the 110-foot Southern Wind Thalima is available for charter through YCO.

One example is the 110-foot Southern Wind Thalima, which turned a lot of heads at the late-2011 Antigua Charter Yacht Show thanks to her contemporary cruising design and true racing pedigree. The owner offers the yacht for charter through YCO with regular sails or with seamless sails—the kind designed specifically for and used regularly by America’s Cup contenders. The crew, too, all have racing backgrounds and are eager to show charter clients just how fast they can cruise into the history books.

Most other owners make their charter yachts available to attend regattas, but just not to race in them. Charter clients thus get to enjoy all the festivities associated with the race, but from a safe distance as spectators. Megayachts are often chartered for this purpose, with the sundecks on tri-level yachts offering one heck of a bird’s-eye view as the sailing yachts race around the course.

Between races, charter clients on the spectator boats can enjoy all of the other fun that yacht charter offers. Spectator yachts still have Jet Skis, standup paddleboards, water slides, and all of the other amenities that clients enjoy year-round.
Plus, since this particular event is in St. Barth’s, there’s plenty of shopping, dining, and touring available on land. Day trips to nearby Ile Fourchue are also an option for anyone who wants to escape the racing scene and spend some time in an undeveloped harbor filled with natural beauty.

In general, if you want to book a racing yacht for any regatta (including the next St. Barth’s Bucket), you must book at least six months in advance to give the yacht time to register for the races. If you simply want to charter as a spectator, then the time restriction does not apply—which means there is still plenty of time to charter for this year’s event.

The head of this new operation is Lex Raas, who joined the company as president the first week of January. Raas is a veteran of charter operations and comes to the new venture from TUI Marine, where as CEO he helped engineer the merger between Moorings and Sunsail. He is expected to eventually grow the BVI base to more than 30 boats.

MarineMax Vacations is now operating out of Tortola, in the BVI.

Thirteen Dufour sailing yachts arrived at Hodges Creek Marina in Tortola, British Virgin Islands on January 3rd. Eight Dufour 425s will now be known as MarineMax 433s, and five Dufour 405s will be put into service as MarineMax 413s. All the vessels are new and will have more than $50,000 worth of modifications and amenities such as water makers and enhanced electronics.

The charter company also announced the addition of power catamarans to its Caribbean-based fleet starting in June of 2012. Ten Aquila 38 power cats will become the MarineMax 382 and will be equipped with electric stoves and barbeque grills, gensets, air conditioning, water makers, and wireless connectivity. The two-cabin and two-head vessels are designed by renowned Los Angeles-based naval architects Morrelli & Melvin and built in Fuyang City, China. It is expected that power cats will be very popular with MarineMax Vacations’ target audience of experienced boaters looking for premium charter vessels in a tropical location.

MarineMax Vacations is part of MarineMax, the country’s largest retailer of powerboats. The positioning for the charter company is focused on the total luxury charter experience and will differentiate itself by providing performance yachts and personalized service. The new base at Hodges Creek is a short ride from the BVI airport on Beef Island. The base offers bareboat and crewed vessels as well as organized group events and tours.

For more information, visit MarineMax Vacations.

Yacht charter in the Caribbean

View yachts for charter in the Caribbean

The Caribbean is one of the finest and most popular charter destinations in the world. The Caribbean Sea is bounded by the northern coast of South America, the east coast of Central America, the large islands of Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and a beautiful ring of islands to the east known as the Windward and Leeward islands.

Charter Destinations – Caribbean Region:

Antigua
Bahamas
Barbados
British Virgin Islands
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Martinique
Puerto Rico
Saint Lucia
St. Martin/Sint Maarten
St Vincent and the Grenadines
St. Barths
U.S. Virgin Islands

Chartering in the Caribbean evokes images of gentle breezes, palm trees, white sandy beaches and amazing marine life. Short ‘hops’ from one to the next of the more than 7000 islands in this area make it ideal for chartering. Due to the easy navigation and regular breezes, the Virgin Islands—divided between the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands—feature the largest bareboat charter fleets in the world. The French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, plus the French portion of St. Martin/Sint Maarten, host fleets nearly as large. And islands such as St. Barths bring in the jet set from all over the world.

Yachts available for charter in the Caribbean:

Yachts for charter in Caribbean: Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, St. Martin/Sint Maarten, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Barths, U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Charter Yacht Show's venue at Antigua Yacht Club boasted a variety of charter yachts.

For the first time in memory, the most talked-about charter yacht in the show was a catamaran. Hemisphere, on display with Burgess Yachts, is the largest sailing catamaran in the world at 145 feet. Her sheer volume lured crowds to check her out, but her décor is what left them agog. Hemisphere boasts exotic woods, textured fabrics, and flat surfaces made of materials as unique as crushed egg shells.

A number of megayachts also had attendees excited. Among the new launches, the favorite was Numptia, a 229-foot Rossi Navi that also was on display through Burgess Yachts. Her stylish interior décor—as well as her jazz lounge, dedicated spa deck, and hot tub with waterfall-style jets—made her a difficult act to follow.

Among the sailing yachts, there was a great deal of chatter about the 180-foot Vitters Marie, which was presented by Fraser Yachts Worldwide. Not only is Marie an absolute stunner, but the crew fired imaginations by announcing a trio of one-month charters in the South Pacific to three separate island groups, all for a single family.

But the yacht that had the most people talking was the brand-new, 265-foot Feadship Air, on display with International Yacht Register. She is ultra-modern inside, nearly pure white with art installations that include scoops of Basmati rice surrounding a slab of marble. Her Dutch pedigree was of course impressive, as were towering canvases by renowned artists including Mark Rothko, but her highly personalized décor left many brokers wondering whether she would be appealing to more than a few potential charter clients.

In general, captains were optimistic about the upcoming Caribbean season—which means in this post-recession age they are happy to have two or three charters already on the books. Many yachts still had wide availability, including for Christmas and New Year’s, and captains were quick to mention a willingness to negotiate rates or provide guests with extra days onboard.

All in all, the show left an impression of wide availability among high-quality charter yachts—a great combination for clients seeking last-minute bookings and deals.

The reliable and balmy trade winds of the Caribbean make it a favorite destination for sailors.

The trade winds originate off the coast of Africa, and have been known to carry dust from the Sahara desert all the way across the southern North Atlantic to the Caribbean Islands. They have a huge impact on the Caribbean Islands from Hispaniola all the way down to the ABC’s (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao), and their influence affects different parts of the Caribbean in different ways. Because they are further south, the Windward Islands (Dominica, Grenada, Martinique, and St. Vincent and The Grenadines) see milder temperatures during winter than the Leeward Islands (Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Nevis, Saba, Sint Maarten/St. Martin, St. Kitts and Nevis). The Windwards also have a more reliable breeze.

With their more northerly location, the Leeward Islands are more influenced by fronts drifting down from the mainland U.S., and can be slightly cooler and less windy, especially in the winter months. Because the trades are so reliable other effects can be noted as well. On mountainous islands the warm air is shunted up into cooler air, which produces rain. On islands such as Dominica, Nevis, and St. Lucia rain forests can be found, especially on their windward sides.

One drawback to chartering in winter can be the sheer number of fellow charterers who have all decided the same thing; that two weeks in the BVI in January is far better than two weeks in Chicago. Prices are higher, reservations are more difficult to get, and popular destinations are overcrowded.

Is there another time of year when the Caribbean is less crowded, less expensive, but still delightful? The simple answer is yes, and that time is in the summer, though you need to plan carefully so you don’t end up hunkered down in a hotel room watching palm trees get blown down and praying the power stays on as a hurricane roars overhead.

The two main worries of off-season in the Caribbean are hurricanes and the rainy season. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with the most active period running from mid August through the end of October. From May to July and October through December, the odds are definitely with you.

Hurricane probabliites for different Caribbean islands, from USA Today.

The hurricane probability table shown at left reveals the odds for individual islands. The best odds for a major hurricane strike in any given year in the Caribbean belongs to Antigua, which has a 6.7-percent chance. The lowest is Bonaire, with a 0.6-percent chance. Puerto Rico rings in at 4.2-percent, with the USVI scoring a 5.9-percent. In contrast, Miami scores an impressive 11.1-percent, and Cape Hatteras checks in with a 5.3-percent. See the rest of the list of hurricane probabilities for the continental USA.

Another way to virtually assure that hurricanes won’t mess with your charter, even at the height of the season, is to head “down island,” to islands such as Aruba, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and Barbados. Those lucky few who live on boats in the Caribbean year round often head to those islands in hurricane season for that very reason.

The rainiest months of the year are May to June and September to October, but again, location is everything. The ocean temperature is cooler in the southern parts of the Caribbean due to upwelling (in which cold water rises to the surface as the wind pushes the warmer water south and west) and this helps prevent cloud formation, which means less rain and less likelihood of hurricane activity. The Caribbean islands which most benefit from this are Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.

A common misconception is the summer temperatures, which one would imagine would be much hotter than those in winter. But thankfully that’s not the case, and that, again, is due to those oh-so-helpful trade winds. The average temperature in Antigua in January is 83 degrees, but in August it’s only 88. The chance of seeing 100-degree temperatures is far more likely in the mainland U.S. than it is in the Caribbean, where such temperatures are mostly unheard of.

I’ve successfully delivered boats across the Caribbean Basin from Florida to Panama in August, from Tortola to New England in September, and from Sint Maarten to Panama in June, all safely and without worries, thanks to good forecasting and a firm grasp of the odds.

For more information about the Caribbean, or to find a yacht to charter, visit the YachtWorldCharters.com Caribbean page.

Sunsail offers Reef Weeks on monohull sailboats from 36 to 48 feet.

And it’s not just the usual “discount in the off-season,” either. Sunsail has made a color-coded charter calendar showing “Single Reef Weeks” for 15 percent off, “Double Reef Weeks” for 25 percent off, and “Make Your Own Reef Week” with variable discounts. Reef Weeks are offered for sailing monohulls from 36 up to 48 feet, in Caribbean destinations from the Bahamas to the Grenadines.

Sunsail offers bareboat and crewed charters for any level of experience. And the Caribbean is one of the world’s most popular charter destinations, with a mix of island cultures and reliable trade winds.

So maybe you can fit in that family getaway after all. But you’ll need to book by June 30.

For more information, visit the Reefweeks web page.

Yachts available for charter near Anguilla

Cap Juluca, Anguilla looking across Anguilla Sound to St. Martin. Photo courtesy Doug Logan

The British territory known as Anguilla actually comprises several islands. There’s the main one, which is the best known, along with smaller nearby islands: Anguillita, Dog Island, the Prickly Pear Cays, Sandy Island, Scrub Island, Scilly Cay, Seal Island, and Sombrero, which the locals call “Hat Island.”

Three of those—Dog Island, Sandy Island, and the Prickly Pear Cays—are among the five areas designated as part of the protected Marine Park System. The other two protected areas are Shoal Bay and Little Bay on the big island (if you consider a 16-mile-long-by-3-mile-wide island “big”). Within these protected areas, boaters must use the permanent moorings. Dropping an anchor is illegal, as doing so can damage the coral reefs and fish habitats.

You’ll see both red mooring buoys and white mooring buoys in Anguilla’s Marine Park System. The red buoys are for dive boats, while the whites are for recreational boaters who have gotten a usage permit from the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources at Marine Base in Road Bay. If your boat is more than 55 feet LOA, the office may give you permission to anchor in a designated area.

Each of the Marine Park areas offers something different to see and do, and they’re all to the northern side of the big island, which makes navigation easy. If your idea of a great cruise includes swimming, snorkeling, and a handful of beach bars, then a week of cruising within Anguilla’s Marine Park System is ideal.

If you start at the Marine Base in Road Bay you can cruise west to Dog Island, which is the farthest from the big island. The current tends to be strong here, so be aware of it whether you are anchoring or snorkeling. Even experienced snorkelers and divers tend to stay close to shore, but nobody really minds, what with all of the sea turtles, tiger sharks, and reef fish to be seen. There are a few white, sandy beaches on Dog Island as well as some inland trails created by the local goats. Bring a good pair of hiking shoes along with your snorkel and fins and you’ll be just fine.

Cap Juluca, looking south to Saba, 36 miles away. Photo courtesy Doug Logan

From Dog Island, the Prickly Pear Cays are just about due east. Listen to the VHF traffic to learn the schedule for the local day-trippers arriving at the two cays from St. Maarten, and then you’ll be able to avoid them if you go ashore to one of the two restaurants available to visitors. Swimming and snorkeling are good here, and the diving can be excellent, with depths at Prickly Pear Reef ranging from 40 to 70 feet and a couple of shipwrecks nearby to explore.

Sandy Island is south of the Prickly Pears and is within spitting distance of the big island. Sandy Island is well named, for sure—when seen from above, it looks like nothing more than a mass of smooth sand with a few green shrubs plopped in the middle. The local hut (you’d be hard-pressed to call it a full-scale restaurant) serves fresh lobster and rum cocktails that entice shell collectors, sunbathers, and snorkelers alike.
From Sandy Island, you can cruise along the big island’s northern shore, stopping first at Little Bay and then at Shoal Bay.

Little Bay is a great place to watch wildlife. It was designated part of the park system because of its extensive seagrass bed, which attracts countless sea turtles, fish, and of course the pelicans that feed on those fish. If you want an afternoon out of the sun just watching nature from your aft deck, this is a great spot.

Shoal Bay is to the east of Little Bay, right around the corner from the Island Harbour fishing village. Shoal Bay’s beach is more than a mile long and has made several appearances on “best beaches in the world” lists in various magazines. The reef system in this area is extensive for snorkeling, and the views of the Atlantic Ocean literally do not stop—unless, of course, your eyesight is good enough to see all the way to Africa.

Yachts available for charter near Anguilla

Last October, Susanne, Georgina (age 9) and I first saw our charter boat Blue Moon off Paradise Island, Nassau, the largest of the Bahamian island chain. The 2006 Hunter 41 was painted in my favourite Captain’s Navy. I’d never come across on-board air conditioning or electric heads before, and best of all everything worked very well. And the boat was so clean I was almost tempted to eat my lunch from the engine rocker cover, though perhaps I’d draw the line at the bilges.

Blue Moon, a Hunter 41, provided an excellent charter platform for the author.

We were a little surprised to see a front loading fridge and freezer, which aren’t especially practical for sailing. Also the electronic chart plotter above the wheel with instruments below was great for motoring but useless for sailing, where the steering position is to the port or starboard side depending on the boat’s tack. Other than this, Blue Moon was perfect for our two weeks of cruising.

Enjoying the pleasant October sunshine on a reach between Eluthera and Davis Harbour

After provisioning and a good (air conditioned) night’s sleep aboard, we set sail for Highborne Cay at the north end of the Exuma Island chain, some 38 nautical miles away. The Exumas form a national park and all are very beautiful and clean. En route, the depth over Yellow Bank was something to keep an eye on but no issue. Wind was an interesting 25kts and we made 7.5 to 8 knots over the ground.

We anchored in a secluded bay on Highbourne, filled the dinghy up with fuel, found our first of many conch shells and had our first taste of sunshine. October is supposed to be low season with rain, wind and cold weather, and maybe it was for the locals. To us it was shorts and bikinis for the duration, with the occasional rain providing a respite from the heat and occasionally, an opportunity to shower! We capped off the day with an amazing sunset.

An amazing sunset capped off our day in the secluded bay of Highbourne.

If you are looking for busy shops, restaurants and crowded bars, don’t go to the Northern Exumas. But if you’d like to see all sorts of wildlife in its natural habitat, this is the place. Rays, turtles, dolphins, sharks, bonefish, flying fish, and hundreds of conch – which I prefer alive but if you like to eat them, I understand they are very good!

Monday we took a short hop to Normans Cay to anchor for more swimming, sunning and relaxing, again alone and secluded. Tuesday we sailed to Warderick Wells, home of the park warden and a small gift shop. Picking up a buoy behind Emerald rock gave us a great base for walking and snorkelling the reefs.

A short dinghy ride from Staniel Cay takes you to the famous swimming pigs.

On Wednesday we headed to Cambridge Cay, and then to Staniel on Thursday. Staniel has great services and a particularly nice restaurant / bar at the Yacht Club – it’s essential that you buy the t-shirt! A quick ride in the dinghy takes you to “Thunderball Cave” (of James Bond fame). This is only accessible at low water slack but absolutely amazing, you swim under a sill in the water that opens out into a large cave about the size of a small house. The roof at some point has collapsed so there’s a natural skylight that lets the sun shine light the pool. This pool is teaming with so many varieties of tropical fish it’s impossible to count. A short dinghy ride in the direction of Fowl Cay takes you to the famous swimming pigs.

Feeding the tame sharks on Compass Cay

Compass Cay has a tiny marina with very little in the way of stores, but it is still an amazing place to visit. Here we swam with and fed the sharks who’ve been tamed by the owner of the island, a very pleasant Bahamian who made us very welcome. On the windward side of the island was an amazing beach where we were all alone. Not so in the small marina though, where feeding sharks was the order of the day (they like cold turkey the best).

By Saturday we were in need of water and decided to take the windward side route to Rock Sound on Eluthera, about 35NM to the North East. Everywhere in the Exumas, water costs about $0.45 to $0.50 per gallon. Davis Harbour charge $6 to $12 per day to connect your hose, well worth knowing if you want to wash down the boat as well as filling your tanks! Mooring fees there are also less than half of elsewhere. We arrived in Davis Harbour Marina late on in the afternoon and found all we needed including a short taxi ride to a very large supermarket and hardware store. The sail across and back were both great with pleasant sea and wind conditions for an easy reach both ways.

Now it has to be said that there are two tricky parts about sailing in the Exumas. On the lee side of the island chain there is a great deal of very shallow water over sand bars and occasional coral. This is easy to deal with using the pilot book, charts and some common sense. All the advice to use “visual pilotage” is correct and must be supported by a good depth sounder and knowledge of your position.

The other tricky part is getting from the leeward to windward side of the chain. Between most of the islands there is a passage where the current can flow strongly and waves can be high. On more than one occasion we found it necessary to pass through at slack or close to slack water. It’s not a problem, just something to be aware of.

On Monday we set sail for Little Farmers Cay and had an outstanding welcome! An interesting island almost entirely populated by the descendents of one family who settled there some years ago. The services are limited but they have everything you need. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet Terry Bain who owns Ocean Cabin. Terry will tell you everything you need to know about the Exumas and even sing you a song!

Tuesday was our last night of solitude, in a tiny bay in the private island Rudder Cut. There are “private” signs on some of the islands but we were assured that this applies only above the high water mark, so it’s fine to swim and sunbathe on the beach.

We had most of the beaches all to ourselves, including this one on the windward side of Compass Cay.

Wednesday was a fairly long sail down the “outside” of the south Exumas. We braved the passage from the leeward to windward side of the islands through the passage between Rudder Cut and Little Darby, a short exhilarating blast out to sea like a champagne cork from its bottle. A few hours on the wind until we got to Channel Cay, where once again we were in the lee of the islands heading for Georgetown.

We found the marina at Georgetown to be a bit choppy so headed over to Hurricane Hole on Lee Stocking Island. This was such a good spot that we stayed for the balance of the holiday. There is an amazing beach just off the Chat-n-Chill Restaurant where again, buying a t-shirt is mandatory. In the bay we saw turtles and also paddled with six foot rays, all swimming along the shore looking for conch scraps from the bar next to Chat-n-Chill.

It’s about 1 mile by dinghy over to Georgetown where you’ll find all sorts of supplies, souvenirs and a post office in case you need one. There’s also an interesting lake that you can motor straight into.

When it was time to go home on Saturday, the hand over back to 360 Yachting was smooth and straight forward. All in all, we’d recommend the company and the destination, but not for novices!

Editor’s Note: Find a charter yacht in the Bahamas. Read more about the Exumas (including a list of highlights) on the 360 Yachting site.

Large charter boats are struggling in the current climate.

That’s not to say the industry is challenge-free. On the contrary, the most constant description I heard about business is that “it’s better, but different.”

I think charter broker Mary Crowley of Ocean Voyages summed it up most eloquently during a luncheon that I attended this afternoon aboard the 130-foot Christensen motoryacht Sweet Escape: “Business is coming back, but it’s mostly high-end clients looking for deals,” she said. “Everybody has learned to be sure that the broker negotiates the best possible deal.”

The heads of other top charter brokers at the lunch table all nodded in agreement. Several added that the negotiation challenge seems to be greatest at the top end of the market. Boats larger than about 150 feet, say in the $200,000-a-week and higher price range, are struggling the most in the current climate. The owners of such substantial yachts aren’t used to having to negotiate anything in life, let alone the charter rate of their yachts, while the clients in that price range are savvy enough to know the owners have no other choice because they’re currently staring at completely open calendars. There seems to be something of a stalemate going on at that top end of the market. Not with every megayacht, but with enough of them that the scenario is now seen as common.

Who will blink first–megayacht owners or clients–is impossible to say. But right now, the staredown seems to be leaving countless large yachts with far fewer charter bookings than they otherwise might have for this winter’s Caribbean season.

On the other hand, a good number of brokers told me that their phones are ringing with clients for both the current Caribbean season as well as the 2011 summer season in the Mediterranean. Many clients want smaller yachts than in years past, but they are calling, which the brokers see as a sign that the industry may finally be starting to ease into recovery mode. Price negotiations are likely to be a continuing element for years to come, they say, but owners and clients in the small- and mid-range charter market are not nearly as far apart on deal-making as owners and clients at the top end of the market.

Island Global Yachting, a Fort Lauderdale-based company that operates marinas in the Americas, Caribbean, and Middle East, has just announced two new deals. The first, Anchor Pass, targets transient megayachts. The second, HomePort, is designed for megayachts that base year-round in a single location.

“Anchor Pass is the result of us surveying about 60 yacht captains,” said Sarah Bensimon, IGY marketing and sales manager. “They all wanted more flexibility within our network of marinas, so that is what we are now offering.”
Under the Anchor Pass program, you pay for 120 days of dockage and receive 365 days for use at Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas, The Yacht Club at Isle de Sole in Sint Maarten, Simpson Bay Marina in Sint Maarten, and Rodney Bay Marina in St. Lucia. For megayachts in charter, the participating marinas would provide one base each in the Virgin Islands, the Northern Caribbean, and the Southern Caribbean, giving captains flexibility no matter where charters are booked.

I asked Bensimon to work up the financials on Anchor Pass for a 125-foot motoryacht. Normally, she told me, that owner would pay an average of $4 per foot at the participating marinas, which is $500 per day. If you paid for a full 365 days, the bill would be $182,500. With Anchor Pass, the total bill is $60,000—a savings of $122,500, or about two-thirds off.

“You’re buying in bulk and saving up front,” she said. “That’s the whole idea.”

The same idea is behind HomePort, which allows less-transient yachts to lock in rates for as long as ten years at a single participating marina. I asked for the rates on a 125-footer at Yacht Haven Grande for the next five years. At $3 per foot, Bensimon says, the five-year total would normally be $684,375. With HomePort, IGY would provide the same access for $374,430. You put 10 percent down when you sign up, and you pay the full balance on the date that your long-term plan begins—and you save more than $300,000.

These deals come with two concerns, to my mind. One: You may pay in advance and then not use the slips. Two: IGY or the participating marinas may go out of business before your deal ends. The former concern only you can address. The latter, I think, would be worth bouncing off your attorney before you sign the papers.

But once those concerns are satisfied, the savings to be had are substantial—and for many years to come.