Splash, Sizzle, and Sand: Unmissable Things to do in The Bahamas in March

Essential Things to do in The Bahamas in March For Maximum Island Bliss

March in The Bahamas isn’t just another month in paradise—it’s paradise operating at peak efficiency. The water temperatures hover around a delightful 73-75°F, warm enough for extended snorkeling sessions without the need for wetsuits, yet cool enough to feel refreshing when the midday sun hits its zenith. This natural balance creates the perfect conditions for experiencing the full spectrum of Bahamian delights.

Beach Brilliance Without The Burn

Cabbage Beach on Paradise Island presents a mile-long stretch of powdery perfection in March, with gentler waves than winter months and significantly fewer tourists than you’d find during holiday seasons. Unlike Florida beaches that might still induce involuntary shrieking upon water entry in March, here the ocean feels like a warm embrace rather than a polar plunge challenge.

For those willing to venture beyond Nassau, Gold Rock Beach in Grand Bahama offers what locals call “the magic hour”—a daily low tide phenomenon creating a rippled sandbar that extends nearly 100 yards into crystal waters. Time your March visit for midday when the sun illuminates the underwater landscape like a natural aquarium, revealing starfish and sand dollars that seem strategically placed for your Instagram feed.

The famed Pink Sands Beach on Harbour Island reaches peak blush in March when specific microorganisms in the coral reef are most active. These three miles of rose-tinted shoreline make other beaches seem monochromatic by comparison. The $5 water taxi from Eleuthera is a small price to pay for what might be the most aesthetically pleasing beach day of your life.

March’s Cultural Carnival

While the main Junkanoo festivities climax during the Christmas season, March visitors haven’t missed the party entirely. Throughout March, smaller-scale Junkanoo celebrations pop up across various islands—think of them as the cultural after-parties that actually outshine the main event in terms of authentic experience.

Nassau’s Fish Fry at Arawak Cay hosts mini-Junkanoo performances on Wednesday evenings in March, allowing visitors to experience the rhythmic goombay drums, cowbells, and whistles alongside locals who aren’t rushing to get back to their cruise ships. The costumes are so vibrantly colored they make a typical tourist’s Hawaiian shirt look positively monastic by comparison.

For a truly local experience, head to the settlement of Gregory Town on Eleuthera where weekend Junkanoo practice sessions become impromptu community celebrations. Joining in doesn’t require elaborate preparation—just a willingness to move to the rhythm and accept that your dancing will provide gentle amusement to the locals.

The Infamous Swimming Pigs Experience

March’s calm seas make the boat journey to Big Major Cay (affectionately known as Pig Island) in the Exumas significantly more pleasant than during winter months. Tours range from $190-250 per person, depending on whether you opt for a full-day excursion that includes additional stops at underwater caves and iguana beaches.

The reality check: these pigs are not the dainty, bashful creatures of children’s storybooks. They’re semi-wild opportunists with surprisingly powerful snouts and a remarkable ability to spot a tourist with food from impressive distances. Their enthusiasm for visitors directly correlates to the amount of food visible, making them perhaps the world’s most honest hospitality workers.

Book tours before 10am when possible—the pigs, like many Bahamian residents, prefer to conduct business before the midday heat sets in. The morning light also creates better photo opportunities, critical for an experience that exists at least 50% for social media documentation purposes.

Water Adventures For Every Courage Level

March’s calm waters create ideal conditions for water sports beginners. Thunderball Grotto near Staniel Cay (made famous in the James Bond film) offers March snorkelers ideal visibility and gentler currents than winter months. Equipment rentals average $40 for a half-day, with guided experiences starting around $75 per person.

Stuart Cove’s operation in Nassau provides shark diving experiences that sound terrifying but are actually carefully orchestrated underwater theater. March brings exceptional water clarity, allowing you to see the Caribbean reef sharks from considerable distances before they approach for their daily feed. The $120 investment yields approximately 1,000 stress hormones and at least 20 photos your friends won’t believe aren’t photoshopped.

For those preferring activities where falling means getting wet rather than becoming an appetizer, paddleboarding in the protected bays around Nassau offers a peaceful alternative. Rentals run about $45 for two hours—enough time to develop the false confidence that you’ve mastered a new sport before inevitably discovering a humbling patch of wind.

Island-Hopping Without The Dramamine

March’s calmer seas make island-hopping significantly more pleasant for those who define “pleasant” as “not requiring motion sickness medication.” The Bahamas Fast Ferries connect major islands with surprising efficiency—Nassau to Harbour Island takes just 2 hours and costs around $85 round-trip. The experience is less “glamorous yacht party” and more “functional water bus,” but the destinations justify the journey.

For those seeking more things to do in The Bahamas in March beyond the tourist centers, consider Cat Island. Its 50 miles of nearly deserted beaches and the Caribbean’s highest point (the hilariously modest 206-foot Mt. Alvernia) offer a stark contrast to Nassau’s developed shorelines. The island sees about as many tourists in a month as Paradise Island does before breakfast, creating an atmosphere of splendid isolation.

Private charters become somewhat more reasonable in March as operators compete for post-peak business. A full-day island-hopping excursion for 4-6 people might run $900-1200—not cheap, but when divided among friends, it’s comparable to the cost of a forgettable shore excursion from a cruise ship.

Accommodations For All Budget Realities

March accommodation options span from “second mortgage required” to “surprisingly reasonable.” The Cove Atlantis on Paradise Island represents the luxury end at around $550 nightly, offering an adults-only pool scene where the people-watching alone justifies a significant portion of the cost. The rooms are larger than many Manhattan apartments, though admittedly with better views and fewer mysterious noises from neighboring walls.

Mid-range options like Comfort Suites Paradise Island (approximately $280/night in March) offer the holy grail of Bahamian accommodations—full access to Atlantis facilities without the Atlantis price tag. The 10-minute walk to the water slides and marine exhibits serves as convenient justification for that second helping of conch fritters.

Budget-conscious travelers can secure the charm-forward Orange Hill Beach Inn for around $150 nightly, providing clean, comfortable rooms with a distinctly Bahamian character that chain hotels spend millions trying to artificially recreate. The owner’s tales of island history alone are worth the price of admission, provided you express appropriate interest in the lengthy narratives.

Transportation Tactics

The Bahamian transportation system occupies that space between “completely reliable” and “adventurous anecdote generator.” Taxis from Nassau’s Lynden Pindling Airport to downtown or Paradise Island typically run $25-40 depending on your negotiation skills and the driver’s assessment of your naivety. Rates are theoretically standardized but applied with creative flexibility.

Local jitneys (small buses) represent the best transportation value in The Bahamas, with most routes costing $1.25-$3.50. The #10 and #12 buses connect downtown Nassau with Cable Beach, running with a frequency that can generously be described as “eventual.” These cultural experiences disguised as transportation options offer unfiltered glimpses into local life, complete with heated political discussions and unsolicited relationship advice.

Rental cars (averaging $70-90 daily) make sense for outer island exploration, provided you quickly adjust to driving on the left—like Britain but with substantially better weather and markedly worse road signage. Gas prices hover around $5-6 per gallon, adding mathematical exercises to your vacation that weren’t mentioned in the brochure.

Photo-Ready Paradise

March delivers the photographer’s trifecta: perfect light, vibrant colors, and enough weather stability to actually plan shoots around golden hours (approximately 6:30-7:30am and 6:00-7:00pm). The Queen’s Staircase in Nassau offers early morning light that transforms the 66 steps carved through limestone into something resembling a historic film set.

For sunset enthusiasts, March delivers unobstructed western views from beaches like Cabbage Beach or the less-visited Clifton Heritage Park. The latter offers the added bonus of underwater sculpture gardens that create otherworldly photos for those brave enough to attempt sunset snorkeling.

The Exumas’ famous Compass Cay features nurse sharks that have developed a peculiar fondness for human interaction. March’s clear waters make underwater photography particularly rewarding here, creating the illusion of danger while actually being among the safest shark encounters available without a steel cage involved.

Among all the things to do in The Bahamas in March, perhaps none delivers better visual souvenirs than a visit to Pig Beach at exactly the right moment—when the pigs swim out to greet arriving boats. This spectacle of aquatic porcine enthusiasm creates photos that will simultaneously confuse and delight your social media followers for years to come.