January 7, 2005  Email this  Print this
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TRAVEL
Journey Into Well-Chartered Waters
by Sean O’Neill
For the ultimate family reunion or get-together with friends -- or for a romantic voyage for two -- consider chartering a private sailing yacht. Charters start at about $3,500 a week per person, including meals and fees. Travelers take about 12,000 weeklong charters a year in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, estimates Charter Index, a database of charters worldwide. A crewed charter provides staff to skipper the vessel while you relax (let them worry if the anchor will drag in the night). You'll have at least a captain at the helm, and larger yachts will have first mates as well. A motor powers the craft when the wind is still.
Most charters include a chef, who will serve up food according to menus that you pre-arrange. So you can have anything from sushi to cheeseburgers in paradise. The larger the boat, the better the galley and the meal possibilities. Chartered sailing yachts generally range in size from 43 feet to 80 feet in length.
A year ago, Paul Levy of Chicago chartered the Nemo Galápagos -- an 82-foot catamaran -- with his wife, Mia, daughter Alexandra and three other families. The group divvied up the yacht's six cabins. "Sailing is more adventurous than hanging out at a lodge, a resort or a beach because you get to see more remote places," Levy says. With a crew of five, the group sailed the waters off the Galápagos Islands, a nautical national park that large cruise ships rarely visit. Alexandra snorkeled with friends amid sea lions and warm-weather penguins.
The 18-night trip, which they booked through broker Ocean Voyages (www.oceanvoyages.com), cost $22,550 -- plus bar tabs, airfare, a national-park fee of $100 a person and tips of about 5% of the total trip cost. The price may sound stiffer than a Nor'easter, but consider that the 11 passengers paid $114 a night per person. That rate included meals and the use of water-sports equipment, for a total of $2,050 a person. Four passengers spent roughly an additional $400 each to get scuba-diving certifications.
An example of an even more intimate sailing charter is the Southwind, a 43-foot-long sloop. It sails the Caribbean among all the Virgin Islands. Captain Byron Rose helms the Southwind; his wife, Margo, is the cook and first mate. You can tailor your itinerary or be spontaneous. Perhaps you'll want to kayak to a secluded cove one day and snorkel in the crystal-clear waters the next. The double-bed suite, including meals and equipment use, costs $3,850 per couple for a seven- night stay booked through BoatUS Travel and Yacht Charters (www.boatus.com/charterdir).
Few travel agencies -- online or otherwise -- book sailing-yacht charters. But there are bookers who specialize in arranging vacations on private crewed sailboats and act just like travel agents. Among the leading brokers are BoatUS, Ed Hamilton & Co. (www..ed-hamilton.com), The Moorings (www.moorings.com) and Ocean Voyages. Ask if they offer charter packages that include perks, such as free airfare. These brokers also charter "bareboats," or yachts without crews, for the nautically inclined. You can find a list of other charter brokers at the Web-based directory Charternet.com (www.charternet.com/brokers).
Airfare is an added expense. If you fly during the week, you could save money because midweek flights usually cost less than weekend flights to the tropics. Many private-ship charters allow you to schedule your departure and return midweek for the same rates as Sunday-to-Sunday trips. But shorter trips, such as four-day excursions, will usually cost as much as weeklong ones.
Brokers typically require a deposit of 50% of the total to hold your reservation. The rest is usually paid a month or two before you arrive. If you don't show up, you are typically out the full cost.
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