The Charter Connection Blog

Mediterranean Bareboat Specials:
All of Sunsail’s Med bases: May 1 - June 30, September 1 - October 31: 10% off all charters.
10% off charters booked at least 6 months in advance. Excludes Easter.

Caribbean Bareboat Specials:
Many companies are offering free days this year, and they’re starting a bit earlier than usual. Most free day specials in the past few years have started in July, or even as late as August.

TMM is offering 10 for 7 at all bases June 6 - October 31.

Horizon is offering 10 for 7 in Tortola from May 1 - October 31, and has some great offers on small monohulls in Tortola - charter fees as low as $1500 per week.

Even Moorings is offering free days: June 15 - Sept 30, 6 days for 5, 9 for 7, or 13 for 10, (excludes the Moorings 4600 and new Moorings 54.5).

Dream Yacht Charter - up to 30% off all monohulls up to 45 feet, and the Catana 41 and 50′ cats.

Visit our bareboat specials page. For more information on these and many other bareboat charter companies and boats, call us at 800 621 7855, email us at info@ed-hamilton.com, check out the Ed Hamilton & Co website, or ask us to suggest some specific boats that fit your requirements!

Whether you’re bareboating the Caribbean for the first time, or you’re an experienced Caribbean sailor looking to explore somewhere new, a great way to get your feet wet is to sail in a flotilla. When it comes to flotillas, there are few operators who do a better job than the company who pioneered the concept - Sunsail.

Sunsail is a well known and very popular bareboat company, but few people realize that Sunsail started some 35 years ago as a small organization with a few boats offering flotilla sailing vacations in the Greek Islands. When many potential or active bareboaters hear the word “flotilla,” they immediately think of a rather uninspiring and regimented game of follow the leader. With a Sunsail flotilla, nothing could be further from the truth.

The concept behind Sunsail’s flotillas is actually more based in the social aspect than it is in providing a stepping stone, but they can be used either way. Their flotilla format can be as loose or as scheduled as you like. While Sunsail publishes an itinerary for their flotillas, (which is subject to change depending on weather, events not to be missed, or even consensus of the flotilla party), the schedule is more of a guideline. You sail on your own boat, with up to 12 other boats and a lead Sunsail boat with a skipper, flotilla hostess, and engineer. There is a port to meet up in at the end of the sailing day, and the course you take to get there is up to you - if you want to follow the lead boat, you can; if you want to take your own tack and simply meet the group that evening at anchor, that’s fine too.

Some experienced sailors also use flotillas to become comfortable with a new area. If you’ve sailed your own boat in the Northeast for years, for example, but have never sailed the Caribbean, a flotilla is a great confidence builder. Not familiar with Med-mooring? The flotilla skipper can show you the ropes and help make your vacation seamless. Worried about finding a good restaurant or speaking the local language? The flotilla hostess can help ease you into the locale.

While a flotilla can readily be used to become familiar with a new sailing area, don’t overlook the social benefit. At the end of each sailing day, you have the opportunity to get together and relive the day’s great sail with other like-minded sailors. In the summer months, in particular, a flotilla is a great way for families with children to find ready-made playmates.

Sunsail offers 26 different flotilla routes in the British Virgin Islands, Grenadines, Croatia, Greece and Turkey, so there’s plenty of variety for all tastes. In most cases, any of Sunsail’s available bareboats can be added to the flotilla, and the flotilla fee covers not only the knowledge and service of your lead crew, but also fuel, yacht insurance, welcome punch party and breakfast pack. There’s no better time to try the flotilla concept, as Sunsail is offering 25% off Caribbean flotillas this spring and summer, when you confirm by May 30th.

If you would like to know more, call us at 800 621 7855, email us, or contact us through the Ed Hamilton & Co site and tell us about your plans. Not only have we booked many flotilla vacations, we have even run them in Tortola, so are very familiar with all aspects of flotilla chartering.

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.

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.

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.

While Emily is attending the Crewed Yacht Charter Show in the British Virgin Islands next week, Barbara and I (Ed) will be viewing crewed yachts at The 7th International Yachting Symposium, in The Greek Islands. The show is on the island of Poros, in The Saronic Gulf Islands.

To get there, we flew to Athens, where we were met by a driver who took us to the port of Piraeus. While it is possible to take public transport, we would recommend taking a private car, unless you are chartering from one of the bareboat companies that provides transportation to their base, such as Sunsail. The Friday afternoon Athens traffic was worse than usual and even in George’s fast Mercedes, the journey took over 45 minutes .

Although Piraeus has four marinas, it is primarily a busy commercial port and is not always the best place to start a private crewed charter. We boarded the huge, luxurious hydrofoil, Flying Cat 2, and literally flew to Porus at over 40 mph. The trip took just over an hour.

Yachts were already berthed all along the waterfront, ready for the show which starts tomorrow. With over 80 boats to see and all the crew to interview, the next few days will be extremely busy. Then it is off to the Marmaris Boat Show in Turkey.

We firmly believe that there is no substitute for seeing boats and crews first hand, and experiencing each cruising ground. This way we can give you honest advice and cover every detail, from picking the right boat to arranging a driver to pick you up at the airport!

You can call us (800 621 7855), email us, or use our request literature format to start planning your next Mediterranean charter.

The latest Charter Connection Newsletter asked readers to vote if they felt Air Conditioning was a necessity when choosing a Bareboat. The advantages of A/C are obvious, but the article pointed out some of the disadvantages which might not be so evident, particularly as most Bareboat Charter Companies charge for A/C in some form or another. The results are also interesting. Currently only 28% say ‘Yes’, 43% say ‘No’ and 28% are not worried, so an amazing 70% don’t feel it is a requirement. The comments are also informative and cover a wide range of views. If you are surprised that so many people feel this way, read the article! You can also add your vote to this survey, and any previous ones.

TMM was the first Bareboat Company to add A/C to a significant number of their boats. Sunsail and Moorings offer it on their larger cats and monohulls, but the trend is to not install it in the midsize and smaller monohulls due to the reliability of the smaller generators. Horizon, BVI Yacht Charters, Voyage, Footloose, Conch and The Catamaran Company all have boats with A/C, as do most of the bareboat power boats.

The Bareboat Charter Companies would be only too happy to do without the maintenance headaches a generator and A/C cause. Our suggestion would be to have it available on the premier boats, but add a charge for those that wish to use it, in fairness to those who don’t.

We would love to hear your feedback. There’s now no need to register to add a comment. Just click on the ‘comments’ link below!

Sunsail has started announcing their Reef Weeks for next winter much earlier than usual. Reef Weeks are a discount unique to Sunsail in which bareboat charters for specific weeks are discounted by 15% to 25%, sometimes even in high season. Single Reef Weeks are 15% off, and Double Reef Weeks are 25% off.

With Reef Weeks, all of Sunsail’s Caribbean yacht charters are discounted for the given week, with the exception of catamarans 43 feet and larger and monohulls 48 feet and larger. The current weeks are:

Single Reef Weeks:

April 12 - 19, 2008
May 17 - 24, 2008
November 1 - 8, 2008
January 24 - 31, 2009

Double Reef Weeks:

April 5 - 12, 2008
May 24 - 31, 2008
December 13 - 20, 2008

These are great offers if you’re able to go during one of the Reef Weeks. Sunsail also has other special offers if your schedule doesn’t match a Reef Week.

Let us know what you have in mind for your next charter and we’ll be happy to discuss pricing and availability, and make some recommendations on suitable yachts for you.