The Charter Connection Blog

Congratulations Aaron, Shannon, Michael, Stuart, Alyssa, Edyta, Kicki, Peachy, Scott and Kim. This fine crew from the yacht ‘Four Wishes’ won the ‘Best Charter Crew For Yachts Over 40 Meters’ award in Monaco recently.

The award was accepted by First Officer Shannon Nicholson. This is the second time Shannon has accepted an award for ‘Four Wishes’ at The Monaco Yacht Club. In 2005, Captain Aaron Clark won the award for ‘Best Charter Captain’. The awards are based on comments received from guests and brokers during the summer in The Mediterranean.

The 144′ luxury motor yacht ‘Four Wishes’ charters in The Caribbean during the winter months. She is fully booked for the holidays but is accepting charters for selected weeks this season.

Ed Hamilton & Co has booked four very successful charters on ‘Four Wishes’ in the last nine months - a significant portion of her total number of charters. We take great pains to find the best boats and crews for our clients and it is nice to have this confirmed by this award.

If you are looking for a luxury megayacht charter and would like to discuss ‘Four Wishes’ or any of the other fine yachts we can offer, please call us at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site, and tell us about your plans.

ALOHA MALOLO, the 65 foot custom crewed charter yacht, is joining the Green Movement and offering a low ecological impact charter.  Guests looking for a more planet friendly cruise, without the sound of a generator, will be impressed that Eric and Evelin power their batteries with solar panels and wind. All produce and meats are bought from local sources when possible and they double filter their water so that guests do not feel they have to drink from disposable plastic bottles.

Unlike many US or British Virgin Islands based boats, Aloha Malolo spent the summer chartering in The San Blas Islands, off Panama. Their guests enjoyed plenty of live lobster and crab, deserted palm fringed islands with picture perfect white sandy beaches and lots of smiling faces!
They have made many improvements to the boat, including three additional opening hatches in the staterooms, new upholstery, new canvas, new dinghy, a new tapered queen bed in the forward stateroom (she has four queen beds now), newly painted decks, new over-sized fishing gear, bigger TV, 70 more DVD movies (almost 600 DVD’s total), new sound system, which is ipod compatible, new hammock and sun awning, 8 sets of new gear for scuba diving, new watermaker and a lot more.

Ask us for details of this and other fine charter yachts. We’ll help you find the one that’s right for you. Call us at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site, and tell us about your plans.

The impressive 82 foot Nautor Swan ASTRO DE L’EST is available for a unique charter, taking part in the Rolex Transatlantic Race. Her fee for the race is 90,000 EUROS all inclusive, or about 3,750 pp/pw. She accommodates 8 guests, in two double and two twin cabins. The race begins in Tenerife, in The Canary Islands, on November 24th and the yacht is estimated to arrive in The Caribbean, in Saint Martin, on the 12th of December. ASTRO DE L’EST is an excellent competitor with her PBO composite standing rigging, racing keel, carbon spars, race sails and Genackers.

We get plenty of requests for long distance crewed sailing charters. This would be a sail of a lifetime, and you would even eat well all the way across The Atlantic! Interested? Call us at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site, and tell us about your plans.

When we go to the boat shows, we first look at the new additions to the yacht charter fleet and meet the new crews, but the veterans often have a few surprises up their sleeves!

Yachts are constantly upgrading mechanically and cosmetically and a beautiful example of this is the 1997 Lagoon, ‘Priorities’. This 8 passenger cat has transformed herself this summer from her standard white hull to a beautiful claret. She is sure to stand out among her competitors in The Drake’s Channel this year!

We would be happy to show you this and other fine yachts. We’ll help you find the one that’s right for you. Call us at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site, and tell us about your plans.

Alton Brown, star of the Food Network’s Good Eats, and main commentator on Iron Chef America is taking on a new adventure. He and his producers have chartered two catamarans to dine their way through The Caribbean in the 4 part series ‘Feasting on Waves’.

If you missed the premiere last night, it will be repeated at 8pm Sept 10th, 6pm Sept 13th and 2pm Sept 14th, all on The Food Network.
The second show in the series starts at 10pm Sept 14th.

‘Chef de Mer‘ is one of the yachts featured in this special TV program.

See how Ed Hamilton & Co can help you plan your own gourmet private yacht charter in The Caribbean!

While Hurricane Gustaf, Hanna and Ike create headlines in The US, it seems that for now, The Virgin Islands and The Eastern Caribbean Islands (St. Martin to The Grenadines) have escaped any major storms. This has been the pattern in recent years, but it is imperative for anyone sailing there in September and October to buy a trip cancellation policy that specifically covers named storms. Ed Hamilton & Co offers their clients two choices of suitable packages.

Weather patterns have certainly changed over the years. When Ed started his bareboat charter company in the 70’s, he could honestly say the last hurricane to hit the British Virgin Islands was in 1927! In the late 70’s a hurricane did approach The BVI, but it conveniently downgraded to a tropical depression as it passed over, so the statement was still true! Incidentally, Ed remembers the eye passing right over Tortola. Suddenly the wind and rain ceased and the whole night sky was full of stars. Like a lunar eclipse, the eye wall then slowly covered the sky again and the rain and wind resumed - from the opposite direction.

All this changed in the 80’s, when some vicious storms hit The Virgins and later Grenada, but recent years have been kinder.

For people willing to put up with the possibility of trip interruption, there are certainly some bareboat bargains out there and the islands are delightfully uncrowded. Winds tend to be much lighter, so the seas are calmer and the water clearer - ideal for snorkelers and scuba diving. Most crewed boats haul out by August and the crews take well deserved vacations, but there are some who charter throughout the summer.

While storms are not impossible in November, this can be a great time to charter, before the winter snow birds arrive and the harbors start filling up

If a charter sounds interesting, we can help you find the right boat. Call us at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site, where you can tell us about your plans.

Thank you Dick for the photograph. It was taken from his house in Tortola a few days ago!