Harbour Island has long attracted a particular kind of visitor: those who appreciate understated quality, old-fashioned courtesy and a destination that has not tried too hard to improve itself. A classic yacht charter here is an entirely natural fit. Dunmore Town, the island’s main settlement, is one of the oldest communities in the Bahamas, its wooden clapboard houses painted in faded pastels behind white picket fences. It looks much as it did a century ago, which is exactly the point. A well-maintained classic yacht in the western harbour adds to rather than contradicts this aesthetic. Classic yachts at Harbour Island range from wooden ketches built in the 1960s to steel-hulled motor yachts from respected yards of the same era. What they share is character: fewer cabins than modern equivalents, considered design and a crew who understand the pace of a classic charter. The Devil’s Backbone reef north of the island, littered with colonial-era wrecks, is best explored on a classic yacht by tender with a local dive guide who knows the individual sites. Pink Sand Beach, a five-kilometre stretch of naturally pigmented sand on the Atlantic side, is the morning walk that ends a first evening at anchor in the harbour. Classic charter rates at Harbour Island range from around 20,000 to 200,000 euros per week depending on size and era, with the APA adding 30 percent or more. Older engines can be less efficient; confirm the expected fuel burn before agreeing to an APA figure.
