I feel like I’m a member of a club of smart people who have discovered they can have their cake and eat it too by chartering outside their home waters to gather new experiences the easy way.

On my hundred or so trips to the Bahamas, I’ve seen evidence of a flourishing charter industry. When docked in Nassau’s Hurricane Hole or Atlantis, I’ve seen the gleaming white yachts manned by their handsome liveried crews glide past. The upper deck is generally full of pale guests clad in spiffy togs and hats, waving, posing for pictures and shooting videos as they sprint from port to starboard to take it all in.
A week later they return, tan and relaxed to the point of slothfulness. The fancy cruise wear has been exchanged for T-shirts and wraps over bathing suits and they linger on the sun lounges, seemingly reluctant to go below to gather their belongings and depart.
Mid-cruise, they can be spotted in places like Spanish Wells, Highborne or Staniel Cay, their days marked by comings and goings in tenders as the crew try to introduce them to every possible waterborne activity. I get tired just watching, and yet a little nostalgic thinking of how I introduced my own children and grandchildren to the incredible waters of the Bahamas.
At the quieter spots, we will often see families anchored on bareboat charter in cats or monohull sailing boats, their lifelines festooned with drying lifejackets and beach towels and someone will likely be enjoying a turn in a hammock on the bow. This is generally a pretty friendly lot, you see them waving at each other when under sail and hopping into their dinks to invite other cruisers in the anchorage over for sundowners.
For so many years, my experience with charter was merely as an observer—after all, I had my own boat, my kids have boats, I didn’t need to rent someone else’s. That is until my wife and I wanted to cruise somewhere totally new to us—the Med. . . We could have shipped our boat there, but what would we have lived on while it was in transport, not to mention the expense? Also, I wasn’t sure I was up to dealing with unfamiliar waters and mooring in multiple languages, No, it was time to leave the driving, the maintenance and the trip planning to someone else. Best decision I ever made.
Since then, I feel like I’m a member of a club of smart people who have discovered they can have their cake and eat it too by chartering outside their home waters to gather new experiences the easy way. Then too, it’s amazing how many folks these days are chartering various brands or types of yachts to see how a particular model fits their lifestyle and expectations before plunking down big money. This is one club I can really recommend.