Hawk’s Nest Marina
New Bight
Fernandez Bay
Bennett’s Harbour
Smith’s Bay
Climb to the Hermitage atop Mount Alvernia
Dive or snorkel the reefs off Greenwood Beach
Explore the Deveaux Mansion ruins at Port Howe
Visit Arthur’s Town, Sidney Poitier’s birthplace
Join the Rake and Scrape Festival over Labour Day weekend
New Bight
Arthur’s Town
Port Howe
Old Bight
Greenwood Beach
November through May brings the driest, most settled weather, with warm enough water for swimming throughout. The Rake and Scrape Festival over Labour Day weekend in early June is worth timing a visit around if live Bahamian music and local crafts are of interest, though it falls right at the start of the more humid, hurricane-prone half of the year. Peak hurricane risk runs from August through October, when many captains prefer to be further north or already hauled out.
Cat Island has two small airports, New Bight (TBI) near the centre of the island and Arthur’s Town (ATC) in the north, both served mainly by short hops from Nassau rather than direct international flights. Most charter guests either fly into Nassau and connect onward, or simply have their yacht meet them at anchor off New Bight or Fernandez Bay, since the island has no scheduled ferry service linking it to Nassau or the other Out Islands.
Fernandez Bay, on the sheltered west coast, is generally the most comfortable overnight stop, calm even when a breeze picks up on the Atlantic side, and close to a small resort for dinner ashore. Hawk’s Nest, at the southern end of the island, offers a proper marina with fuel and a short airstrip alongside it. New Bight, off the main settlement, puts guests within reach of Mount Alvernia and the Hermitage for an early morning climb before the day heats up.
Two to three nights suit most itineraries, enough time for the climb to the Hermitage, a snorkel off Greenwood Beach and a stop at Arthur’s Town or Port Howe. Because the island has so little built for visitors compared with Nassau or the Exumas, and long stretches of coast between anchorages, Cat Island tends to work better as an unhurried few days within a longer Out Islands route than as a single, isolated stop.
Yes. Poitier was born in Miami in 1927 while his Bahamian parents were visiting to sell tomatoes, but he grew up in Arthur’s Town, Cat Island’s second settlement, and returned to the theme throughout his memoirs and interviews as the place that shaped him. The town today is quiet and largely residential, with no formal museum to the actor, though locals will happily point out the general area of his childhood home. His Academy Award, the first for a Black actor in a leading role, came in 1964 for Lilies of the Field.
Tell us what you would like to know, and our team will respond with clear details on availability, specification, pricing and next steps.
