Lagoon 40 to Lagoon 51: How to Choose a Catamaran for Your Abacos Charter

Every catamaran we charter in the Abacos sails from the same dock: Conch Inn Marina in Marsh Harbour, where Abaco Sail runs the base. That makes the choice simpler than it first looks. You are not comparing destinations, check-in times or base facilities, only boats, and there are twelve of them, from a 2019 Lagoon 40 to a 2024 Lagoon 51.

The right one comes down to five questions. How many of you are there? How many bathrooms do you need? How much water does the boat need under her? What do you want to spend? And who is going to sail her?

This guide works through each one using the published specs and 2026/27 rates for our fleet.

The fleet at a glance

"From" is the lowest published weekly rate for the 2026/27 booking year. Rates include 10% Bahamian VAT; the 4% Bahamian cruising tax comes on top, and every charter carries a mandatory Comfort Pack. The operator has not yet published draft figures for Uncharted or Indie Vortex; ask us if it matters for your plans.

Group size, cabins and heads

Plan on berths, not on the passenger number printed on a boat's papers. Several Balis are registered for nine or ten passengers but have berths for eight, and Gabrielle Marie has berths for six.

Two to six guests

For a couple, two couples or a family of up to six, start with the two owner's layouts. Bella Giornata is a Lagoon 46 with three cabins instead of four. The master suite fills her entire port hull, with a double berth you can walk around, a desk, hanging lockers and a big head with its own shower stall. The two doubles in the starboard hull each have a head too. Gabrielle Marie applies the same idea to a 40-foot Bali Catspace: one hull for a private master suite, two guest cabins in the other, three heads in all.

You give up two berths compared with a four-cabin boat. In exchange, you get space that nobody is sleeping in.

Six to eight guests

This is the heart of the fleet. Eight boats have four double cabins, and on every one of them each cabin has its own head: Indie Vortex, Let's Geaux, Knot a Fantasea, Cat Tales, Uncharted, Exodus, Ptarmigan and CU Sailing II.

Since the sleeping arrangements match, the difference is living space. Beam grows from 21.5 feet on the Catspaces to 24.3 feet on the Bali 4.4s and 26.1 feet on the Lagoon 46. Eight adults on a Catspace make for a sociable week; eight adults on CU Sailing II have more room to spread out. On Let's Geaux, eight guests is the recommended number, and the foldaway single in the forepeak is meant for small children only.

Nine to twelve guests

Only two of the catamarans sleep more than eight: Sapphire Seas and CU Sailing, each with six double cabins and berths for twelve. Both have four heads, so a full boat shares bathrooms roughly three people to one. It works, but stagger the morning showers.

Draft: why inches matter in the Sea of Abaco

The Sea of Abaco is shallow, sheltered water, and that is a big part of its appeal. It also means draft, the depth of water a boat needs to float, shapes your week more than it would in deeper cruising grounds.

Our catamarans run from 3.6 feet on the three Bali Catspaces to 4.6 feet on CU Sailing. Every boat is at home here, but each extra half-foot narrows your choices at low tide. Two examples from our local guides:

• The entrance to Hope Town Harbour on Elbow Cay carries roughly 5 to 6 feet at mean low water. A Catspace has room to spare; in a Lagoon 50 or 51, plan to go in on a rising tide.
• The inner harbour at Man-O-War Cay has about 3 feet at low water, too little for any boat in the fleet. Anchor outside instead, in 10 to 12 feet over sand.

If you want to tuck in close to beaches and think less about tide tables, the Balis' 3.6 to 3.9 feet gives you the most margin. If you want the space of a big Lagoon, accept that the tide will sometimes set your schedule.

Budget: read the "from" price carefully

The catamarans' "from" prices run from $4,015 a week for Indie Vortex to $10,725 for Sapphire Seas. Those are August Low rates, for August 1 to 18: the cheapest weeks of the booking year, just before the annual service break and in the heart of hurricane season. Over Christmas and New Year, the same boats cost roughly 2.3 to 3 times as much. Let's Geaux goes from $4,125 to $12,375; Sapphire Seas from $10,725 to $24,750. Each boat's page lists every season, and our guide to the best time to sail the Abacos explains the trade-offs.

On top of the weekly rate, budget for:

• The Comfort Pack, mandatory on every charter: $1,000 a week on the Cruiser boats, $1,050 on the Voyagers and $1,100 on the two Flagships, with each additional week at $600, $630 or $660. It covers cleaning at the end of the week, bed linen and towels, a waiver that limits your liability for damage, the dinghy and its outboard, a chart briefing, a welcome pack, and your cruising and fishing permits.
• The 4% Bahamian cruising tax, added on top of the rate.
• Fuel and groceries, which are not included.
• A refundable security deposit of $1,500, or $2,000 on Sapphire Seas and CU Sailing.

Then divide by the number of people. At the from-rate, Sapphire Seas split twelve ways is about $894 a head, while Indie Vortex split four ways is about $1,004. A full big boat can cost less per person than a half-empty small one. Discounts of up to 15% apply for repeat guests, bookings made six or more months ahead and charters of two weeks or more, and they can be combined.

Bareboat or skippered: match the boat to the crew

Charters through Abaco Sail are bareboat or skippered.

Bareboat

Abaco Sail does not insist on one particular licence. It looks at your sailing résumé and charter history, and an ASA 104 or RYA Day Skipper certificate puts you at about the right level. Be honest about the size of boat your skipper has handled. Docking a 40-foot Catspace with a 21.5-foot beam is a different job from docking a 51-foot Lagoon with a 26.6-foot beam, especially in a busy mooring field.

A few details make life easier for a small crew. Knot a Fantasea, Exodus, Ptarmigan, CU Sailing II and CU Sailing all carry self-tacking jibs, so tacking needs no one on the jib sheets. CU Sailing also has electric winches. On the Lagoon 46s, 50 and 51, the helm sits on a full flybridge, a high vantage point for spotting shallows by their colour.

Skippered

If nobody aboard has bareboat experience, or you would rather snorkel than navigate, book skippered and a local captain comes aboard for the week. It puts the big Lagoons within reach of groups who would never take one out alone. When you book, ask where the captain sleeps: on a boat that is already full, it can change your berth count.

If you want a captain and no boat-handling at all, Let's Geaux is also offered crewed through us, with Capt. Ron.

Quick picks

• Couples and small families who value space: Bella Giornata or Gabrielle Marie.
• Two families, eight people, room to spread out: CU Sailing II, or the Bali 4.4s, Exodus and Ptarmigan.
• Eight people on a tighter budget: Cat Tales, Uncharted, Knot a Fantasea or Let's Geaux.
• The lowest from-rate of all twelve: Indie Vortex, the Lagoon 40.
• Ten to twelve guests: Sapphire Seas or CU Sailing.
• The shallowest draft: the three Catspaces, at 3.6 feet.

Still torn between the two builders? Our Bali vs Lagoon comparison looks at how their layouts differ in practice. When you have a shortlist, browse the full fleet, read what to expect on check-in day, or send us your dates and we will tell you which boats are free.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Which catamaran is best for a group of 10 to 12 in the Abacos?

Sapphire Seas (Lagoon 51, 2024) and CU Sailing (Lagoon 50, 2020) are the only catamarans in our fleet with six double cabins and berths for twelve. Both have four heads, so a full boat shares bathrooms about three people to one. Every other catamaran sleeps six or eight.

What does the 'from' weekly price mean?

It is the lowest published weekly rate in the 2026/27 booking year, which falls in early August. Christmas and New Year weeks cost roughly 2.3 to 3 times as much. Rates include 10% Bahamian VAT; a 4% cruising tax is added, and every charter carries a mandatory Comfort Pack of $1,000 to $1,100 a week depending on the boat.

Is draft a problem in the shallow Sea of Abaco?

Not for this fleet, but it shapes your options. Drafts run from 3.6 feet on the Bali Catspaces to 4.6 feet on CU Sailing. Some spots, such as the entrance to Hope Town Harbour at about 5 to 6 feet at mean low water, are best timed on a rising tide in the deeper boats.

Do I need a licence to charter a catamaran bareboat?

No single licence is required. Abaco Sail looks at your sailing résumé and charter history, and an ASA 104 or RYA Day Skipper certificate puts you at about the right level. If no one in your group has that background, book skippered, or look at Let's Geaux, which we also offer crewed with Capt. Ron.

Which boats give every cabin its own bathroom?

Ten of the twelve: every four-cabin boat plus both three-cabin owner's layouts, Bella Giornata and Gabrielle Marie. The two flagships, Sapphire Seas and CU Sailing, have six cabins sharing four heads.

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