Helicopter from Miami to Cat Island

More than fifteen beaches sit along the length of the island and almost none of them has anybody on it. That is the whole reason parties come this far out rather than stopping at the busy islands nearer Florida. Fernandez Bay is a mile of white sand about five minutes from the middle of the island, with a small resort and a beach bar behind it. Greenwood Beach runs eight miles of pink sand at the remote south east end. Old Bight adds another five miles of white sand, Rollezz nearby is the longest unbroken beach on the island, and Fountain Bay ends in a shallow lagoon with reef a short way offshore. New Bight Beach is the one the island itself uses, with live music at weekends and community picnics on holidays. A beach picnic goes on any of them, and water toys turn an afternoon on the sand into one on the water.

Mount Alvernia is the highest ground in the whole of the Bahamas at two hundred and six feet, which sounds like nothing until you are on top of it and can see water on both sides of the island at once. The Hermitage sits on the summit, a miniature stone monastery built by Father Jerome, an English priest who cut the stone on the island itself. There is an abbey, a chapel, a bell tower and living quarters, all small enough to walk around in a few minutes, and the stair up to them was carved by hand with the Stations of the Cross set into the rock beside it. It is a short walk rather than a hike, so it fits inside a day. Parties who would rather see the ridge from above than climb it book a scenic flight on the way in, which on this aircraft costs nothing but the minutes.

The reef sits close in along much of the coast. Off Fountain Bay it is a short way from the sand, so snorkelling there needs a swim rather than a boat trip and works with children along. The diving is centred at the south east end, where the resort behind Greenwood Beach runs a dive operation with a long-standing reputation. Kite surfing, kayaking and paddle boarding all run from the same beaches. Say how many are swimming when you send the date, and say whether anyone is diving rather than snorkelling: it changes the boat rather than the day. For parties who want the flats instead, bonefishing and flats access and a full fishing day by air are both arranged with the flight.

Cat Island is riddled with blue holes, the inland kind that drop into flooded cave systems. Boiling Hole, Big Fountain, Little Fountain and Gaiters are the named ones, and divers come for them specifically. Mermaid Pool is the one most visitors actually stand at: about sixty five feet across and ten feet deep, with a blue hole in the middle of it that runs down into tunnels. The Healing Hole is a salt lake back off the road that the island has long held to be good for aching joints. None of these needs a boat. They are a short drive from the road that runs the length of the island, so ground transport for the day is worth arranging with the flight rather than on arrival.

Two ruined estates stand at opposite ends of the island's history. The Armbrister plantation sits at the foot of Mount Alvernia and is the second oldest building in the Bahamas, burned in a revolt in the eighteen hundreds with its arched entrance still standing. At Port Howe in the south are the remains of the Deveaux house, built by an American loyalist who was given the land for retaking Nassau from the Spanish. Both are open, unfenced and photographed far more often than they are written about.

The Cultural Village at Regatta Beach is where the island puts on its own events: a fish fry under the huts, conch and cracked lobster, a bonfire after dark that doubles as the thing that warms the drums. Two weekends are worth planning a date around. The Rake 'n Scrape Festival falls on the first weekend of June, the Bahamian Labour Day weekend, with bands, a gospel concert, a battle of the bands and a farmers market. The sailing regatta lands in the first week of August over the Emancipation holiday. Rake 'n Scrape itself is played on a bent saw scraped with a screwdriver, with a concertina and goombay drums behind it, and Cat Island is where it comes from. If the date is built around either weekend, a milestone celebration on the island is arranged with the flight.

Sidney Poitier grew up at the north end of the island, which the island has never made much noise about. Peter's Cave is the reason most people drive up here. It is a working bat cave with tunnels running under that part of the island and one entrance big enough to walk into, and it comes out again on the ocean side. A local guide takes parties through it. It is at the far end from Hawk's Nest, so a day that takes in both is a day with a car in it and an early departure behind it. Anything outside the usual list goes to custom requests.

Fishing is why a good share of these flights to Hawks Nest happen. The flats behind Cat Island are strongest at the north and south ends of the island, and this point is one of the addresses anglers name for bonefish. That is why parties book bonefishing and flats access or a full fishing day by air straight off the aircraft. Rods and gear travel, within the payload for the aircraft on the day. Say how many are fishing when you send the date and say whether it is fly or spin. A guide and a skiff are booked around the tide rather than around the flight, so the hour you arrive and the hour the water is right are two different questions. Both fit into one day when they are asked early. The Hawks Nest point at the south west end of the island carries a marina and a creek behind it, which is the reason crews and owners use this end of the island at all. Boats working the sound come in here rather than running up to New Bight. If a yacht is meeting you, that is worth saying in the enquiry: the coordinates and the dock go to the operator, who decides what is workable on the day. A dock pickup covers the case where the boat is already alongside, and ground transport covers the short run between the two.

Helicopter rides Miami Cat Island also work as the first leg rather than the whole trip. Once the aircraft has cleared into the Bahamas the cruising permit is in hand, so it carries on to Long Island, San Salvador, the Exumas or Harbour Island. That is what turns one island into island hopping or a wider Bahamas day. Overnight changes the baggage rather than the route. If a yacht is meeting you, that is a yacht transfer and it is set up with the flight rather than found on the day. The full island guide sits on the Cat Island destination page, the packaged version is the Cat Island getaway day trip and the rest of the chain is on the Bahamas destinations page.