The Family Islands, as Bahamians call them, are everything Nassau is not: quiet, unhurried, and largely untouched by mass tourism. The archipelago spreads across more than 700 islands and cays southeast of Florida, and the ones worth knowing about reward visitors who make the extra effort to reach them.
For accommodation specifics, see Out Islands Accommodation. For cost planning, see Out Islands Budget.
Berry Islands
The Berry Islands are a chain of nearly 30 cays sitting above the Tongue of the Ocean, roughly between Nassau and Bimini. Most cays are uninhabited. The two centers of activity are Great Harbour Cay, which has the main airstrip for domestic flights from Nassau, and Chub Cay, which has its own international airport about 45 minutes by plane from South Florida.
The draw is fishing and diving. The island group sits at the edge of a deep ocean trench, which produces strong marine life on the reef walls below. Hoffman's Cay Blue Hole, 600 feet wide with a 20-foot cliff above the water, is one of the more dramatic blue hole experiences in the Bahamas. Great Harbour Cay and Chub Cay attract serious boaters and anglers. The annual Chub Cay Invitational Fishing Tournament anchors the social calendar.
Private island rentals are also possible: Little Whale Cay is privately owned but available to rent in its entirety.
Cat Island
Cat Island is one of the least-visited islands in the Bahamas and one of the most culturally rich. Mount Alvernia, at 206 feet, is the highest point in the entire archipelago. At its summit sits the Hermitage, a small monastery and chapel built by hand by Father Jerome Hawes, an architect-turned-hermit priest who spent his final years there. It is one of the more singular things to see in the Bahamas.
Arthur's Town, the island's capital, is the birthplace of actor Sidney Poitier. The island has an eight-mile pink sand beach, shark diving, and a reputation as the heartland of rake 'n' scrape, the Bahamas' most distinctly local musical form. Cat Island residents also maintain active bush medicine and basket-weaving traditions.
Arthur's Town Airport serves the north; New Bight Airport serves the south, near Mt. Alvernia.
San Salvador
San Salvador is a small, remote island in the central Bahamas with outsized significance: it is widely considered the site of Columbus's first landfall in the Americas in 1492, and several monuments mark competing theories about where exactly he came ashore.
For most visitors today the draw is diving. The island has about 50 named dive sites, including Vicky's Reef and Hole in the Wall, with waters that stay uncrowded because the island itself is remote and sees few tourists. Riding Rock Inn is the established dive-focused property, with visiting dive groups returning year after year.
San Salvador Airport handles both international and domestic arrivals. There is no other way to reach the island.
Rum Cay
Rum Cay is best understood as a wreck diving destination accessible as a day trip from Long Island by boat or charter flight. The HMS Conqueror and the Santa Maria Teresa, a 360-foot Spanish battleship sunk in 1898, are both diveable. The island also has reef diving and fishing, with Port Nelson as the only settlement.
Very few visitors stay overnight. Accommodation is minimal by design; most people treat it as an extension of a Long Island trip.
Acklins and Crooked Island
These two southern islands flank the Bight of Acklins, a 500-square-mile shallow lagoon that is one of the premier bonefishing environments in the world. Lodges here are oriented almost entirely around fishing, and packages typically include personal Bahamian guides. The flats are remote and see little pressure.
Acklins also contains the largest known Lucayan Indian settlement in the Bahamas, adding archaeological interest for visitors inclined toward it. Spring Point Airport connects Acklins to Crooked Island and Nassau. The two islands are separated by the lagoon itself; ferry service exists but can be irregular, confirm locally before planning.
Inagua
Inagua is a birdwatcher's destination first and foremost. Inagua National Park covers nearly half of Great Inagua and protects a flamingo colony of over 80,000 West Indian flamingos, the largest in the western hemisphere, along with 140 species of native and migratory birds. Morton Salt operates one of the largest solar salt operations in the world on the island, and its evaporation ponds are part of what sustains the flamingo population.
Accommodation is small-scale and eco-oriented by nature. Inagua International Airport in Matthew Town serves domestic routes to Nassau and Mayaguana. Little Inagua, just north of Great Inagua, is the largest uninhabited cay in the Caribbean and a protected sea turtle habitat; it requires a private boat to reach.
Ragged Island
Ragged Island sits at the southern end of the Jumentos Cays chain, roughly 120 miles southwest of Nassau. It is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the Bahamas. Duncan Town is the only settlement. There are no commercial flights; access is by private charter to Duncan Town Airport or by boat from Long Island.
The draw is bonefishing on flats that see almost no pressure, along with grouper, snapper, barracuda, and tuna in the surrounding waters. Hog Cay, just north of Ragged Island, is a day trip from Duncan Town and offers birdwatching and picnic spots.
Mayaguana
Mayaguana is the most isolated and least developed inhabited island in the Bahamas, and it knows it. Abraham's Bay is the main settlement. The accommodation is basic and the infrastructure is minimal. Mayaguana Airport near Abraham's Bay has scheduled service to Nassau.
Visitors come for genuine remoteness. The island has undisturbed beaches, clear water, and almost no tourism infrastructure. Homecoming festivals at Betsy Bay, Abraham's Bay, and Pirate's Well offer the best opportunity to see authentic community life and eat food, land crab, fish salad, boiled conch, that does not appear in any restaurant. If your timing overlaps with one of these, prioritize it.