Aqua Cat Cruises

The Scuba Diving Luxury Liveaboard of the Bahamas
Liveaboard scuba diving and snorkeling in the Bahamas on the Aqua Cat. We offer a large variety of dives; shark feeding dives, blue holes, high speed drift dives, walls and shallow patch reefs. Each week we cruise from Nassau, Bahamas to the remote islands of the Exumas, and especially the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, the most pristine area in all the Bahamas. Your adventure vacation is on the 102′ catamaran Aqua Cat. This is the ultimate escape aboard your own private luxury yacht. Imagine sinking your toes into sugar sand, snorkeling or diving among the lemon sharks and sting rays, or hiking the trails of pirates and bootleggers of years gone by. No crowds, no set itineraries, nothing to do but sit back, relax and choose from an incredible variety of activities including scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, fishing, sunbathing, and island exploring. If you aren’t a certified scuba diver, the Aqua Cat offers full certification scuba diving lessons during your adventure vacation. Aqua Cat offers top of the line high quality scuba rental gear for those who require it. Photographers will find underwater life in the Exumas some of the most prolific and varied of any coral reef in the world. Aqua Cat enables you to scuba dive remote walls, wrecks, and coral reefs with sharks.

Let Aqua Cat be your floating resort while on your adventure vacation with captain and crew at your service. With bar, meals, scuba diving and water sports included in the price or your adventure vacation, Aqua Cat is comparably priced to a Caribbean luxury cruise or resort vacation, only the service is much more personal. Nitrox is available on your Bahamas adventure vacation.

Your Bahamas adventure will include painted walls, friendly grouper, thrilling shark encounters, drift dives and mysterious blue holes. Many of the scuba diving sites you will visit are frequented by Caribbean Reef Sharks and Nurse Sharks. You can also see Lemon Sharks at the Land and Sea Park. And don’t miss out on the shark feed dive usually offered during your vacation. You will experience truly virgin diving in the Exumas. For over 30 years, much of the northern Exumas has been a National Underwater Park with no fishing, spearfishing or collecting allowed. Because of these laws there are miles and miles of undersea gardens. The reefs are perfect for snorkeling with gin clear waters and lots of fish.

You will have a great time exploring the 200 mostly uninhabited islands with their many beautiful beaches in the northern Exumas. The Aqua Cat has a 28′ launch that can take you to isolated beaches where you can sunbathe, explore, kayak, snorkel or fish.

The Aqua Cat offers luxury accommodations, a spacious main salon and an extremely smooth ride. The Aqua Cat cruises at a speed of 14-knots getting you to the uninhabited islands of the Bahamas and dive sites quickly while her 35-ft beam will ensure a smooth ride. The eleven passenger cabins are some of the largest of any liveaboard in the world with their own private bathroom and shower.

Experience scuba diving like no other in the Caribbean. The variety of dive sites in the Exuma Cays is truly unique and offer opportunities not available elsewhere. Each week we offer a great variety of diving-thrilling shark feeding dives, walls that begin as shallow as 40′ and slope over the edge where large pelagics are frequently seen, exhilarating high speed drift dives through the cuts of the cays, blue holes which are banked by patch reefs with huge schools of fish as well as other wonderful sites. Scuba divers can enjoy up to 26 dives per week and will leave with a log book full of new memories and wonderful sightings. Many of our dive sites are in the Exumas Land & Sea Park which is protected so the marine life is both large and plentiful. This is truly the best of the Bahamas- diving the Exuma Cays with Aqua Cat Cruises!

1. Nassau

Lost Blue Hole – The rim of this large blue hole lies in 40′ of water surrounded by coral heads, sting rays and many schools of fish. There is a lobster filled crevice at 80′. In the sand surrounding the hole, divers will find many small fish such as banded jawfish, Seminole gobies and tobacco fish. There are usually 1 or 2 nurse sharks here and during the spring a large school of blacknose sharks inhabits the bottom of the 200′ hole. This site is normally visited on the way to or from the Exumas.This is the location of the Bahamas first lionfish sighting.

Periwinkle Reef – This is a shallow patch reef that is teaming with fish. The local Nassau operators feed fish here, so sergeant majors and angelfish will approach scuba divers looking for a handout.

2. Exumas

Amberjack Reef – A 50′ patch reef that has prolific fish life. You will see reef sharks and up to 10 large grouper. This dive also has many interesting small critters such as pirate blennies and garden eels. Back on the hang bar scuba divers will be surrounded by a school of 100+ horse-eye jack that hang out under one of the Blackbeard’s sailboats.

Austin Smith Wreck – A 90′ Bahamian Defense Force Cutter that sank in 1995 while being towed to San Salvador to be sunk there as a dive site. Their misfortune was our gain. This intact wreck lies in 60′ of water.

Barracuda Shoals – This bankside patch reef has huge schools of fish as well as many small critters on the reef and surrounding sand. Lobster No Lobster reef just to the north is very similar.

Blacktip Wall – Hammerhead sharks have been sighted frequently on this wall. This reef is also where Ned Deloach (Reef books co-author) found the very rare lemon goby.

Cathedral – This site is part of the Dog Rocks Reef. This reef starts at 35′ and slopes off to 50′ before dropping straight down into the Exuma Sound. The Cathedral is a large swim-thru where the light filters down from above reflecting off the thousands of silversides that occupy the swim-thru. This swim-thru has many grouper and jacks that come to feed on the silversides. This is one of the crews favorite dives. If you like to identify fish, you will marvel at the large variety of fish. The wall has large stands of black coral and orange elephant ear and tube sponges. Pelagics, eagle rays and sharks are frequently seen off the wall.

Cracked Coral Head – This massive coral head rises 40′ off the bottom. Several large swim-thrus make it looked like it is cracked.

Jeep Reef – This is one of the prettiest reefs you will ever see. The strong current that sweeps through this cut keeps the reef ‘s corals very healthy. This dive can only be done at slack tide because of the strong currents . It is in the middle of the Exumas Land & Sea Park, so you will find a very healthy population of fish. This dive site gets its name from a coral encrusted jeep that sits near the mooring.

Pillar Wall – One of many excellent wall dives. It starts at 30′ and slopes to 50′ before dropping 5,000′ to the bottom. There are many caves and crevices. There is a large colony of yellowhead jawfish in the rubble inside the reef.

The Washing Machine – The strong incoming tide of up to 6 mph takes scuba divers thru a narrow cut where water drops off a ledge and then makes a sharp bend to the left. This causes the water to swirl like the water in a washing machine. This swirling water will toss scuba divers head over heels. Scuba divers who wish to avoid being tossed around can stay to the right where you will have a smooth fast trip through the cut. After passing through the cut you will then glide over a large patch reef. Enjoy the ride!

Wax Cut Drift – Divers and Snorkelers alike fly over this 30′ reef at over 2 knots. You will see rays, sharks, eels and numerous fish as you drift with the current in the cut between the islands. The sheer density of staghorn, pillar and finger corals is amazing. There are several other similar drifts dives we do such as Hammerhead Gulch and Coral Cut.

Whale Tail Wall – A great wall just south of Wax Cut. Large parrotfish roam the sand inside the reef while sharks & eagle rays are frequently seen off the wall. We have had some very unusual sightings here like a Caribbean torpedo, one of only 4 sighting of this very rare ray.

3. Southwest Eleuthera

Cave Rock – A large coral mound in 50′ of water surrounded by several smaller coral heads. There are several caves where you can swim from one side to the other. The large variety of corals and fish will amaze you. We have frequently seen Hammerhead Sharks here.

Hole in the Wall – The walls in Southwest Eleuthera are some of the most abrupt & beautiful anywhere, literally going straight down. At this site there is a hole just inside the edge of the wall that drops 15′ with a swim-thru that heads west before popping out of the wall.

Jake’s Hole – This tidal blue hole lies in 20′ of water. The highlight of this dive is the vibrant corals surrounding the hole. Because it is very tidal, scuba divers aren’t permitted to enter the hole.

Monolith – Large mounds of coral rise out of the sand at the edge of the wall. They start at 100′ and rise to 55′. There is a colony of Garden Eels in the sand next to the mounds.

4. Little San Sal (Half Moon Cay)

Cave Reef – This 40′ shallow patch reef has several large swim-thrus cutting through the middle.

Empress Pinnacles – This wall dive features 30′ high pinnacles coming out of the sand at the edge of the wall. Peligics are seen frequently in the clear water off the wall. There are large stands of black coral on the sides of the pinnacles.