About

Our Story

A Love Letter to the Bahamas, Eight Miles Long.

Pearl Island wasn't dreamed up in a boardroom. It was built by people who love this country, on an island they refused to let sit empty.

Visit the Island Our Timeline
1993 First developed
2016 Reborn
25+ Cruise partners
100% Bahamian-run
Where it started

Idle for a Decade. Reborn 2016.

Not every island story runs in a straight line, and ours didn't. Local Bahamians developed the island as Spruce Cay in 1993. Then came roughly ten quiet years, idle, overgrown, waiting for someone with a reason to bring it back. That reason wasn't a resort chain with a template. It was a conviction that an island this close to Nassau deserved to feel like the real Bahamas, not a photocopy of one. A full renovation followed, and in June 2016 the island reopened as Pearl Island: two beaches, a lighthouse, a Bahamian kitchen. A year later Royal Caribbean signed on as the first cruise partner. The rest is in the reviews.

The people

The Crew Behind Your Island Day

Pearl Island runs on Bahamians. The captain who knows every reef and shortcut home. The snorkel guides who spot the fish before you do. The kitchen that cooks the grouper guests still write about. The servers who remember your name by the second drink.

Marcus
Captain

Twenty years on these waters — knows every reef and every shortcut home.

Anaya
Head Host

Runs the beach like clockwork and still greets every guest by name.

Devon
Snorkel Guide

Finds the fish, keeps the fins off the coral, takes the best underwater photos.

Simone
Chef

The reason guests write home about the fried grouper.

Rashad
Pig Wrangler

Best job title on the island, and he earns it every day.

Why we do this

"We started this because we love the Bahamas, its culture and people. That's what we want to show everyone who visits our island."

Peter Rebmann, Founding Partner, Pearl Island Bahamas

Three Decades, One Island

The Short History of a Private Island

1993
Spruce Cay Developed by local Bahamians. A good idea, a small operation and a name almost nobody remembers now.
~2006–2016
A decade idle The island sits quiet for roughly ten years. Nature moves back in.
2016
Pearl Island reopens After a full renovation, the island reopens in June with a new name, two beaches, the iconic lighthouse and a Bahamian kitchen.
2017
First cruise partner Royal Caribbean signs on. In the early days, the team outnumbers the guests.
Today
25+ cruise partners Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival, MSC and 20+ cruise lines send guests to the island, alongside the Nassau locals who were here first.
What we stand for

The Three Rules Behind Everything

🤝
Go past the brief Quality and hospitality mean doing more than the package promised. The details we sweat are the ones guests remember.
🤝
Keep it Bahamian Local team, local suppliers, local artists. Not Bahamian-themed. Bahamian, full stop.
🤝
Protect what we've got A living reef and a few acres of sand can only absorb so much. We run lean, clean and mindful, so there's still an island worth visiting next year.
Our roots

The Locals Were Here Before the Ships

Here's the tell that we're the real thing: Nassau families were booking Pearl Island days before the first cruise line ever signed on and they still fill the beach on weekends. We buy from local suppliers, cook in a Bahamian kitchen and hang local art, not because it photographs well, but because tourism should feed the country it happens in. Anyone can print a hibiscus on a menu. We'd rather employ the people who grew up under one.

Straight from the reviews

We are Pearl Island.

Scroll our ratings and one word keeps surfacing: staff. Not the beach, not the pigs, the people. They notice the leaking mask, refill the drink before you ask, learn your kids' names. That doesn't come from a script. It comes from a team that actually likes working here, and guests feel the difference the moment they step off the ferry.

30 Years in the Making. Yours for a Day.

An island that was nearly forgotten, rebuilt by people who love this country. Come see how it turned out, book direct for the best price.

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