New Caribbean Charter Web-Site

We'd love to have all of you yachting enthusiasts out there to know about our brand new Caribbean web-site www.caribbean-yachts-vacations.com . I'm pretty biased but frankly I think it's very modern and informative and provides a level of detail about chartering a yacht in the different Caribbean islands that is not readily found on other sites. We have over 1000 different charter vessels that can be accessed directly off the site, an ideal place to start your holiday or vacation.

Summer Charter News

Summer 2008

Head for the Med: September is the best month for Late- Summer Mediterranean Charters...

There are still some excellent yachts left for the summer, June, July and August are the PEAK months but the best kept secret is that September is the best MED MONTH - especially for Turkey. This is the best time for that Mediterranean cruise that you never took and we do still have some super new vessels left. Check out Greece and the Islands, Corfu, Mikonos, Santorini. Many of the Caribbean yachts high-tail it out of their Winter cruising grounds and "head for the Med" in Summer. Please check this site for your ultimate luxurious yachting experience. We have a wide selection of family sized, Super and Mega Yachts for your Mediterranean getaway. Cruise the Greek Islands, Croatia, Turkey, the French and Italian Riviera's, Spain or the Balearic islands. Give us a call or contact us so we can send you a selection of hard copy or e-brochures. We have some excellent new itineraries and guides on this site for the first timer.

Book the BVI now for your 2008 summer getaway charter now for the off-season - budget rates available. Don't get left on the beach...!!

Book early and get the best boats now. Many of our premium quality crewed sailing and motor yachts are being snapped up. Please remember that the US is going through pretty encouraging economic circumstances and people are spending more money on their leisure activities. We'd love to put you on a beautiful yacht in Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean or the Med during the winter months. January February, March bookings are going like hot-cakes. We still have boats left..... Click here to send us an email.

Crewed Yacht Search Engine

We are pleased to announce a new Crewed Yacht Search Engine on all websites: use these engines to find the right charter boat in the right place at the right time. There is also a "new style" engine on this site: look under "charter-inquiry" or "Yacht Availability". If you put your dates, number of guests, price range and start location in the engine, it will provide you with a list of possible yachts that are available. It will only show those yachts that are available on your specific dates and that fit your criteria. You can use it for Florida, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, the Mediterranean and the Eastern and Western Caribbean, and other locations around the world.

Genoa show coming up now in May

Good news for the Mediterranean charter yacht shows. There will be good broker attendance, lot of sparkling new yachts and crews, excellent food. What more can we say? Low dollar taking a toll on US Broker attendance tho.

The Balearic Islands: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera,

Highly recommended and famous for hosting European VIP's and celebrities. These islands have it all: secluded getaways and sparkling night life. We have a major selection of yachts to explore these fascinating locations.

Poros Greece 2007 Charter Yacht Show

The Hellenic Charter Brokers Association had its annual brokerage show, or “Symposium” as they call it, in Poros, Greece in May. Delightful setting I may add – Poros is a winner because it’s away from, the hustle and bustle of Athens (Piraeus) and is a beautiful little place that has some great food and great hotels. We stayed at the 7 Brothers Hotel which is in the village center and within walking distance to the show - reasonably priced and very clean. The other two major hotels are the Image and the Syrene that are outside the downtown area but may brokers prefer them since they are more luxurious. I use the word “downtown” carefully since Poros is really a quaint little village.

People tell me that the broker attendance at the show was down from last year, probably due to fewer American brokers being there. The airfares and hotels and transportation in Euros make things very expensive. Furthermore, the pricing of Greek charters reflects the current Dollar – Euro imbalance and makes them pretty pricey. The value of the Euro is really making it difficult for Americans to travel and charter yachts in the Mediterranean.

Certainly this year’s show emphasized motor yachts over sailing yachts. There was a huge selection of Mega Yachts, most of them built and owned by wealthy Greek businessmen for their own use and who charter them when not being used. There was also quite an array of medium sized Ferretti’s between 75’ and 90’ – these seem to be the favorites at around E20 to E30K a week.

Greek (generally European) designed motor yachts seem to reflect closer family and friends relationships since most are designed to accommodate 10 to 12 guests and some up to 14 and 16 guests..!! This is virtually unheard of in the US and Caribbean. This may be due to USCG regulations but I don’t know why that would affect the Caribbean??

The Greek ferry system simply amazed us, every island is connected by an incredible network of ferries, most of which originate in Piraeus, just West of Athens. The ferries are relatively inexpensive and pretty much run on time in good weather. We took the hydro-foil ferry from Piraeus to Poros and the darn thing travels at about 40 kts, cutting a 2 ½ hour ride down to one hour.

How to get to Poros: Take the ferry (Hellenic Seaways) from Piraeus to Poros. The same ferry takes passengers onwards to Spetses and Hydra so you can also visit these islands easily from Poros. For the record, these islands and generally the waters of the Saronic Gulf are much more protected than the Cyclades (Mykonos, Santorini). If the weather forecast looks iffy, stick to Aegina, Poros, Hydra, Spetses, and the Corinthian Canal and Gulf.

We got “sidetracked” to the island of Rodos (Rhodes), in Greece so as to take the ferry from Rodos to Marmaris in Turkey for the Marmaris brokerage show. This is easier than flying to Turkey, if you need to get to Marmaris which is kind of in the middle between the airports of Bodrum and Delaman in Turkey and you have to fly through Istanbul to take a local Turkish flight. Rodos is a trip – full of British, German and Russian tourists. Nice historical sites like the fortress and the “old city” that the Knights of St. John built in the 7th century and many other archeological treasures. Well worth the trip there, even if you are just passing through.

Marmaris Turkey 2007 Charter Show

Just got back from the Turkish charter yacht show and I have to say that I was really amazed at the warm welcome and very special service I received from everyone in this delightful country. Although Marmaris is a resort town, full of Brits, Germans and especially very rich Russians, the locals are remarkably “un-contaminated”. So far.

In our little yachting world, Turkey’s Aegean coast remains the poor cousin of the classic Med destinations - certainly in the minds of our American clients. Worries about Islamic countries, political unrest, terrorism, etc. cloud our vision of the realities of this great yachting destination. Friendly people who genuinely love foreigners and don’t really care where you’re from - delightful weather, pristine blue waters, forested mountains that reach right down to the ocean and very reasonable prices are certainly reason enough to rethink your travel plans and plan your charter in this country.

Turkey’s Aegean Coast pretty much starts in the city of Bodrum which is the furthest North of the yachting grounds, then it extends down to Gokova with it’s unspoiled forests, marvelous ruins and archeological treasures, then further South to Marmaris which is your classical resort town with great hotels and restaurants, and continues on down to Gocek, in the Fethiye Bay with it’s large bareboat population and where many of the crewed yachts are based.

Charters are generally organized from Saturday to Saturday and the best sailing, as all sailors know, is with the wind behind you. So in summer, with the prevailing wind from the North, charters that start in Bodrum and end in Marmaris or Gocek are encouraged. It's also possible to cross over from Turkey to the Greek Dodecanese islands and jump back into Turkish waters again although there are ports fees every time you switch.

Turkey is also home to that very unique Turkish sailing ship the Gulet. (Spanish speakers please note the origin of the word “Goleta” or small sailing ship). These beautiful wooden vessels are still being built today and come in two basic flavors: the very large variety that can accommodate up to 16 or 18 guests and the smaller ones that generally carry 8 to 10 passengers. The master cabin is generally aft and large, the identical, generally spacious, guest cabins with en-suite heads run port and starboard off a long fore and aft corridor. The crews are Turkish but most are English-speaking, the service is excellent and the food delightful. We had several at the show – one had been launched only a few weeks ago and had that amazing smell of new wood. Built in Bodrum, she can accommodate up to 16 guests.

There is also an excellent and exciting assortment of motor yachts including some very new ones all of which can accommodate from 10 to 12 guests, however, the price of fuel being what it is especially in Europe, motor yacht itineraries need to be carefully planned to maximize fuel economy.

For the budget-minded, there is also an assortment of owner operated and generally smaller crewed monohull sailing vessels and a couple of crewed cats that operate either out of Gocek or Marmaris that can accommodate from 4 to 8 guests.

Bareboats are also available in all three major locations whether these be from the larger international companies or from smaller local companies, they all look pretty good. Bavaria seems to be the marque of preference here.

How to get to Turkey? Several options: fly into Istanbul and then take a local flight into either Bodrum or Gocek. (Delaman) Fly into Athens and take a local flight (Aegean Airlines) to the island of Rhodes and then take the ferry over to Marmaris. This is a favorite with charter brokers going to the Marmaris show.

SOME THOUGHTS ON CHARTER BOAT DESIGN

One of the greatest challenges facing the designers of modern yachts today is fuel consumption in this world of $3.00 x gallon marine diesel. While this may not be an issue for the very wealthy owner(s) it is certainly an issue for the charterer who may not be as wealthy, and certainly does care about his fuel bill since he pays for the fuel, and the food and beverage provisioning separately. So this would have a bearing on the hull design and designers may wish to consider a "bulbous nose" type bow design which is certainly more efficient and any other tricks of the trade that save fuel without compromising speed.

Some of our major concerns today involve the sleeping accommodations on charter yachts. Families today come in many different flavors and we are constantly wrestling with rigid accommodation arrangements that assume that everyone is either a married couple or will be relegated to sleeping in bunk beds. Ergo, try and make the accommodations as flexible as possible, i.e. King or Queen sized beds that can be changed seamlessly into two beds without compromising on the "luxury". Todays extended families with half-brothers and half-sisters who need their space, etc etc. demand good solutions from yacht designers.

Generally speaking charter customers come in two major flavors: By far the largest group is symbolized by the rich patriarch who is taking his family of sons, daughters, in-laws, and grand-children on a one or two week cruise in the Caribbean or the Med on a "rotation" basis. Next comes the groups of fun-loving middle-aged adults that escape and leave the children behind. Business charters are less common - it takes guts to take people you don't know very well on any kind of cruise. A boat, even a 150' footer can be a very small space to be with people that annoy you.

Rate per week will be between $50,000 and $100,000 plus expenses. Expenses include fuel, food and beverage, dockage, entry taxes, customs charges, etc. Gratuity of 10% to 15% of the base rate is customary.

Maintenance on a large yacht is usually and ultimately the responsibilty of the Captain who, in turn farms it out to various contractors and subcontractors, i.e. a/c guys, engine specialists, electronics companies, etc. In some cases, the owner of the boat will place his yacht in the care of a management company or clearing house that will hire the captain and crew, take charge of the maintenance, and offer the boat for charter. Sometimes there is a marine engineer on board, especially at the very high end. But it is the Captain who is, as I mentioned earlier, is ultimately responsible for making sure that the boat is running well and safely and that the paying passengers will experience the greatest vacation of their lives.

A working charter yacht will winter in the Caribbean and summer in the Med or New England. Some boats spend all year in the Florida/Bahamas area or they will winter in the Bahamas and summer in the Med or the Caribbean. Sometimes they will travel to Europe under their own steam but, most likely, they will ship the yacht over on a yacht transport commemrcial freighter. In this way they will keep working Summer and Winter. The Owner usually reserves a few weeks during the year which he makes known to the captain, hopefully in advance.

CHARTER BOAT FLAGS AND REGISTRATION

I was recently approached for my views on charter boat flagging and foreign vs. domestic choice of flag for charter boats. The registration and flag that any charter boat adopts is usually a function of three factors: cost incl. taxes, safety regulations and restrictions, if any, in the location where the yacht will be primarily chartering. Yes, there is an annual registration fee for charter-yachts and most boats tend to avoid registering in the United States because of the high cost and because the boat will now be subject to USCG standards which are expensive to maintain. This is not to say that they are the best regulations and many countries have more stringent regulations than we do but also many countries have fewer and less complicated regulations - like almost none. Fashionable places where large charter-yachts tend to register these days include the Cayman Islands (because many of the larger yachts are actually owned by Cayman Island Corporations, the British Virgin Islands and St. Vincent.

In order to improve passenger safety, there is a movement under way to establish a uniform standard of safety regulations that port officials in different countries can use to apply to visiting charter-yachts regardless of the flag that they fly. This is encouraging and should be supported. The European SOLAS standards are most likely to apply for this project.

Some further thoughts on US flagged vessels: All vessels that charter in US waters especially those US Built and registered in the US, are subject to the Jones Act of 1916. I don't want to get into the complexities of the Jones Act - suffice to say that it was put in place to protect US shipping interests in the age of the robber barons. In today's world the Jones Act does much to discourage boat owners from registering their vessels in this country and also drives non-US flagged vessels to preferentially pick-up passengers outside the US, say in the Bahamas, or the BVI.

Homeland seurity has been doggedly adding additional restrictions and pre-advise for customs arrivals and movment of paying passengers; all of this is good however what is really needed is a total revision or a "start-from-scratch" project to replace the Jones Act. Don't hold your breath.

WHY USE A CHARTER BROKER?

Yes, we're back to this discussion again. Reason being that customers calling in to the office ask us from time to time: "are you the owner of the boat?" When the answer is "no, we don't own any boats, we're brokers...." I sense serious disappointment at the other end of the line almost as if we let the guy down in some way, like proposing to cheat him out of some hard earned cash, like we suddenly morphed into a middleman carpet merchant, or perhaps "gee, if we'd only called the right people we'd be getting a better deal" kind of thought process.

I guess I'm writing this blog to assuage my feelings of guilt almost as if I got guilty by phone osmosis. Anyway, enough of this sentimental garbage. Here are some real good reasons to use a broker: number one, try calling 4000 boats by yourself. (then do a comparative price/value analysis on an Excel spreadsheet...!! How do we assign points to the crew...??) Hmm, perhaps not - better call a broker.

No, seriously, we do perform an added value function in the industry but certainly from my perspective, this added value is, very simply, knowledge. The career track of most good brokers takes them through the ranks of chefs, mates, stewards, captains, and owner-operators of charter vessels. sometimes also through the ranks of the yacht management companies, clearing houses, yacht sales brokerages, and then finally they break out of the mold, start their own business and become charter and/or sales brokers. Then, and this is important, they travel around the world looking for the best boats and the best locations so they can share all of this with their customers; wow, this is valuable stuff. Here's my premise: this accumulated knowledge can only benefit you when you take your annual yachting vacation.

The broker can advise you where to go, choose the best boats and the best crews for you, tell you what the weather will be like and the probability of winds and sea states; where and when the special deals are going, what's the best time of year, what you should wear and how to save money on airline fares.

Here's the best part: it doesn't cost anything - this vast depository of knowledge is free for our clients to take advantage of. Using the analogy of mortgage brokers, realtors, and sales brokers, the sellers, in this case the boats themselves, pay us a fee to sell and market their products while they do what they're doing best - actually running the boats and looking after customers 24/7.

I guess I don't feel guilty anymore.

"NEW" BVI CHARTERYACHT REGULATIONS

The Crown Territory of the British Virgin Islands has had restrictions on the number of foreign flag charter vessel pick-ups on the books for several years - about 14 years, I am told. The fact that they are actually going to enforce these regulations staring in July 2006 has caused an uproar. Wow.

Here's the story: The US Virgin Islands restricts departing charter vessels to a maximum of 6 passengers. So, following the path of least resistance, everybody who owned or operated a charteryacht out of St. Thomas that had a capacity in excess of 6 passengers used to load the six pax up in St. Thomas, and encourage the rest of the passengers to take the ferry to West End in the BVI and board there; or alternatively, board everybody in the BVI.

In response to this situation and uneasy about lack of resources and possible overcrowding of facilities and frankly too many boats in their waters, the BVI Government issued regulations that restricted the number of foreign flag pick-ups to 7 pick-ups per boat per year. When these regs were issued, the BVI did not have the resources to actually enforce this limitation. i.e they didn't really know how many times any given boat actually stopped by to pick up guests.

All this has now changed. New Government + Computerized systems = Enforcement.

So this means that the St. Thomas based 8 and 10 passenger charter yachts are out of business. They have a choice:

a) Actually restrict their charters to 6 passengers.
b) Move their base of operations to the BVI, get a business permit, re-register the boat, etc.
c) Move to another area of the Caribbean.

As charter brokers, we are sincerely hoping that things work themselves out. Let's face it new brooms sweep clean and things in the Caribbean historically tend to "work themselves out" somehow, sometime. Since this is basically a money issue, i.e foreign boats don't pay taxes, don't employ BVI citizens, don't contribute to the economy, perhaps this, too, has a financial solution like, for example upping the taxes or the port fees for foreign flag boats. We'd hate to see these larger boats penalized by both Governments for no really good reason, the US Government by not letting them board more than 6 passengers, and the BVI government by restricting the number of pick-ups.

I'm sure that some boats will opt to move their operations to the BVI. Guess what? Deja Vu all over again.

Sailing Down the Florida Keys

I hadn't been down to the Keys for a couple of years and was really looking forward to taking our venerable 37' Endeavour down from Miami to Marathon. Of course we chose the only weekend in recent history that was blowing 30 and gusting to 35..!! Cruising across Biscayne Bay was a breeze to put it lightly and no pun intended and I decided to motor for the benefit of our crew's safety and things began to get interesting when we saw smoke pouring from the Perkins. Not the big thick fire kind of smoke but that wispy white smoke that says "Over-heat situation, idiot"... Anyway we turn into the wind, stop the engine and toss out an anchor in about a 3 foot chop; 2 hours later with a new water pump belt and a repaired hose we continue on past Elliott Key and then on to the lee side of Pumpkin Key where we spend a delightful and very peaceful night. Leaving early we immediately ran aground in Card Sound - of course we were out of the channel - nothing serious though - breezed through Jewfish Creek at 9 am on the nose with no waiting and no tying up on the mangroves to keep the current from running you into the bridge, yippee. Nice leisurely cruise south on the ICW that, I may add, has had most of the channel markers repaired after last year's hurricane season. Great job USCG, thank you. We arrived at Plantation Key about 2 pm. and overnighted at this great little marina that now belongs the the City of Islamorada. We dropped off a crew member and continued on the next day without fuelling up because the fuel dock was down at the marina. Keys Disease. So I switched over to the forward tank which I knew was full and off we went. Through Snake Creek at high tide (one of the nicer cuts through to Hawk Channel - love it) and heading South West now on the outside with no wind at all, start the engine and ten minutes later, engine stops. Ouch. Air-bubbles. Switch back to the aft tank, purge the lines and bingo...!! we have an engine now. Of course, exactly at which time we get a nice breeze from the North East, beautiful. We arrived safe and sound after two more light groundings around Boot Key, we go through the tight channel at absolute low tide get the bascule bridge up 10 minutes before closing time and arrive at our Sombrero Marina dockage at exactly 7:00 pm. Lovely trip, minor mishaps, great dinner and drinks when we arrived in Marathon. You know they've got some great eateries in the Keys. Yes, you can navigate the inside route with a 5 foot draft. Proven. Not sure if you can go further south to Channel 5, maybe you'll need the extra foot or 6 inches of tide so make sure you're at high tide, OK?