Planning a trip?
Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Exuma Cays location page.
Overview
Shallow Exuma reef famed for resident Caribbean reef sharks that arrive on the boat sound. Operators run a controlled shark interaction in 12 m with a dozen or more sharks circling. Reef fish density is solid even without the shark feed.
What you'll see
3 species curated- year-roundCaribbean reef shark
- year-roundNurse shark
- year-roundSchooling grunt
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceCaribbean reef shark
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- Wildbook (Sharkbook, Whale Shark, Manta Matcher) — Wild Me
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 25–26 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
| Feb | 25–26 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
| Mar | 26–27 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| Apr | 26–27 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| May | 27–28 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| Jun | 28–29 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
| Jul | 28–29 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
| Aug | 28–29 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
| Sep | 28–29 °C | 15–30 m | mild |
| Oct | 27–28 °C | 15–30 m | mild |
| Nov | 26–27 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
| Dec | 25–26 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kit- Dark-color gloves — Standard advice on baited shark sites.
Next step
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Hotels, liveaboards, dive operators, gear recommendations, and travel logistics for the whole region.
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