OT: Cat Island

[St. John Lover]

I tried to post this on the Bahamas forum but it wouldn't accept my login. (Anthony: do you have to have a different login for each of the different travel forums?)

Anyway, much as I absolutely LOVE St. John (hence my handle), it's just become too expensive for us to go with the whole family (11 of us; 6 adults & 5 kids under .

So we were looking at some alternatives. Since no group of people would know better what we love (since we all love St. John), could any of you give me any feedback on Cat Island (Bahama out-island). Specifically we're looking to rent a home there on the Olivia d' Windrift estate, called "Spectacular Oceanfront Home." (no, they're not as creative in villa naming as are those in the virgins ; plus the estate thing makes it sound more hoity-toity then it is--kind of like all homes on st. john being villas).

I've heard VERY mixed reviews of this place (both the island and the house), so am relying on all of you!

[Roberto]

We've been to both. I'll comment on the island since I'm not familiar with the house that you're considering. We stayed at Shangri-La. Great two bedroom in Bennett's Harbour. Cat, nor do any of the Out Islands, have the vegetation of St. John. Beaches on Cat are very under rated in my opinion. Flat gorgeous. Having said that, St. John beaches, as everyone here knows, are world class.

The infrastructure is nowhere near developed like St. John. For a group of 11 this could make dining an issue since there are few grocery stores with limited supplies. When you dine out you need to reserve in the morning.

Keep in mind that the Bahamas are not overly warm in the winter. I'm not sure that St. John off season rates and some Bahama homes are that much different.

If you're looking for seclusion and chillin' out Cat's a good choice. I'll throw out Montserrat as an good island value compared to St. John.

[HughA]

Dear St. John Lover,
We were in the same boat, love St. John but it has become too expensive for us so we tried Eleuthera this year. We rented a very nice two bedroom home on the beach with central air and satellite TV for far less than what the same would be in St. John. The homes in the Out Islands tend not to have swimming pools but are often on the beach, usually up on a dune with s staircase to the beach below. Since we really prefer swimming in the ocean the lack of a pool is not an issue for us.
The beaches are beautiful. We usually go for two weeks but only had a week this time so did not have time to discover any good snorkeling.
The comments re the grocery stores are true. We never took food to St. John, could always make do with Starfish or Dolphin and also want to support the local economy. However, when we go back to Eleuthera we will definitely take a cooler.
Good luck and let us know how it works out. We haven't found a good Bahamas Out Island forum.
Hugh

[captainjay]

You may also want to look at the Turks and Caicos. I have been to Bimini and Grand Bahama and I would agree it's just not as warm in the winter, although still nice.

Here is a blog that I have been reading about the Turks and Caicos from a couple that live there. I have to say it is a spectacular looking place.

http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

I don't know how the prices compare. The guy running this blog does some maintenance on some homes that are rented for vacation so you might drop him an email to compare.
Jay

[St. John Lover]

Thank you all so much for your very detailed and helpful comments. I knew I could count on this forum--you all are great.

Anyway, lest anyone think otherwise, it isn't that I'm giving up at all on St. John, it's just that when we go as a whole family--the flights, ground transfers (taxi, ferry, etc), house, & food just really add up exponentially. When it's just the 2 of us, or just 1 of the families, or with another couple, the costs are very doable. In fact, if you cook in 1/2 the time, I really don't think you can beat it in a tropical destination--natural beauty, great beaches, fantastic snorkeling right off the beaches, good restaurants, plenty to do but great to just relax as well.

I was really excited about Cat Island at first, especially since we'd spent a few days at Green Turtle Cay several years ago & just loved it. But with mixed reviews of the accomodations we were considering (on other sites), and the difficulties of getting there (either very expensive flights from Ft. Lauderdale that are on airlines that we don't have airmiles for or with small independents out of Nassau that don't exactly adhere to a schedule plus require us spending an additional night in Nassau when flying to Cat) seems to make it more difficult than it's worth.

Your comments re: the grocery situation probably nailed it for us. Because we would have to overnight in Nassau (mainland flights get in too late to make the Cat Island connections), we really couldn't bring coolers of food like we used to have to do years ago on St. John. Also, the 5 kids are all really young so 'going with the flow' of unpredictable flight schedules & only 1 doctor on the island should any of them need it was also a concern. 3 of the kids are allergic to just about everything, but especially bug bites, so that was another concern. St. John is known & the Myrah Keating Clinic has proven to be very helpful for all of us over the years! So, I'm now looking for a way to make this work....