You should plan on 5-6 hours to get to Highbourne Cay. Even though you can cruse at 10 knots, you may not want to -- you will be crossing the Yellow Bank to get over, which is riddled with coral heads, only some of which are charted. So caution and a good lookout will be essential.

In terms of favorite cays, it really depends on what you're looking for. I'll be bareboating in the Exumas in a few weeks, and I plan to avoid all human contact on this trip, except with my crew and with the staff at Exuma Park headquarters in Warderick Wells. For "civilization," there is Highbourne Cay (pretty swanky, as the Exumas go); Normans Cay (one restaurant); Compass Cay (marina, and sometimes burgers on the grill); Staniel Cay (popular marina, restaurant, bar, resort); Black Sound (settlement with stores, restaurants) -- and a few more if you keep going south. Pretty much everything else is uninhabited, or at least amenity-less -- the entire stretch between Normans Cay and Compass Cay being part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.