Snorkeling Thunderball Grotto – The Bahamas
The Exumas abound with world class snorkeling and diving spots, but perhaps the most famous is Thunderball Grotto, named after the 1965 James Bond film that used this underwater cave system as the shooting location for numerous underwater scenes. Since that time, Thunderball Grotto has been used as a filming location for other movies including Never Say Never Again, Splash, and quite possibly the worst movie of all time, Into the Blue. After visiting the grotto, it’s no surprise why movie directors are drawn to this location.
Located just off the coast of the small Bahamian island of Staniel Cay (and very close to the beach with the famous swimming pigs), Thunderball Grotto is a stunning underwater cave system that is easily accessible for anyone from the casual tourist with a snorkel to experienced divers. If you’re staying on any of the nearby islands in the Exumas, there are dozens of tour guides who will take you to the grotto, but it is especially convenient and cost effective if you are coming from the island of Staniel Cay.
If you’re standing on the dock at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club and look directly north, you will see rock formations jutting out of the water only a short distance offshore. Thunderball Grotto is mostly obscured by a much larger island/rock formation but its otherwise close enough to see from the dock. Since we were staying at the Yacht Club which provides guests with their own personal boats, it took us less than five minutes to arrive at the grotto and we did not require a guide. We anchored our small boat about 50 feet away from the entrance, put on our snorkeling gear, and jumped in. Even before we swam inside, we were already greeted with schools of tropical fish.
There are several entrances to Thunderball Grotto, but one in particular is the easiest to access for snorkelers. This entrance is located on the west side of the rock formation where you’ll notice a sign on the rock face indicating you’re in the right place. Chances are there will be at least one other boat anchored near this entrance anyway, which makes it much easier to locate. If you want to snorkel into the grotto without having to swim underwater, then you’ll need to show up at low tide. You can technically stilll snorkel through this entrance at high tide, but the current will be stronger and you will have to swim underwater for a few yards before you can come up for air.
The entrance to the grotto looks intimidating at first, but at low tide there are a few feet between the surface of the water and the roof of the cave so you can keep your head above water the entire time if you want.
It only takes a few seconds of swimming before you find yourself inside a spacious cave with sunlight pouring down from above and schools of fish swimming below. It’s an incredible sight. This GoPro video captures the whole experience…
When you look underwater you can clearly see light coming in through the various other underwater entrances that divers use. We were fortunate enough to be the first ones to swim into the grotto that morning so we had the whole place to ourselves for a few minutes. Once other people started to come inside, it began to feel a bit crowded so we didn’t stay inside for too long.
If you’re looking for a place to snorkel or dive in the Exumas, Thunderball Grotto will not disappoint. If you go at low tide, the only prerequisite is knowing how to swim since you can’t touch bottom once you’re inside the grotto. Other than that, it’s really not difficult or scary. Of all the incredible things we did in the Exumas, Thunderball Grotto probably exceeded expectations more than anything else.
