Abraham’s Bay
Pirate’s Well
Betsy Bay
Southeast Point
Devil’s Point
Snorkel the barrier reef off Abraham’s Bay
Bonefish the flats of the Abraham’s Bay lagoon
Hunt for land crabs at Horse Pond Beach
Spot brown boobies and rock iguanas on Booby Cay
Dive near the wreck site of HMS Driver
Abraham’s Bay Settlement
Pirate’s Well
Betsy Bay
Horse Pond Beach
Booby Cay
May through July gives the calmest passage across the exposed banks surrounding Mayaguana, before hurricane season builds through the autumn months. Because the island lies so far southeast, close to both the Turks and Caicos and the open Atlantic, conditions can shift quickly, so most captains build in flexibility rather than a fixed schedule. Outside the main season, Mayaguana’s anchorages see almost no other boats regardless of the time of year.
Mayaguana Airport (MYG), near Abraham’s Bay, receives limited scheduled service from Nassau and occasional flights from the Turks and Caicos, roughly 60 miles to the southeast. With no dedicated tourist infrastructure and only around 200 residents across the whole island, virtually every visitor arrives by boat rather than by air, joining a yacht already under way through the southern Out Islands.
Abraham’s Bay, behind the barrier reef on the south coast, is the main anchorage and the closest to the island’s largest settlement, though the entrance channel to the small stone pier requires a careful, slow approach in good light. Pirate’s Well and Betsy Bay, on the north and east coasts, offer quieter alternatives depending on wind direction, though neither has the shelter or facilities of Abraham’s Bay.
One to two days is typical, enough time to snorkel the barrier reef, walk the empty beaches near Pirate’s Well and perhaps arrange an informal bonefishing trip through one of the settlements. Given how remote and undeveloped Mayaguana is, with no dive shop, marina or organised tours, most charter guests treat it as a brief, deliberate stop between Acklins or Inagua and the Turks and Caicos rather than a base for a longer stay.
Mayaguana remained uninhabited for over a century after its Lucayan population was removed, until settlers arrived from the Turks and Caicos in 1812. In 1861, HMS Driver, the first steamship to circumnavigate the globe, wrecked off the island’s coast. A century later, Mayaguana briefly played a role in the American space programme, hosting a missile-tracking station that helped monitor astronauts during the Mercury and Apollo missions before it was decommissioned.
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