We spent the majority of this trip to the Bahamas on Great Exuma Island in the capital city of George Town. The Exumas are a long chain of islands, Great Exuma is the largest and by far most populous of these. The main airport, shown here, is a very small building (we had to wait outside the airport for another flight to leave before they had room for our flight to enter). It does satisfy all the basic airport functionality though. If you're here early, it might be worth hanging out at the restaurant/bar across the street first though.

We stayed in George Town in a private apartment rental near the harbor which was a lovely beautiful location with views of the wider harbor. George Town is basically a circle around Lake Victoria which has water access to the ocean. Almost every commercial business is located on the circle around the lake and if you're anywhere near this, everything is walking distance. There's a grocery store near the bridge and a handful of restaurants around.

You do not need a car to get around here - we managed it without one. However, we sort of wish we had one a couple times, particularly because we were not staying on a beach. We used taxis to get around which is not difficult but there aren't a lot of them on the island so if you stray too far from the main tourist corridor it may take a while to get picked up.

Across the harbor from George Town is Stocking Island. Another long narrow island which acts as a barrier island to protect George Town and has a couple of resorts on it. It's a quick boat trip from the George Town port over to the beach on Stocking Island. Reservations on the boat trips help if you're visiting during a crowded time.

The beach facing George Town features the locally iconic (is that a phrase?) restaurant called Chat-n-Chill. They serve a variety of snacks and drinks and have some picnic tables in the shade to sit at when you want a break from the sun. Also, they have bathrooms.

They are also known for the extremely fresh conch salad (as in, they extract the conch when you order it). Basically conch and chopped veggies in lime juice. The ever-present sound of conchs being chopped into salad is part of the day here.

As for the water, it's classic Bahamas. Very clear, shallow for a considerable distance and full of sea life. There is not however a reef of any size in the immediate vicinity. Also the navigation channel is not far from shore so the snorkeling area is limited.

Great Exuma has many beautiful beaches, but again we had no car so we had to basically pick one for the day and arrange with a taxi for drop off and pick up. This is Jolly Hall Beach just a few miles north of George Town. This is a beautiful beach with parking just alongside the road. A few trails lead through the trees to emerge here. There are no resorts on the beach and maybe one or two homes indirectly so it was not at all crowded. In fact, there was no one else in sight for much of the day. This means there are no facilities either so bring your own food and water.

Here's a picture of it once there was a crowd. Again, the water is almost impossibly clear. We could see stingrays swimming halfway across the bay. There is no reef here to speak of either but the snorkeling isn't bad just because the water clarity is so good.