Cat Island

Cat Island, The Bahamas

Untainted by tourism, there is much to be discovered on Cat Island in The Bahamas Out Islands

Bucket List

• Climb Mt. Alvernia
• Cat Island’s Fish Fry in New Bight
• Pink-sand beach at Greenwood Beach Resort

About 130 miles southeast of Nassau and Paradise Island near the Tropic of Cancer lies Cat Island. Explore uninhabited cays and hidden coves, attend a regatta, go on a shark dive, or hike a nature trail. Cat Island provides a year-round tropical beach vacation adventure.

Divers like the coral reefs and blue holes, walls, caves and shipwrecks. Shark dives, dolphins, and stingrays are all part of the experience. While veteran divers know their way around the ocean floor, guides always are around to help beginners experience life under the sea. Island visitors can also take a bike ride and a picnic to unexplored beaches, kayak the estuaries and see the turtles, rays, the abundance of sea life swimming and living beneath the clear blue waters, skim board the surf and paddleboard the leeward side of the island.

Cat Island, The Bahamas, is a fishhook-shaped island only 48 miles long and four miles across at the widest part. Yet, it offers plenty to do and see. Cotton plantation ruins are scattered around the island. The remains of slave huts dating back to the 1700s and Arawak Indian caves can be explored. Cat Island also prides itself on producing The Bahamas’ finest Rake ’n Scrape music and holds an annual festival dedicated to it.

Mount Alvernia is the highest elevation in the country at 206 feet above sea level. The hill served as the hermitage of Father Jerome Hawes, who settled on The Bahamas island in 1939, where he built a miniature monastery and hand-carved steps out of solid rock.

Named after the pirate Arthur Catt, much of the island has not been developed, which provides a unique vacation for those who want to get away in a private, relaxing, laid-back environment. Of course, the pink beaches are popular, but so are the world-class diving adventures, snorkeling, and fishing. With 50 miles of rolling hills and miles of nature trails, you truly can experience a Bahamas island in its native setting.

This is not fabricated. This is The Bahamas. And at Cat Island, even the winters are a blazing 60 degrees, while in the summertime, temperatures linger around the mid-80s with a gentle breeze from the ocean.

Stay in a remote and rustic village setting and relax under thatched-roof tiki bars, make your vacation home a cottage right on the pink sand beach or select a fishing marina that caters to anglers on a quest for a big-game catch. Whatever you choose, there’s something to do and see on Cat Island, Bahamas. Of course, you may choose to do absolutely nothing at all.