Cat Island Travel Guide: Mount Alvernia, Rake & Scrape and Out Island Life

On Cat Island, a goatskin drum, a saw scraped with a nail and an accordion can set a whole settlement dancing a quadrille. Straw plaiters sit in the shade turning palm leaves into baskets, and a stone monastery watches over it all from the top of a hill. Cat Island is a quiet, rooted Out Island of small settlements, music and bush-tea traditions, and it suits travelers who want to meet the Bahamas on its own terms.

Where is Cat Island and what is it like?

Cat Island is one of the districts of the Bahamas, an Out Island in the Atlantic, which means it is any island that is neither New Providence nor Freeport. The country is an archipelago of roughly 700 islands and cays, and only a few dozen of them are inhabited. Cat Island belongs to that quiet, lived-in group, far from the cruise-port bustle of Nassau.

Instead of one resort town, the island has a string of small settlements: Arthur’s Town, the capital settlement, along with Dumfries, New Bight, Orange Creek and Port Howe. Each has its own church, its own corner store and its own rhythm. Arthur’s Town is also where Sir Sidney Poitier grew up, just outside the settlement, before he became the first Black person to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

The island’s name has two possible origins. One story points to the pirate Arthur Catt, the other to a once-large population of feral cats. Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution were the first white settlers, arriving in 1783, and their story sits alongside much older Bahamian ways of life that still shape the island today.

The character here is gentle and traditional. Days are organized around music, church, plaiting, cooking and the sea rather than a schedule of attractions. Travelers who love culture, history, quiet roads and conversation with islanders will feel at home. Anyone hoping for nightlife, shopping streets or a big resort scene may find Cat Island too still, and that stillness is exactly what draws people back.

What is there to do in Cat Island?

The reasons to come are a hilltop monastery, a living musical tradition, hands-on island crafts and the memory of one of the country’s most famous sons. They are cultural rather than commercial, and that is what sets Cat Island apart from neighbors better known for resorts.

Mount Alvernia and The Hermitage

Mount Alvernia, which locals call Como Hill, is the highest point in the Bahamas at 206 feet. The figure sounds modest, yet on a flat island chain it feels like a real summit, and the view over the island’s green interior and the surrounding sea rewards the effort of getting up there.

At the top sits The Hermitage, a medieval-style stone monastery built in 1939 by Father Jerome. It is a small, contemplative place of narrow stone rooms and quiet, and it is one of the most memorable sights in the Out Islands. Go when the light is soft, early or late in the day, and take your time looking out from the summit.

Rake & Scrape, the island’s music

The Bahamas’ indigenous music, Rake & Scrape, has its roots on Cat Island. It is made with repurposed objects such as wood, saws and goatskin drums, and the saw, scraped rhythmically, gives the music its name and its rasping drive. Hearing it played live, with quadrille dancing, is the cultural high point of a visit.

Every June the island hosts the Annual Rake & Scrape Festival, a celebration of the music’s heritage with authentic Bahamian sounds and dancing. If your dates allow, it is the single best reason to schedule a trip around an event.

Straw plaiting and bush tea traditions

Plaiting is a daily craft here. Dried straw leaves from the palms growing outside the home become handbags, rugs and baskets, each one handmade. The tradition passes from generation to generation, and the family of the late Mrs. Iva Thompson, now led by mother and daughter Sheena Woodside and Peggy Johnson, carries on these treasured ways of traditional Bahamian life.

Bush medicine is part of the same heritage. Common ailments were traditionally treated with freshly picked bush leaves, and bush tea is brewed from local plants such as cerasee, breadfruit and guava. Learning about these remedies is as much a conversation as a sight, and it shows how people lived off the land.

Arthur’s Town and the Poitier connection

Arthur’s Town is the capital settlement and the place Sir Sidney Poitier called home as a boy. Walking its quiet streets gives a sense of the landscape that shaped him before he won the Academy Award in 1964. It is a pleasant stop for anyone who enjoys film or Bahamian history, and a good place to meet islanders.

How many days do you need in Cat Island?

A long weekend is enough to taste Cat Island, and a week lets you settle into its pace. Because the island is made of scattered settlements, a few extra days mean less rushing and more time to talk with the people you meet.

With a short stay, build the days around the two anchors: a morning on Mount Alvernia to see The Hermitage and the view, and an afternoon in Arthur’s Town. Add an evening of music if there is something on, and perhaps a conversation about plaiting or bush tea with a local family. That already fills a weekend with the island’s character.

With a week, you can visit more of the settlements, Dumfries, New Bight, Orange Creek and Port Howe, and see how each differs. Slow days give room for craft demonstrations, long meals and time by the water. If the Rake & Scrape Festival falls in your stay, give it a full day and an evening.

Cat Island also pairs with other Out Islands. Travelers can fly directly into one of the Out Islands without going through Nassau, and chartered air service between islands is available alongside scheduled flights, so an island-hopping trip can include Cat Island as the cultural chapter.

Where to stay in Cat Island

The place to stay on Cat Island is a settlement, and the choice is really about which part of the island you want to wake up in. The main settlements are Arthur’s Town, New Bight, Dumfries, Orange Creek and Port Howe, and each puts you close to a different slice of island life.

Arthur’s Town suits travelers drawn to the island’s history and its Poitier connection, since it is the capital settlement and the nearest base to the boyhood home just outside it. New Bight suits those who want to be among the island’s everyday rhythms, and Dumfries, Orange Creek and Port Howe offer the same small-community feel with their own character.

Staying in a settlement rather than a resort means eating where islanders eat, hearing church music on Sunday and meeting the plaiters and bush-tea makers who keep traditions alive. It is the right choice for culture-minded visitors and for anyone who values quiet. People who want a full resort program, a spa and nightlife should look to other islands.

Whichever settlement you choose, think of the island as one connected place and plan your days around the sights you most want to see, Mount Alvernia, the music and the crafts, rather than around a single base.

How do you get to Cat Island and get around?

You reach Cat Island by air. Nassau is the country’s gateway for air travel into the Bahamas, but travelers can also fly directly into one of the Out Islands without going through Nassau. Scheduled air service between islands is provided by certified domestic and international carriers, and chartered air service is available as well.

That structure matters for an island chain of hundreds of islands and cays, where only a few dozen are inhabited. Each island is separated by sea, so the way you arrive on Cat Island is its own journey, whether you connect through Nassau or fly in more directly.

Once on the island, the settlements are the points on your map: Arthur’s Town, Dumfries, New Bight, Orange Creek and Port Howe. Plan your days around reaching these places and the hilltop of Mount Alvernia, and let islanders point you toward the sights and the music.

When is the best time to visit Cat Island?

June is the month with the strongest case, because the Annual Rake & Scrape Festival fills the island with authentic Bahamian music and quadrille dancing. For anyone interested in culture, it is the best moment to be here, and it is also the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.

For comfortable sightseeing, the cooler months are the natural choice. In Nassau, January highs average in the upper 70s, with only a few rainy days, and the sea near Nassau is in the upper 70s too. That is pleasant weather for climbing Mount Alvernia and walking between settlements, and it falls outside the hurricane season.

Summer is hotter and wetter. In Nassau, July highs reach the low 90s and rain falls on a good share of days, with the sea near Nassau in the upper 80s. Those are the conditions to expect in the heart of the hurricane season, so plan the hilltop climb for the cooler hours of the day.

Good to know before you go

The U.S. State Department rates the Bahamas Level 2, “Exercise increased caution”, and says most crime occurs in Nassau on New Providence and in Freeport on Grand Bahama.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, so build flexibility into trips in those months. The currency is the Bahamian dollar. Cat Island is a small-settlement island, so travel here with a relaxed mindset and with respect for local traditions, from plaiting demonstrations to Sunday quiet.

Sources

Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation (bahamas.com), Cat Island (https://www.bahamas.com/islands/cat-island), checked October 10, 2026
Wikipedia, Cat Island, Bahamas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Island,_Bahamas), checked October 10, 2026
Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation (bahamas.com), Bahamian Traditions Cat Island (https://www.bahamas.com/experiences/bahamian-traditions-cat-island), checked October 10, 2026
Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation (bahamas.com), travel blog, the Out Islands (https://www.bahamas.com/blog/bahamian-out-islands-our-best-kept-secret), checked October 10, 2026
Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation (bahamas.com), Island hopping (https://www.bahamas.com/getting-here/island-hopping), checked October 10, 2026
Wikipedia, Geography of the Bahamas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_Bahamas), checked October 10, 2026
NOAA NCEI, GHCN-Daily station BF000078073 (Nassau Airport), normals 1991-2020 computed from the daily record (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=daily-summaries&stations=BF000078073), checked October 10, 2026
Open-Meteo Marine API, average 2015-2024, checked October 10, 2026
U.S. Department of State, The Bahamas Travel Advisory, Level 2 (https://travel.state.gov/), checked October 10, 2026
NOAA National Hurricane Center, Climatology (https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/), checked October 10, 2026