This Pristine Island Has a Five-Mile-Long Beach, a Signature Sound, and the Essence of The Bahamas

I was walking along Old Bight Beach, the longest uninterrupted stretch of sand in The Bahamas, and realized I hadn’t seen another soul all morning. The shoreline ran on without end, pink-tinged and wide, with only the sound of the water folding gently on the sand. This is Cat Island — a place where you can still feel the luxury — and the serenity — of being alone.

This is the land that raised Sidney Poitier, who spent his early years here before going on to become one of the world’s greatest actors and cultural figures. And this is the land of The Hermitage, perched atop Mount Alvernia, the highest point in the country, where a hand-built stone chapel keeps watch over sea and sky. Cat Island is quiet and unhurried, deeply tied to history, and yet untouched in a way that feels almost impossible in today’s Caribbean.

The Story of the Sand 

Old Bight Beach is Cat Island’s masterpiece — nearly five miles of continuous sand, making it one of the longest beaches in The Bahamas. It is open, vast and empty, the kind of place where you can walk for hours with nothing but your own shadow. It’s also home to the lovely Rollezz Villas resort.

There are no, no crowds, just pure, uninterrupted coastline. It feels private, even though it belongs to everyone. It is Cat Island in its purest form: expansive, quiet, and endlessly beautiful.

Cat Island is lined with beaches that feel like secrets. Greenwood Beach, on the island’s southern edge, is one of the great pink-sand stretches in the Out Islands — broad, wild and dazzling in its solitude. Fernandez Bay is different: smaller, crescent-shaped, and framed by low green hills. It’s a favorite for swimming, snorkeling and simply staying still in the clear, calm water.

Then there’s New Bight Beach, close to Mount Alvernia, a gathering spot where fishing boats rest offshore and the sand glows white in the midday sun. Across the island, hidden coves and unnamed strips of sand appear at the ends of narrow tracks, each one a private discovery. Cat Island doesn’t just have one perfect beach — it has dozens, each offering its own version of stillness.

At the far north of Cat Island lies Shanna’s Cove (home to the hotel by the same name) where the sand curves around a crescent bay so clear and quiet it feels like a private world. The beach here, sometimes called Shanna’s Bay, is as pristine as any in The Bahamas — a wide ribbon of soft white sand framed by green hills and turquoise water that barely seems to move.

It’s the kind of place where the only sound is the ocean, where the shallows glow in shifting blues, and where you can step straight from a hillside bungalow onto sand that feels untouched. For travelers who make it this far north, the reward is a beach that is both breathtaking and almost entirely their own.

The Hermitage on Mount Alvernia

Cat Island also holds The Hermitage, one of the most remarkable landmarks in The Bahamas. It sits atop Mount Alvernia, a 206-foot hill that may sound modest until you stand at its peak and realize it is the highest point in the whole country.

The Hermitage was built by Father Jerome, the British architect-turned-monk who came to The Bahamas in the early 20th century. He carved the stone monastery by hand, scaling its proportions to humility: tiny doorways, narrow windows, walls that blend seamlessly into the rock beneath them.

Climbing the hill is both pilgrimage and perspective. The path winds upward past stone markers of the Stations of the Cross, and at the top, the view stretches endlessly across the island and the sea. The Hermitage is not just a chapel. It is a symbol of Cat Island itself: simple, enduring, deeply connected to its landscape.

The Sound of The Bahamas 

Cat Island gave the world rake and scrape, a music born of everyday instruments — the scrape of a saw, the rhythm of a goatskin drum, the call of an accordion. It began here and spread across The Bahamas, but on Cat Island it still belongs to the people. You hear it at gatherings and festivals, played in backyards and community spaces, a living soundtrack that ties the island together. You hear it each year at the island’s legendary festival. 

Rake and scrape is raw, rhythmic and real, a reminder that culture here isn’t packaged — it’s practiced. Just as the beaches remain untouched, so too does the music remain rooted in its place.

The Legacy of Sidney Poitier

Perhaps the island’s most famous son is Sir Sidney Poitier, who grew up on Cat Island before his family moved to Nassau. His early life here shaped the discipline, humility and strength that would define his career.

Poitier carried Cat Island with him to Hollywood and beyond, becoming the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor and one of the most influential actors of the 20th century. His story is inseparable from this place, a reminder that Cat Island, quiet as it may be, has touched the world.

How to Get to Cat Island

Cat Island feels far away, but it’s easier to reach than it seems. Daily domestic flights connect Nassau to New Bight Airport on Cat Island, a trip of just under an hour. Makers Air also operates direct service from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (soon to go daily), giving travelers from South Florida a straight route into the Out Islands.

Once you arrive, the island unwraps itself slowly — narrow roads, small settlements, and beaches that seem to stretch forever. Getting here takes a little more effort, but that’s exactly why Cat Island remains so untouched.