Actually we were going to explore the island of Great Exuma by car. Since because of the Easter weekend and the Family Island Regatta all rental cars were unfortunately fully booked, we had to think about something else. And our Peace and Plenty Hotel and Beach Club offers a day trip to the nearby island of Stocking Island on 🙂
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Things to know about Stocking Island
Stocking Island is a small long and narrow island located about 2 kilometers from George Town (Great Exuma). The island has beautiful white sandy beaches and some hiking trails. The island is also home to the Stromatolites, which are considered to be the oldest known macro fossils in the world. The island is also home to the Angelfish Blue Hole, Jacques Cousteau Mystery Cave and a monument. The monument is sometimes referred to as the Salt Beacon because it was used (when lit) to direct cargo ships into Elizabeth Harbour to George Town to collect salt. The salt was mined in various places on Great and Little Exuma.
The central part of Stocking Island also has a bay known as Hurricane Hole, where sailboats anchor to protect against storms.
Stocking Island off Great Exuma
How to get to Stocking Island?
From George Town on Great Exuma you can either take Stocking Island by water taxi for 15 USD per person (round-each) or you can rent your own boat at Minn’s Water Sports and travels alone to the island. Our hotel has offered a free boat transfer to the island several times a day.
The beach restaurant Chat ‘N’ Chill
The point of contact for many tourists on Stocking Island is the beach restaurant Chat ‘N’ Chill, which is located at ‘The Point’ on Stocking Island. The bar is surrounded by a beautiful sandy beach where you can spend a relaxing day.
We were here on a Sunday and accordingly it was quite crowded on the beach section in front of the restaurant. But we really liked the atmosphere here. Pure Caribbean feeling! We also had lunch in the Beach Bar. The prices were perfectly fine, but the preparation really takes laaaange. But we also found the right note on the website 😉
THIS IS A SLOW FOOD SPOT! We invite you to just “CHILL” while your food is prepared.
If you walk from the Beach Bar a few meters further, you will come to a pristine beach where no one was. No music, no other tourists, just peace and quiet – along with white sand and turquoise blue water, what more could you want?
The Bahamas Specialty Conch Salad
On the beach of Chat ‘N’ Chill there is a small sweet cottage with the inscription ‘Conch Bar’. Conch (pronounced: Konk) are a Caribbean sea snail species and a real Bahamas specialty. The shells look beautiful from the outside and are very decorative.
The mussels are taken directly from the sea, cracked and broken. After the shell has been pulled out of its enclosure, it is pulled off, washed and crushed. The mussel meat is white, but relatively firm with a somewhat tough texture. Together with chopped tomatoes, onions, green peppers, lime and lemon juice, it makes a fresh salad, but we didn’t really like it.
A little later we had the opportunity to eat Conch Fritters, which were more to our taste. For this purpose, bite-sized balls of fresh mussel meat are mixed with finely diced peppers and onions, mixed with flour and fried.
The encounter with stingrays
The absolute highlight on the beach of Chat ‘N’ Chill is not the Conch Salad, but the really huge stingrays. They gather near the Conch Bar and hope to get a bit of mussel meat. Since there is always small waste when cleaning the mussels, you can feed the stingrays herewith free of charge. The rays come really close to the beach and then even eat the mussel meat out of your hand. What an experience!
More impressions of Stocking Island
In total we were 2 times on the island and also took the time to walk along the deserted beach and take some nice pictures with our drone DJI Mavic 2 Pro. You will find many great photo spots on Stocking Island and a trip to the island is definitely worth 🙂
All travelogues from the Bahamas
The Bahamas have been on our bucket list for a really long time. And this year we had found a relatively good and cheap flight offer to combine the Bahamas with a few days in Florida afterwards. On our trip we visited different islands on the Bahamas in 9 days and these are our travel reports:
» Travel Planing: The Bahamas and Florida & our flight to Nassau
» New Providence: Tourist Attractions, Things to Do & Photo spots in Nassau
» New Providence: Hotel Atlantis & Paradise Island
» Exumas: Flight to Great Exuma Island & Hotel in George Town
» Exumas: Beaches & Sting Rays feeding on Stocking Island
» Exumas: The swimming Pigs of Big Major Cay
» Exumas: Swimming with the nurse sharks of Compass Cay
» Long Island: The Stella Maris Resort & our Kayak Tour
» Long Island: Self guided tour around the island by car
» Long Island: The swimming Pigs at Dove Cay
» Long Island: Diving in the underwater world of the Caribbean