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Snuba and eco-tours: This cruise line’s private island offers a unique experience

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Snuba and eco-tours: This cruise line’s private island offers a unique experience

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  • Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve is a private island in the Bahamas owned by MSC Cruises.
  • The island was the site of industrial mining of aragonite sand before it was abandoned.
  • MSC is restoring the island and has planted 75,000 plants and shrubs and 5,000 trees and palms.

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Kimberly Semien knows how to seize a beach day. The 47-year-old lives far from the sea in Moore, Oklahoma, so when she visited Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve in the Bahamas in May, she made the most of it.

Semien, who was on a week-long MSC Cruises sailing with her husband Phillip, spent the day reading under an umbrella, taking naps on the beach and swimming. “This water was crystal clear,” she said. “Like, I could see all the way down to my feet and tell what color my nail polish was.”

She appreciated the simplicity of the destination, which is devoid of the thrill rides and big water slides some other cruise line private islands have. “I could go to (Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Oklahoma City) or Frontier City and do the other stuff, but having the ocean, that’s something we don’t have here, so I take advantage of that,” said Semien, who works as an electric company switchboard operator.

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The focus on nature is intentional. “We don’t have huge theme parks, we don’t have water parks,” said Ocean Cay Managing Director Andrew Brett. “We’re all about the natural beach day experience.” But there’s more to the 103-acre island than what passengers might see at first glance.

Ocean Cay is also the site of scientific work aimed at addressing the impacts of climate change on marine habitats. The island is ramping up educational opportunities for guests in the coming months, offering more than just fun in the sand and sun.

“Sustainable tourism is the way to go,” said Brett. It’s the future, and I think it’s what consumers and our guests want.”

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How is MSC restoring Ocean Cay?

The island was the site of industrial mining of aragonite sand before it was abandoned. MSC signed a long-term lease on the island in 2015, with the agreement they would uphold conservation work, and began cleaning it up. The company removed over 7,000 tons of scrap metal and moved 400 hard coral colonies from debris on the ocean bed to a place where they could grow.

The Bahamian government designated Ocean Cay and the surrounding waters a marine reserve in 2020.

Restoring coral reefs at the site is a key focus for the MSC Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the MSC Group, which owns MSC Cruises. Through its Super Coral program, the foundation is growing critically endangered coral to be outplanted within a 64-square-mile area surrounding the island.

“According to conservation scientists, the key to reversing the rapid decline in coral reefs lies in assisting coral’s natural selection process by establishing certain hardy species and varieties, dubbed ‘Super Coral’, which are more resilient to severe environmental stresses like extreme heat,” the foundation’s website reads.

Marine heat waves caused mass coral bleaching – a sign of stress – and die-offs in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean in 2023. Many of the reefs at Ocean Cay were impacted but have remained “very healthy” overall, according to Dr. Owen O’Shea, Marine Research Program Manager at the foundation.

Those events also provide useful intel. “Essentially, we monitor the reefs here and look for signs of bleaching, disease and increased mortality as part of our holistic marine management, so when we see a reef that has experienced significant bleaching and yet there remains colonies of seemingly healthy and living corals despite what the overall reef has experienced, we then source fragments from these surviving colonies.”

The island’s nursery corals experienced bleaching as well, but 100% survived. “This is evidence – albeit anecdotal – that our selection process for nursery specimens is valid and that our proof of concept is working, that is, selecting for those genotypes that may be exhibiting a greater (adaptation) to increased water temperature,” he said.

MSC also planted 75,000 plants and shrubs and 5,000 trees and palms, 95% of which are native to the Caribbean, in an effort to create a “natural infrastructure,” he added. Native plants can help conserve water, prevent erosion and provide food and shelter for animals.

The team has seen birds return to the island and turtles come back to nest.

“So I think nature is also vindicating that what MSC has done is sustainable in the long term,” O’Shea said.

Last year, marine conservation nonprofit Mission Blue – led by oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle – named Ocean Cay a “Hope Spot,” a site deemed critical to the ocean’s health. “This recognizes its comprehensive restoration efforts and commitment to protecting marine biodiversity,” Earle said in a video announcement.

What can guests do at Ocean Cay?

MSC largely lets nature do the talking at Ocean Cay, with many activities taking place in or near the water. Visitors can go snorkeling, paddleboarding and kayaking, or play beach soccer and volleyball. Guests can climb a lighthouse that offers sweeping views and a light show at night. Ships stay at Ocean Cay from at least early morning through sunset, and often overnight.

Of course, relaxing beach days are also on the menu, with cabana rentals and loungers available. Guests can also snack on Bahamian cuisine, sip drinks, and visit an on-site shopping village.

Semien and her husband spent their day in an area exclusive to guests of the Yacht Club, MSC’s ship-within-a-ship concept. They also had access to a private restaurant. 

O’Shea noted that the island’s walking pathways were also designed to steer people away from sensitive areas so that vacations and conservation efforts could coexist.

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What’s coming to Ocean Cay? ‘We all have a piece to play’

MSC plans to further integrate those in the coming months. A marine conservation center on Ocean Cay will host both working scientists and students, and educational opportunities for guests, with pavilions, coral exhibition tanks and a lecture hall. The facility is expected to be accessible to cruise passengers in March 2025.

While many current tours take place in the water, guests will be able to take a new land-based tour and hear about the island’s transformation, see wildlife like iguanas, pelicans and egrets, and learn about the marine ecosystem beginning later this month (the tour will incorporate a visit to the conservation center upon its completion). Snuba – a cross between scuba diving and snorkeling that doesn’t require certification – will also allow visitors to see corals that are deeper underwater starting in mid-September.

MSC has taken other steps to minimize Ocean Cay’s carbon footprint, such as barring single-use plastics from the island and utilizing mostly solar power. The company added a third solar farm this year as part of enhancements.

And while sustainability is still a work in progress for the cruise industry, including MSC, only the line’s newer, more energy-efficient ships stop at the destination.

When guests visit the management building on the island, Brett said he relishes sharing the details of those efforts with them “and how we all have a piece to play in replenishing the natural world and the environment that we take so much from.”

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.

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