The Charter Connection Blog

We introduced Dream Yacht Charters nearly a year ago as a new addition to the bareboat charter companies in The Caribbean. At the time, Dream Yacht, a company that started in the Seychelles and quickly grew to several Mediterranean locations, only operated bases in Martinique and Guadeloupe.

In November, Dream Yacht opened operations in the British Virgin Islands. They have taken over the Sunsail base at Hodges Creek Marina, (also sometimes called Maya Cove). Sunsail left this marina when they moved their operations to Wickham’s Cay II, next to The Moorings, in Road Town. Dream Yacht has now also opened a base on the Dutch side of St. Martin.

Many cat sailors noticed that Dream Yacht provides an interesting new option in performance catamarans, as they primarily use Catanas in their multihull fleet. What many sailors on this side of the pond aren’t aware of, is the performance that can be expected from their monohull line of Harmony yachts.

Harmony are built by Groupe Poncin, the same builder responsible for Catana catamarans. A Harmony 52 and Harmony 47, both chartered from Dream Yacht Charters, won their respective classes at the St. Martin Heineken Regatta, beating 19 other competitors to win all three races in the series. The performance Catanas are so well known for, carries over!

For more information on Dream Yacht Charters, or any other bareboat companies, call us at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site, and tell us about your plans. We would be happy to tell you how each company compares and make some suggestions for your group.

It’s great to hear from old friends. ‘Lady Anne II’ was a popular yacht in The Caribbean, before Patrick and Pascale started living their circumnavigation dream. They spent the summer of 2008 in The Society Islands in the Pacific (Tahiti, Raiatea, Bora Bora) and are presently in Australia for the next six months. They then plan to sail to Thailand for the December 2009 to April 2010 charter season. This is a great chance for adventurous guests to charter a reliable catamaran with a known, well traveled and interesting, French crew, among some beautiful islands, far from the normal beaten track. If the winter works out as planned, they hope to stay in Thailand for the 2010/11 season also. They are in no hurry to rush back!

‘Lady Anne II’ was originally part of The Moorings crewed Caribbean yacht charter fleet with Patrick and Pascale as crew. In 1998 they purchased her and ran crewed sailing charters in the US and British Virgin Islands, but the plan was always to sail her around the world. Their slide show from The San Blas Islands to Tahiti is well worth a look.
Patrick owned an alarm security company and was previously a private investigator. He is a talented musician (blues and jazz) and has a keyboard on the boat, which he can play for guests if they wish.

Pascale has a passion for cooking and particularly enjoys Creole and Mediterranean cuisine accentuated with fresh herbs and oils. She is a “people person”, loves to dance and enjoys a good conversation.

The three guest cabins all have separate air conditioning controls and ensuite heads.  The two aft cabins have slightly larger queen size berths.  She has plenty of deck space and easy access to the water using the aft steps.

Sounds interesting? Call us at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site, and tell us about your plans.

Virgin Traders, the popular crewed and bareboat charter company, is offering free flights from San Juan or Antigua when 6 or 8 guests charter one of their boats in Tortola. As we mentioned in a previous post, they have an arrangement with the charter airline, Del Airways. The charter has to be booked this month (January), for a charter in April and represents a saving of roughly $333 a person. Virgin Traders offers a full range of motoryachts from bareboat power boats to midrange luxury motor yacht charters.

If you think you might be able to take advantage of this great special, call us today at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site, and tell us about your plans.

Following on from our last post, Virgin Traders, which offers luxury motor yacht charters and bareboat power boats in The British Virgin Islands and elsewhere, has announced an alliance with Del Airways. With the cutback of flights this season, several Caribbean yacht charter companies are looking into alternatives. Using a local air charter service, particularly for the short inter-island flights, makes a lot of sense. Virgin Traders has taken this concept one step further. The new service will start in January.

Charter flights are generally slightly more expensive than a scheduled flight but if your party fills the plane, the difference can be minimal. On the plus side, you get personal attention, a slightly more flexible schedule and a direct flight to your destination. Everyone in the party should be made aware that these are small planes, but unless you are very tall or don’t enjoy flying, they are comfortable and are a great way to get to your charter yacht in style.

As always, we are happy to help you with all aspects of your yacht charter, so don’t hesitate to email us, or call Ed Hamilton & Co at 800 621 7855.

We don’t make a habit of quoting charterer’s comments in our blog, but this one really summarizes the service we offer!

Here’s what our client said:
“Learned about this company about 5 years ago and remembered them because they send very useful bareboat literature package. I didn’t use services of this company until this year - booking directly seemed to be simpler. However I gave it a try this year - it worked perfectly. Besides obvious options (Sunsail, Moorings, TMM) you get a ton of other choices and you still have a single point of contact.
The knowledge and helpfulness of staff is amazing - now on, this would be my first choice to book a bareboat charter.”

Thank you Roman for your kind comments. We hope you enjoy the Bahia 46 (his second charter through Ed Hamilton & Co this year).

Rather than offering our clients just a few obvious options, our brokers have always worked with a wide range of bareboat charter companies. We try hard to match each client’s requirements, so even when we book a client with one of the big companies, our clients have the confidence of knowing that this really is the best choice for them. No bareboat company is perfect for everyone and for some people, a boat in one of the smaller, less known fleets is the best match. Our principal aim has always been to choose the right boat for each individual client.

Whether this is your first charter or your thirtieth, you can gain from using our services. We book more charters, through more companies worldwide and our advice is based on 36 years of experience in the charter industry. Booking through us costs no more than calling the bareboat company directly!

Email one of our three bareboat brokers today, or call 800 621 7855 and ask for Susan, Jackie or Steve. To get started, just tell them about your plans and receive their specific suggestions by email.

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!

From Dalyan, we sailed southeast down the coast, to The Bay of Fethiye, arriving in time for lunch. We motored through a relatively narrow entrance between two islands, into the beautiful sheltered cruising ground known as Skopea Limani. This lovely area is strewn with pretty bays and places to explore.

Most yachts drop an anchor and tie a stern line to a tree ashore. In July and August these anchorages get crowded, both with charter yachts and local holidaymakers, but in May we could pick a bay and have it to ourselves. We anchored close to Kapi Creek for lunch and a swim. It’s possible to spend several days here, but schedules had to be met and we motored past such highlights as The Wall and The Tombs, to anchor closer to Gocek for the night.

Not only did Izzet produce a spectacular dinner for us, he also serenaded us with some beautiful local songs. We knew he was a talented chef, but learned he also grew up in a musical family. His singing was just wonderful in the warm clear night air. It was so lovely that the large white motoryacht anchored nearby stopped their expensive live music to listen! If you charter Blue Capricorn and enjoy Turkish music, encourage him to play for you.

The next morning we had business to do in Gocek and motored into the harbor. We met with the crews of Anam Cara and Panta Rhei, two conventional sailing yachts with British crews that offer good value in the 50′ range. I spent the afternoon visiting bareboat charter companies, as this is a popular bareboat cruising ground. Moorings / Sunsail have a large base here, as do some lesser known operations such as Top Yacht.

Gocek is a town expanding in every direction. On either side of the old waterfront and square, new marinas and upscale villas are being built everywhere, to accommodate the influx of new tourists in the season. It felt ironic to be sitting in an open-air cafe in the Square, uploading a blog to the internet, as the sounds of the ‘azaan’ summoned the faithful to mid-afternoon prayer. Turkey is such an area of contrasts, a fascinating mixture of old and new. Local people are amazingly friendly, unlike some of the more ‘discovered’ places and there is as much ancient history here as any other part of The Mediterranean.

Our trip came to an end early the next morning, when a driver took us to Dalaman Airport, now only a few minutes away using the new tunnel, and we caught a flight to Istanbul. Then it was British Airways to London’s new terminal 5, and on to Boston, where it was still daylight when we landed that evening. In one day we had moved from one world to another.

Contact Ed Hamilton & Co - we would be happy to give you more information on Blue Capricorn and other crewed charter yachts or bareboat charters in Turkey. Note - when using the above link to Blue Capricorn, you need to scroll down the page to see the yacht’s website.

With spring tides of over 20 feet (40′ tides and 9 kt currents are possible in the popular Channel Islands), steep seas, changeable weather and busy shipping lanes, chartering off the south west coast of England is not for the average Caribbean bareboat charterer. For the experienced sailor with plenty of offshore sailing time, this can however be a truly rewarding cruising ground.

The best time to charter is June through August. The coast is somewhat similar to Maine, with pretty fishing villages and beautiful English countryside, although the temperatures are far less extreme. Summer temperatures are around 65 to 75 degrees, but because of the Gulf Stream, winter temperatures rarely drop below freezing, so visitors are often surprised to see palm trees growing on the waterfront. All this in a country considerably further north than any part of the US! Plan to bring plenty of sunscreen, because even on overcast days, sunburn can be a problem due to the clear air.

Bareboat charter companies tend to be small and informal. Be prepared to be asked for documentation of your experience - ask us for guidelines if you are unsure if you would qualify. Yachts tend to be in the 30 to 47 foot range. Unless you plan to explore one area, allow plenty of time so you can wait for a suitable wind direction etc. The Isles of Scilly, off the extreme western tip of Cornwall are a popular destination (we took these pictures in the islands, in early June).
Private yacht charters with a crew are possible, as in the Caribbean or Mediterranean, but most crewed charters in this area tend to be headboats or more casual style yachts where everyone lends a hand. Except for localized charters, almost all are sailboats as the seas tend to be uncomfortable for any motor yachts under 100′.

If we have piqued your interest, contact us at Ed Hamilton & Co for more information. This is not for everyone, but if you love to sail and don’t need the warm Caribbean water, it might just be what you are looking for.

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