the large crewed boats and the Abacos do not. Adding a skipper to a bareboat is 345 a night in the Exumas.
Questions people ask about best time to sail Bahamas
When is the best time to sail the Bahamas?
April to early June: the winter cold fronts have stopped, the hurricane season has not started, and the lower end of the published ranges is still available. The Moorings prices an Exumas week for two from 4,529 USD.
Is winter a bad time in the Bahamas?
Not bad, but interrupted. Cold fronts come down from the American mainland roughly weekly from November to March and blow hard from the north west for a day or two, and most Exumas anchorages are open to that direction.
Which is cheaper, the Abacos or the Exumas?
The Exumas, at 4,529 USD for a seven day charter for two against 5,579 in the Abacos with The Moorings, read on 11 September 2026. The Exumas range runs higher at the top because that ground carries the large crewed boats.