Mayaguana is the easternmost island in the Bahamas, sitting roughly 100 kilometers north of Great Inagua and 100 kilometers northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Its population was 277 at the 2010 census, spread across three settlements: Abraham's Bay on the south coast, Pirate's Well in the northwest, and Betsy Bay in the east. The island has no bank and no ATM. Accommodation is limited to a small number of guesthouses. Mayaguana is one of the few Bahamian islands that still carries its original Lucayan name, which means lesser mid-western land.
- Nearest airport: Mayaguana Airport, Abraham's Bay (MYG / MYMM)
- Climate: Tropical. Warm and dry December to April, hot and wet June to October.
Why people visit Mayaguana
Most visitors come for the fishing and the absence of other visitors. The reefs surrounding the island hold conch, grouper, spiny lobster, snapper, and tuna in waters that see almost no fishing pressure from tourists. Bonefishing on the flats is exceptional. The island's position between the Atlantic and the deep Mayaguana Passage, the channel separating it from Acklins to the west, produces varied marine conditions close to shore.
Booby Cay, off the north coast, is home to hundreds of iguanas found only on Mayaguana, a distinct endemic population found nowhere else. West Indian flamingos feed year-round at Blackwood Point near Pirate's Well. The eastern part of the island is the area for catching land crabs after dark. Birdwatching and crabbing are two of the few organized activities on the island.
What made Mayaguana
The Lucayan Taíno lived here before Columbus. After the Spanish removed them in the early 1500s, Mayaguana stood empty for nearly 300 years. Resettlement began in 1812, when people migrated from the Turks and Caicos Islands to the southeast. Their descendants make up most of today's population.
On August 3, 1861, the Royal Navy sloop HMS Driver wrecked on Mayaguana's reefs. HMS Driver was the first steamship to circumnavigate the globe, completing that voyage in 1847. The wreck sits offshore and is one of the few documented historic sites on the island.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States military built a missile tracking station on what is now Mayaguana Airport. The runway was constructed by US Army Engineers to track missiles fired from Cape Canaveral during NASA's Project Mercury and the Apollo program. The station kept astronauts on course. The infrastructure left behind became the island's commercial airport.
What you find
Mayaguana is 24 miles long and 6 miles wide at its widest point. The terrain is dry forest, hardwood, and scrub, with lignum vitae and cascarilla growing throughout. The island has no traffic lights and no commercial development beyond the three small settlements. The road system connects the settlements along the coast but leaves large sections of the interior and the far eastern and northern shorelines inaccessible. The beaches are wide, undisturbed, and empty on most days. The underwater reefs on both the sheltered and exposed sides of the island offer snorkeling regardless of wind direction, a consequence of the island's east-west orientation.
