What Chartering is all about

What is the magic of a private yacht charter? It's really all about total privacy, personal service, gourmet meals, absolute relaxation and seclusion, watersports if you like and no fixed itinerary.

Taking a vacation on a fully crewed yacht is very much like staying in an exclusive villa with first rate staff to look after you and make sure you have everything you want. The yacht crew will sail the yacht, cook, pour drinks and take extremely good care of you. The advantage is that your yacht moves when you want, to a new anchorage or new island. You decide where to go, when, what you want to eat and who to take with you.

The Yacht Captain will generally recommend the best itinerary and will know the cruising area very well, the prettiest harbours, quietest beaches and best snorkelling or scuba places. But the choice is yours as the itinerary is always flexible: if you discover a place you particularly love, then you can spend extra time there.

You decide on each day's activities; if all you really want to do is relax in a shady cockpit or hammock, sunbathe, read a book, swim and snorkel or chat with friends, that's fine too. Or perhaps you want to go ashore and explore little villages, hill climb or shop in local markets, the Captain will make sure you set off in the right direction - he might even come with you. If you're real party people, you might want to go ashore and enjoy local Caribbean nightlife. Most charter clients choose to eat at least one dinner ashore during the course of the week to taste some of the local cuisine.

On a fully crewed yacht it is not necessary for you to be an experienced sailor - in fact this could be your very first sailing trip. Charter Captains are generally very good teachers and if you want to learn more about sailing, or have a go at the wheel, the Captain will usually be delighted to show you.

Catering aboard the yacht will generally be of a very high standard. The menu is planned to suit your taste in food and if you have any special dietary needs these can usually be catered for too. Some yachts have professionally qualified chefs on board who work in top restaurant-standard kitchens; others will have extremely good cooks who produce wonders in what seems like the very confined space of a yacht galley.

Watersports. As a minimum, charter yachts always carry snorkel gear and generally much more as well. Floating mats, water-skis, fishing gear, towable rings and kneeboards etc, sea kayaks and beach games are often provided, while on the bigger boats there could be a sailing dinghy, scuba gear and jet-skis. A number of yachts are also well-equipped dive centres. Depending upon the qualifications of the crew, you could also learn scuba too.

Chartering is an ideal vacation for many different groups of people: families, groups of friends or just couples wanting a peaceful and romantic getaway. Chartering need not be an expensive vacation and very often will cost less than staying in a good resort hotel.

The choice of yacht is very important and we will try to recommend the right yacht and crew to suit you. To help us with this we need you to tell us as much about your charter group as you can.

To receive our recommendations for your perfect yacht, complete our yacht charter request form.