Some yachts are chartered for their interiors. KEMOSABE is chartered for what she lets you do. Westport delivered her in 2007 as a 112, the model that made the yard’s reputation for building fast, shallow, seriously equipped boats in series, and two million dollars of work since 2022 has taken her interior back to new and refreshed the exterior with it. She works the Bahamas year-round and drifts up to Florida in winter, and everything about her programme is arranged around getting guests off the yacht and into the water.
Start with the draft. At a little over a metre and a half she reaches cays and cuts that deeper yachts have to admire from the channel, which in the Bahamas is the whole difference between a good week and a remarkable one. Then the toy list, which is unusual even by current standards: a 37-foot Valhalla chase boat, gyro-stabilised and rigged properly for deep-sea fishing with Starlink and its own head; two Yamaha WaveRunners and a SuperJet; a Brig Eagle tender; four Seabobs across two models; paddleboards and a microskiff; floating cabanas, swim platforms, a water hammock, inflatable lounge chairs and a rope swing. A nineteen-foot outdoor movie screen goes up after dark. A folding fire pit comes ashore. There is a golf setup.
The beach kit is built for more than eight people, which is the tell: KEMOSABE is set up to run tandem charters alongside a second yacht, and her crew are used to hosting twenty-plus on a sandbar. For a family travelling with friends on another boat, that changes what the week can be.
On board she sleeps eight in four cabins, all of them light. The 2022 refit swapped the heavy palette that dated the model for pale fabrics, wide-plank floors and glass, and left the cherry joinery in place to keep some warmth in it. The main salon runs to an L-shaped sofa and low glass tables under a long run of windows. Forward, a glass dining table sits beneath a blue glass chandelier with a sweep of agate art filling the bulkhead behind it, and the effect is more coastal than corporate. A deck up, a curved banquette wraps an oval table beside the ship’s office, which is where charters actually get planned.
The master takes a full-width position with a mirrored wall and its own bathroom. Two queens and a twin fill out the accommodation, each with a settee and an ensuite, and the twin suits children or a pair travelling together.
Outside, the aft deck is shaded and set for dinner with the water a step away. The foredeck carries sun pads for anyone who wants distance. The sundeck has the jacuzzi, a bar, a grill and lounge pads, and it is where the day ends: the screen goes up, the underwater lights come on, and the tenders come back in.
Five crew look after eight guests, and the reviews follow the crew rather than the yacht. Rendezvous diving is arranged rather than run from on board.
For a family that wants the Bahamas properly, with the equipment to reach it and the shallow draft to get in close, KEMOSABE is a lot of boat for the money.
