Bahamas 2026 – AQUACAT Part I

It’s all ShinMi fault. Once decided I would go to Bahamas for diving, I recalled that she had dived there a few years ago, so I turn to her for recommendations. She sends me the link of Allstar liveaboard. I study it, I select my vessel and start preparing my trip. That’s how I end up on Aquacat liveaboard for one week.

I started the preparation at the end of February, so almost one year in advance.

In fact, if you come from the other side of the Atlantic, there are a few things that you have to consider:

The places are limited, maximum 24, so if you wait too long, you might end up having to change your plans
You need to make sure that you match all the deadlines for payments – that are staggered – and consider if you need a transfer service that is not included in the lump sum you are paying
You might want to arrive a few days earlier to adjust to the time zone and therefore you have to consider the hotel
You have paperwork to do: forms and medical certificate stating you are fit to dive (that’s the one I almost missed, as I didn’t read all the emails till the end, so I realized I had to rush to my doctor for the check-up)

Though my trip was scheduled at the end of the year, I kept thinking about it all the year long and therefore each time I would finalize a step, I would repeat happily in my head: “I’m going to dive in Bahamas! I’m going to see sharks in Bahamas! I’m going to dive with sharks in Bahamas”.

Strangely enough, this thrilling feeling disappears just a few days before the departure. My brain starts going nuts with stuff such as:

“What if I don’t get along with my roommate?”

“What if I don’t like the people and I’m stuck with them for one week?”

“What if everybody is a better diver than I am?”

“What if….?”

I’m not sure if it was premenstrual syndrome, because I’m used to travel solo, so I really have no clue, where this came from.

After a few rounds of such thoughts, my inner voice has enough of me and almost shouts in my head:

“Elena, for God’s sake, can you please stop this madness? When did it ever happen to you, to have bad experiences or meet people that you don’t like during a solo trip? When were you left alone without guardian angels disguised as travel mates?”

OOPS! My voice is right. “Sorry for being a dumbass, I won’t do that again, I promise.”

So I stop being a prick and I open my spirit to enjoy Bahamas. I never, never imagined that one day I would go there to dive, so I put my fears back into the Pandora Box and let Hope out of it instead.

This is going to be another amazing trip.

My first live aboard.

My first time in Bahamas.

7 days of multiple dives, night dives and sharks.

So, as my flight takes off on the 25th of December very early, I book an hotel close to the airport and spend there the night. As usual, I have two suitcases, the regular one with clothes and personal effects and the diving equipment. However, my ticket only includes 1 suitcase, so I have to pay extra to add it the following day at the check-in.

I have a first leg, less than 1 hour, a short layover and then I board for the 11-hour flight to Miami, eating the leftovers of the Pandoro that I didn’t finish on Christmas’ eve.

Once I arrive in Miami I queue for the passport control, I retrieve my luggage, I leave it at the counter of American Airlines and make it just on time to the boarding for my flight to Nassau.

So, when it comes to flying to Nassau I have a couple of advices:

N.1 :

If you have a layover in Miami, make sure you have enough time for the passport control, the custom clearance and – in my case – retrieve the luggages and re-check in them at the counter of the last leg of your flight.

N. 2 : as far as I know, from London you have direct flights to Nassau with British Airways. It might cost you double, but it’s up to you to decide if you want to save time or if you want to save money.

N. 3: you may want to consider the ferry from Fort Lauderdale, if you have enough time. Florida is really close to Bahamas.

Why am I giving you all these advices? Keep on reading!

So, I arrive in Nassau on the evening of the 25th. When I arrive I have a bad surprise: my diving equipment is not with me. So I have to file the complaint at the desk of the airline company and I am told that it will arrive the following day, so I relax. The transfer booked with the service advised by Allstar is responsive, so they wait for me, even if I’m late because of the complaint.

I check in in the hotel, have dinner and rest. I have two days to chill out before boarding Aquacat and Junkanoo beach is just across the street from my hotel.

The reality is that I spent most time trying to sort out the luggage issue than on the beach and when the driver, comes to pick-me up around 4.30, I radiate anger because despite all the assurances, the phone calls and the messages on chat exchanged, my diving equipment did not arrive. I only have with me reg and computer, because they were in the hand luggage. Everybody feels sympathetic, because everybody is traveling with their own equipment, so they can measure my dismay from the one they would feel, had the same happened.

So, here, advice n.4 and n.5:

Buy an insurance for cancellation and luggage. It might be useful if the airline does not recover your baggage.

Make sure you have an AirTag in your luggage, so you can check where it is. I swear, everybody asked me: do you have an AirTag in your bag? And my reply was: “no”. ( I bought two AirTags as soon as I came back home).

However the accident will not screw my cruise, because the boat is fully equipped with diving material, so I only have to choose what would fit me better and then I’ll be ready to go.

The Aquacat is a 3-deck catamaran built on purpose in Australia for live aboard and this is why it is so comfortable and nothing is left to the hazard. We are 21 guests, the maximum capacity is for 24, plus the crew members, so there is plenty of space for everybody, we can choose if we want to chill out in the dining salon, on the fresco deck or to sunbath on the upper one.

While we are waiting for everybody to arrive (some divers are landing just now in Nassau), there are plenty of things to do: we introduce to each other, we meet the crew, we go through individual assessment with the Head DM, to ascertain our dive level, we prepare the equipment for the following day, then we go to dinner. I sit next to a lovely British lady who will be my roommate for the next week and also my dive buddy, with two Brazilian girls and three gentlemen, one from Canada and two from the USA. Oh, there is also a lovely couple from USA. We are a big group, but these are the people I’ll spend most of the time with.

We go to bed early, after the security briefing, because the breakfast is at 7.00 and the first dive at 8.30.