The Exumas carry a layered history of arrivals and departures. The indigenous Lucayan people lived here for centuries before Spanish colonizers enslaved the entire population in the 16th century, leaving the islands completely uninhabited. For the next two hundred years, the only visitors were pirates who used the cays as hideouts and stash points. Settlement began again around 1783, when American Loyalists fleeing the Revolutionary War brought a cotton plantation economy and the enslaved people who worked it. They named their capital George Town in honor of George III. One Loyalist settler, John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle, accumulated vast landholdings across Great Exuma. When he died in 1842, he bequeathed all of his Exuma land to the people he had enslaved. The towns of Rolleville and Rolletown still bear his name, a complicated legacy etched into the geography.

What draws people to the Exumas is, above all, the water. The shallow banks produce colors that look digitally altered but are simply the result of white sand beneath a few feet of crystalline sea. Divers and snorkelers explore Thunderball Grotto near Staniel Cay, the underwater cave system made famous by the James Bond film of the same name. Sandy Cay, a short boat ride from Little Exuma, served as the beach set for Pirates of the Caribbean. The Exuma National Land and Sea Park and Moriah Harbour Cay National Park protect extensive reef systems and unnamed beaches. Bonefish haunt the shallows, their silver bodies nearly invisible against the sandy bottom, earning them the local nickname "Grey Ghost." Anglers wade the flats in water barely a foot deep, fly rods in hand, hunting by sight in conditions so clear the challenge is stealth, not visibility.

The Exumas have long attracted people seeking privacy on a grand scale. Princess Margaret visited Goat Cay as a guest of Babbie Holt. Jackie Onassis came for the anonymity. David Copperfield purchased an island, as did Johnny Depp, Tyler Perry, and Eddie Murphy. The Bahamian tax structure offers practical incentives, but the real draw is geography: hundreds of islands, most of them empty, scattered across waters too shallow for large vessels. Between 2000 and 2010, the population of Exuma more than doubled to 6,928, fueled by resort construction and direct air service from Miami, Atlanta, and Toronto. Yet George Town, the capital, still has just one bank, two grocery stores, and a gas station. The George Town Fish Fry, a cluster of open-air restaurants that come alive at night, remains the social center for locals and visitors alike.

Sailing is woven into Exuma's identity. The Family Island Regatta fills George Town's harbor every year, its Bahamian sloops racing under a press of canvas in a tradition that predates the resorts by generations. The George Town Cruising Regatta and Black Point Regatta draw sailors from across the Caribbean. On shore, Junkanoo festivals bring costumed dancers, goatskin drums, and cowbells into the streets in explosions of color and rhythm. The annual Bahamian Music and Heritage Festival and smaller homecoming events in settlements across the cays sustain a culture that runs deeper than the tourism brochures suggest. Great Exuma has an 18-hole golf course designed by Greg Norman at Sandals Emerald Bay, which hosts the Great Exuma Classic. But it is the sound of a hand-line fisherman pulling snapper off a bridge at dusk, cooking his catch on the spot, that captures everyday Exuma.