Ports - Antigua
Customer comments
BeneteauOceanis 45
Fast booking procedure through YachtCharter.com. Less information and slower response before the charter when asked for details. The boat: quite worn out (2012), not very well taken care of (rusting parts, teak deck dirty when wet, the boats seems to be cleaned negligently). The charter service is below average, only one person in the whole company speaking English (=difficult to reach because of being on the phone all the time). Technical service during the charter is outsourced with external company - no one really speaking English too). The area is beautiful but becoming really busy.
Yacht Charter in Antigua
It is possible to travel on the yacht at any time of the year. The main thing is to choose right water area for this time.
Summer. Lets speak about it.
If you are planning to spend your vacation on the yacht first of all pay attention to the Mediterranean countries such as France, Greece, Croatia and Italy. For those who love a long sea voyages perfect area is Aegean Sea. There are more than 4000 islands where each of them lives its own life. We also advise you to pay attention to the Croatian coast where are more than 1200 islands.
For those who like noisy places, party spots, we advise to choose Corsica, Sardinia and Balearic Islands. You probably should not undervalue Turkey. Turkey has established itself as a good yachting and partying region.
Spring
Eternal spring is in the Canary Islands where you can come at any time of the year.
Winter.
For a perfect winter holidays on the yacht you will have to go where the warmer, closer to the equator or in the direction of the southern hemisphere. Very convenient place – Seychelles. They are are neighbors in a time zone with Russia. If you are planning your trip from Russia you won’t fell any changes in your biorhythms.
If you have plenty of time we suggest to visit the waters of the Caribbean sea. (British Virgin Islands, Cuba and so on). And of course, South-East Asia area. Thailand and Malaysia.
For those who like a long-distance travel we recommend vacation in Australia. World-famous because of underwater world, Great Barrier Reef , French Polynesia, as well as the islands of Fiji and Tonga.
Overall a wonderful experience, and great memories. Some feed back, or rather comments on the booking and charter below. Booking was brilliant, outstanding service. On the day of embarkation a lack of communication appeared. Yachtcharterbook.com instructed us to go to base for boat collection from 12 Noon. The Charter company told us we had to wait as the company usually does not handover boats until 5 pm, there was a lot of wasted time, with purchased supplies in the Sun. The Charter company said we had an Australian Skipper, he turned out to be Russian, and the Charter company had never met him.The language issue was frustrating, and an English speaking skipper more appropriate. As such we had no real advice or recommendations as to where to go, we plotted our own course. The skipper is a great seaman, but had never been to some of our destinations, as such did not know the way around, or sea rules on mooring. We were told by other sailing people there skippers knew a lot, and had many suggestions on what to do, including restaurants, etc. This was not the skippers fault, he was a great man, but rather the booking companies, and we believe the skipper was booked only one week before departure. The boat was clean and tidy; however, the diesel gauge was always on 'full' and the effluent tank always said 75% full, therefore we never really knew how much fuel was left or state of black water capacity. Another small issue was the Anchor could have been bigger, as a couple of nights we moved while 'at Anchor' due to a wind change or increase. Putting these issues aside we will 'Sail Again', most likely with a bigger boat. What a wonderful experience. SL.