It was a bit of an unexpected flashback. After all, it had been decades since I lived in the old Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) and yet the feeling that bubbled up was the same. I stuck my camera out the bus window to capture yet another of a dozen billboards dotting ...read more
In the wake of the hurricanes that devastated the Virgin Islands last year many charterers ended up going farther south to Grenada and the Grenadines where they found the sailing excellent and the vibe just fine “God must have been a sailor when he created the Caribbean,” a ...read more
Five years ago I was invited, as the token sailing virgin, to set sail with my girlfriends and explore the British Virgin Islands. Six women of a certain age ditched their husbands, picked up their ukuleles and had the time of their lives. Fast forward to 2018, and I jumped at ...read more
“The BVI is now a bit like it was 20 years ago,” Josie Tucci, vice president of sales and marketing for sister companies Sunsail and The Moorings, told me last December. “Instead of full bars, it may be a guy on the beach with a cooler and a barbeque, but the spirit of the place ...read more
Chartering beautiful boats in exotic locales will give your wallet a workout. Expenses go well beyond the cost of the vessel and airfare. It all adds up quickly, but there are ways to pinch enough pennies on each charter to get a head start on the next one. Here ...read more
When my friends and I booked a one-way bareboat charter with Sail Caribe, starting in the U.S. Virgin Islands and finishing in Puerto Rico, we were a little nervous about what we would find in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria—even seven months later. When our plane ...read more
Ah, Tahiti! Even the sound of the word elicits thoughts of heaven on earth—a Polynesian paradise and a bucket list cruise to talk about for years. Most people are lucky to come here once in a lifetime, so I have to wonder why charterers are always in such a hurry ...read more
The Great Recession birthed a new concept, the “staycation,” in which you enjoyed a mini-vacation without venturing far from home. Hotels loved it because they filled empty weekend rooms, and local businesses benefited too. Today, expanding the concept a little, a staycation ...read more
Heaps of history—that’s not usually what comes to mind when you plan a sailing charter, but if you like a bit of culture mixed with your cruising, Croatia is the place to go. Caught between two worlds, (the whitewashed laid back vibe of the Mediterranean and the brash demeanor ...read more
Cruising from Guadeloupe to Grenada, heading more or less south with the wind east-northeast, basically on the beam the whole way—yup, sign me up for that! That’s how I approached a recent delivery charter of 12 days and 400 miles, including a few loops and harbor hops. With ...read more
Ducking out of the pouring rain in Trinidad, Cuba, we ran smack into a thin man with a few missing teeth and a woven basket. He made room for us under the shelter and started suggesting in Spanish that we buy some food or beer from the bar upstairs. When we politely declined, he ...read more
Irma and Maria wreaked havoc in much of the Caribbean leaving us with heartbreaking images of devastated homes, displaced citizens and destroyed bareboat fleets. Photos of dismasted monohulls and flipped cats have flooded the Internet, with the fleets looking more like piles of ...read more
So you’re looking for adventure. Not of the bareboat party barge variety, but the kind where the weather is sketchy, the wildlife plentiful, the sailing serious and the boats rugged with serious looking reels of anchor rode and line on deck. Whether you’re seeking to cross ...read more
The back of my tongue erupted in flame and the heat of a thousand suns spread in my mouth like lava gushing from the depths of Hades. Tears ran down my cheeks as I gasped for air and groped for the nearest liquid—fortuitously a bottle of Singha beer, which I downed in three ...read more
The two things you’ll notice almost immediately when you land on the island of Bequia are that you’re probably mispronouncing the name (it’s “Bek-way”), and that you’ve just found possibly the friendliest people in the West Indies. The largest of the Grenadine Isles, Bequia has ...read more
The Great Lakes have long gotten a bad rap for everything from cleanliness to the quality of the sailing there. But the days of burning rivers are ancient history, and while it’s true the lakes are not dotted with the same abundance of islands and bays as, say, the Eastern ...read more
Time was that mapmakers would append the designation “Here be dragons” to those portions of the globe still unknown to them. But the terrors of the unknown pale in comparison to the fog, tides and rock (and lobster pot!) strewn harbors of coastal Maine—or so I thought until I ...read more
There’s a reason New England sailors are so dedicated; New England is simply one of the world’s best cruising grounds. The southern side of Cape Cod and its off-lying islands—Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, the Elizabeth Islands and Block Island—are a cruiser’s dream. The weather ...read more
It’s not every day you can run aground twice in the space of 10 minutes and extract yourself gracefully each time. Chesapeake neophytes, we were feeling our way into the picturesque harbor of Rock Hall, and as we discussed the approach to the marina the boat slowed ever so ...read more
Desolation Sound We’d been warned that there wasn’t much in the way of wind at the upper end of Vancouver Island in the summer, so as we left the Desolation Sound Yacht Charters base in Comox, headed across the Strait of Georgia toward the mainland, we were pleasantly surprised ...read more
Contrary to perceived wisdom, the Caribbean can be a delightful place to charter in the summer. It’s true that yearnings for sun-kissed isles and turquoise waters tend to be strongest in the winter, but a mid-year Eastern Caribbean cruise has many benefits and may just become ...read more
“The last time I visited Baja, it was 1972. I was 18 years old and on a road trip from Rapid City, South Dakota, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. There were five of us in a four-seater Jeep with a spare tire on the roof. I was the youngest, so they gave me the ‘fifth seat,’ perched on ...read more
For years I’ve been hearing about the Spanish Virgin Islands, as they’re called, on the eastern edge of Puerto Rico: how they’re like the U.S. and the British Virgin Islands once were before being discovered by the charter and tourist trade, with their wide-open anchorages, ...read more
I was feeling nervous as my mom, my brother and I walked to the baggage claim area at St. Thomas airport to meet my three best friends from college. Non-sailors all, Andrew, Alex and Wayne were joining us for a week’s bareboat charter in the BVI aboard a brand new Moorings 45.3. ...read more