Welcome to Compass Cay, where you can swim with nurse sharks, which is one of the best things to do in the Bahamas. You can swim with these Nurse Sharks that live here in the Compass Cay Marina. They are mostly safe for people.
The Bahamas swim with sharks trip at Compass Cay Marina is one of the most popular things to do in the Exuma Cays right now. Here is everything you need to know about the sharks in Compass Cay before you go.
This island is in the middle of the long group of islands called the Exuma Cays. Not far away is Staniel Cay, which is less than ten miles south of Compass Cay and serves as a transportation hub for the area. It’s only 75 miles north of Nassau, so you can easily go there for the day.
There is a unique type of shark at Compass Cay Marina. Their scientific name is Ginglymostoma Cirratum, but most people just call them Nurse Sharks.
For the most part, they stay the same size for twenty to twenty-five years. A nurse shark as an adult can weigh up to 300 pounds, which is a lot of meat.
Even though they eat meat, they don’t eat as often as other sharks. They feed on sea life that is pretty close to the surface of the water where they live on the ocean floor. They move slowly and stay near the bottom. People shouldn’t worry about them. But if they feel threatened, they can still use their strong jaws to break through their normal food of coral and crabs, so it’s best not to bother them.
If you go to Compass Cay, the sharks will swim up to you and rub against your legs. They are very smooth. They are brown, and they don’t mind being close to people or other sharks.
But, even though there are a lot of these species in the area, they are becoming more and more endangered every day because of how people change the small Atlantic Ocean. The nurse and reef sharks that were brought to Compass Cay were first brought there as pets. However, as the area has become more popular with tourists, the Compass Cay Marina has turned it into a safe haven for dozens of nurse sharks.
At Compass Cay, you will learn that nurse sharks get their name from the sounds they make when they are looking for food on the bottom. It sounds a lot like the sound a baby would make when it has to be fed.
Another idea is that the name comes from the Old English word “hurse,” which meant a seafloor shark.