Sharing a review of our all-inclusive catamaran charter, Penny-Jo Sailing Charters, and our trip around The Exumas in the Bahamas.
A few weeks ago, we joined our friends Chris and Rachel and their two boys (ages 9 and 12) on a catamaran sailing trip in the Bahamas. Today I’m sharing the itinerary Penny-Jo Sailing Charters created for us, as well as packing tips and highlights from our trip in the Bahamas!
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Almost exactly ten years ago to the day, Kurtis and I had participated in a sailing trip in the BVI with a company I worked with back in my insurance days. Despite the fact we shared our catamaran with strangers at the time, we still, to this day, say it was one of the best experiences of our lives. So, when Rachel asked if we wanted to join them on their family catamaran trip, we couldn’t say yes more quickly!
Our catamaran, Penny-Jo, has four bedrooms, all with en-suite bathrooms. Since their family only needed two of the bedrooms, we joined in the third, and the two crew members were in the fourth.
Our catamaran crew consisted of Martin, our captain, and Suzana, our chef! They’re a lovely couple from Slovenia and it was so fun to get to know them during the week we spent together.
I’m sharing our full itinerary below, as well as some packing tips and other things you may find helpful if you embark on a similar adventure. If you want to see some video from our time on the catamaran, you can check out my Instagram highlight reel here. I also made a Reel with some video here.
Penny Jo Catamaran Sailing Itinerary
Catamaran Trip: Day 1
The first half of Day 1 was spent traveling to the Bahamas. It was a quick flight from Panama City Beach to Atlanta and then direct from Atlanta to Nassau, Bahamas. The boat charter typically recommends flying in the day before, but since we were able to arrive before noon, we flew in the same day. We arrived in Nassau a little before noon and then took a taxi to the marina.
We departed from the Nassau marina and then headed to Sandy Toes to anchor for the night. Some of our favorite memories from the trip were the time we’d spend up on the bow while sailing. We’d relax, have conversations, dance to music, and overall just soak up the sun!
We did a little swimming, had dinner, played games, looked at the stars and got used to catamaran life! The colors that evening were absolutely breathtaking! I even shared a live Instagram video at the time because they were so vivid and almost looked fake!
Catamaran Trip: Day 2
The second day, the Bahamas were experiencing much of the cold blast that hit the southern states at the same time. We bundled up for our day of sailing and enjoyed the fresh air. The water was a bit rough, but we found that if you looked forward (and more importantly weren’t using devices) none of us got seasick that day. Only one person got sick the whole trip and it was this particular evening for a brief period (this was a common question I received).
We then made a quick stop at Allen’s Cay to feed the wild rock iguanas. Our crew provided long wood skewers and grapes and lettuce we could feed them.
We sailed a few more hours and then had the chance to snorkel Pablo Escobar’s crashed airplane. I opted to view the wreckage from our dinghy but a few of the guys jumped in and said it was super cool (and a much larger plane than they expected). One of the best things I purchased for this trip was this set of floating underwater phone cases! I went with the XL and I was able to get so much great video footage underwater! The two photos below are actually screenshots from one of my videos and it still came out that clear!
Catamaran Trip: Day 3
The next day we headed to Norman’s Cay. We all agreed this was one of our favorite stops on the trip. We were able to snorkel Thunderball Grotto, essentially an underwater cave, and it was breathtaking. It was some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever seen!
Afterwards, we sailed to Pig Beach, where we were able to see the swimming pigs. Any time we needed to go to shore, our catamaran had this little dinghy that would transport us. Technically all six of us could fit on it, but we found we stayed much drier if we took two trips 😉
We fed the pigs and spent some time with them on shore. They are very food motivated, but also seemed very sweet. We saw baby pigs all the way up to some very large pigs and it was Cam’s favorite part of the trip!
This big guy could tell Kurtis wanted to pet him so he basically fell over at his feet and soaked it all in. It was pretty funny to watch.
We also found lots of pretty shells! We left most behind because a) some were very smelly and b) we had very limited space both onboard and in our duffels.
Our next stop was to swim with nurse sharks at Compass Cay!
Kurtis and Chris were the only two that jumped in, but the sharks seemed very gentle – and they said their skins were surprisingly very rough! I was content watching them from a safe distance 😉 They are still wild sharks afterall!
We explored the island a bit and walked along the beach.
There was a nurse shark that hung around our boat all night! It didn’t stop Kurtis from kayaking!
Most evenings after dinner, the group would play Farkle or Sky Jo and then lay up top and look at the stars. We were there during a full moon so it was more difficult to see the stars with the intensity of the moon. But it was always so beautiful!
Catamaran Trip: Day 4
The next morning, the adults left on the dinghy with Martin and then took a walk to Rachel’s bubble bath at the north end of Compass Cay. It’s this area where, during high tide, an ocean surge comes through the rocks into this tidal basin. It’s a rather violent process but then makes the water super bubbly – supposedly like champagne.
The guys took a few swims into it, but rocks banged them up pretty good so they didn’t last long. But it was a beautiful walk and area to explore.
From there we snorkeled The Aquarium and then spent some time on the nearby beach. We looked for sand dollars, shells, and the guys swam this really shallow water for a bit. It was absolutely breathtaking!
A few treasure hunt finds!
Once we were back to the catamaran, Kurtis snorkeled to another nearby plane crash (much smaller than the other one).
Later that afternoon, we sailed to Warderick Wells Cay.
It’s a beautiful spot and is known for having a 52′ sperm whale skeleton on the beach.
The rest of the group went on a hike while Cam and I played hangman in the sand.
We stayed there for the night and spent time swimming, enjoying the sunset and playing games.
Catamaran Trip: Day 5
The next morning we sailed a few hours to Shroud Cay. We spent some time swimming and using the kayak, stand-up paddleboard and SunChill. Martin would bring all of these out any time we were anchored somewhere and we definitely put them all to use!
That afternoon around 4 (close to high tide) we took the dinghy through the mangroves to look for turtles. It was such a beautiful ride and we saw several turtles!
We continued on to the Washing Machine, which is where the Caribbean waters from the mangroves meet the Atlantic Ocean. The change in colors was absolutely beautiful!
We had a few cliff jumpers in the group.
We had brought the kayak along so these two sat on it on the way back.
Catamaran Trip: Day 6
Our last full day, we spent much of the day sailing the seven hours back towards Nassau. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather! We spent most of the day up on the bow. Although the water was 10-15 feet deep much of the way, we could see so much sea life even while driving. We had a contest to spot starfish (which was wild to see so many) and just enjoyed the beautiful weather!
We anchored for the night near Sandy Toes again. With it being our last day, we took a group plunge and did a bunch of swimming. Such a fun way to end our last day! Martin had his drone out and got some really great video too!
Catamaran Trip: Day 7
Sadly, day 7 was departure day. We arrived back in the Nassau marina mid-morning. We booked our flights for around 3:00 in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to dock and get to the airport (about 25-30 minutes away). With the time change we made it home by 7:30, even with a layover in Atlanta, so it was an easy day of travel! If you’ve never been to Nassau before, you actually do American customs while you’re in the Bahamas rather than when you arrive in the States. So the turn at your connection or final destination is a breeze and saves so much time!
Food & Drink Onboard
The trip is all-inclusive so all of your food, drinks, activities, etc. are covered. We ate all of our meals onboard the catamaran, with a few snacks here and there while on shore. A month or two prior to our departure, they had us complete a very detailed preferences sheet. We were able to say what we all loved, didn’t, etc. so they could prepare ahead of time accordingly. Suzana was an excellent cook and we were all so happy with the food she provided us! Here is just a sampling of some of the food she prepared for us. We had everything from steak with fresh chimichurri to fish tacos to homemade pizza to hamburgers to fresh fish and more!
Catamaran Trip Packing Essentials
To the surprise of nobody, I absolutely overpacked on this trip. We were told ahead of time to use duffel bags in lieu of hard case luggage since storage space is very limited on board. So I feel like I planned ahead well as far as that went. But then the cold weather was arriving around the time we were so I added way too many sweatshirts. Most of us were in bathing suits during the day and then comfy clothes at night. Rachel and I never even put on makeup or did our hair once other than our departure day! Here were items we felt were essential:
- Duffle Bag
- Floating Waterproof Phone Case
- Hanging Toiletry Bag (Rachel brought one and I regretted I didn’t)
- Waterproof Storage Bag – ours is nearly two decades old but similar to this one – they’re great for keeping dry clothes, towels, devices, etc. when you’re on the dinghy or somewhere you may potentially get wet.
- Sunscreen – reef safe is preferred, so we always love the Sun Bum brand
- Silicone Toiletry Containers – since I knew space was tight, I filled these containers with face lotion, body lotion, hair cream and face wash. I love that it came with the little bamboo wand to transfer everything. They worked so great and are incredibly compact.
- There were games on board but we also brought Farkle and Sky Jo and they are great for all ages
There was wi-fi available on board, but you definitely want to download any books, movies, etc. to your device at home. We all preferred to be as disconnected as possible during our stay, but it was nice knowing we could still check emails, etc. as needed.
There’s obviously not any access to laundry on board, so we’d hang wet clothes and suits out overnight to air dry. We found that quick-dry clothes were best for this trip.
In summary, we had such an incredible time on this vacation! I’d highly recommend it for those that love the perfect mix of down time and adventure. It’s a great way to spend quality time with friends and family since you’re in the same living spaces most of the time. The team at Penny-Jo did a wonderful job of suiting the daily agenda and food and drinks to our preferences and we all had such a wonderful time! You can find out more information about our particular catamaran here. You can also find rates and more photos there, as well. And as a reminder, if you want to see some video from our time on the catamaran, you can check out my Instagram highlight reel here. I’m happy to answer any questions in comments about our trip!
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What an absolutely awesome vacation 😎 Thanks for sharing 💕
Looks like an amazing trip! Thanks so much for all the info.