Cat Tales

Plenty of groups charter a catamaran mainly to lie on it. Cat Tales is our suggestion for the other kind: a crew with a qualified skipper who wants to plan the legs, watch the weather and handle the boat themselves. Built in 2022, she is a Bali 4.2 operated by Abaco Sail out of Conch Inn Marina in Marsh Harbour, and her key figures are published, which matters when you are the one deciding where she can go.

Those figures suit the Abacos. She draws 3.7 feet, which fits the shallow banks of the Sea of Abaco, and her beam is 23.2 feet. Power comes from twin 45 hp engines, and sail from a full-batten mainsail and a furling headsail you can roll away as the breeze builds. She is registered for ten passengers and has eight berths in four doubles, and every cabin has its own head. The flybridge gives whoever is on watch a high view of the water ahead, useful when you are picking a path between sandbars.

A bareboat week on Cat Tales can cover much of the chain. The central cays are the easy start: Man-O-War, Great Guana and Hope Town on Elbow Cay are short sails from Marsh Harbour. Going north to Green Turtle Cay means the Whale Cay passage, a short run outside the barrier cays in open Atlantic water that is only made in settled weather; when the swell builds, the cut can turn into what locals call a rage, and everyone waits. To the south, Little Harbour rewards a crew that times its entrance with the tide.

None of this means roughing it. Cat Tales has air conditioning for use under way and at anchor, a generator, a watermaker, Bluetooth audio in the saloon and cockpit, a cockpit grill and a freshwater deck shower. Her glass aft door opens fully, joining the saloon and its galley to the cockpit, while up at the bow a solid foredeck carries sunpads and seating in place of a trampoline. A chartplotter, autopilot and VHF handle the navigation, and the Comfort Pack adds the dinghy and outboard, linen and towels, cruising and fishing permits, and a chart briefing before you cast off.

Weekly rates run from $4,675 (August 1 to 18) to $14,025 over Christmas and New Year, plus the mandatory Comfort Pack at $1,000 for the first week and $600 for each week after. Rates already include the 10% Bahamian VAT, and the 4% cruising tax is charged on top. The trade-offs are plain: she is a 2022 build, her twin 45 hp engines are smaller than the 57 hp pair on the Bali 4.4s, and her sister Uncharted, a 2023 Bali 4.2, charters at the same rate. If one of the two is booked for your week, ask us about the other.