"Small and Exclusive" Highbourn Cay by grandmaR

Bananaquites on the jib sheet

At Highborne Cay the marina managers are Barbara Thrall and Ian Macbeth. Macbeth can tell you just about anything you want to know about cruising the Exumas.

The 16-slip marina (and over 800 feet of face dock) is totally protected (even from cooling winds). The two-and-a-half-mile island is privately owned, but marina guests are free to explore its paths and beaches and discover the dense variety of Exumas flora: Joe wood, crab wood, pigeon plum, seven-year apple, poison wood, silver top palms, hog palms, bougainvillea, casuarinas or visit the spring.

Feeders with marina in the background

Some boats are too big to get into the marina and some are too cheap to pay the price. Those that anchor off the island are allowed only limited access to the marina area and the beach next to it.

Three cottages are available. The best one overlooks the marina entrance and you can see the sunset from there. Call Janet Miller ("Cool Runner") on Channel 16 in the afternoon and she'll have a delicious dinner prepared for your arrival. I talked to folks from the cottages, and they said she always gave them more food than they could eat.

When we were there, the contractor crews that were putting up the Batelco tower were in the cottages. The folks who rent the cottages have a free run of the island of course, but the contractors didn't have any time for that as they were working dawn to dark, seven days a week.

• Pros:Beautiful
• Cons:Difficult to find information about the island