FAQ’s

Booking

Please refer to our How to Book page for details on this topic.

You can make a payment in the following ways:

  • Direct Bank Transfer
  • Credit Card via PAYPAL
  • Using PAYPAL

If you need to cancel your booking our cancellation policies will apply. Please see our Booking Conditions for full details.

There are certain changes that you can make to your booking before you arrive, and we will make every effort possible to accommodate your wishes. However, it is not an easy task to change our itinerary due to ongoing booking arrangements!

Where practical we can help you to:

• Change the date of your booking to an alternative.
• Substitute members of your party where someone is unable to attend.

If one of your party members can’t make it, you can substitute another friend!

Please contact us to ensure that we have a record of your change and we need your alternative person to complete our pre-arrival checklist.

If you are unable to make your agreed holiday arrival date, and provided you inform us at least 6 weeks before your arrival date, we will help you to find a suitable alternative break with us.

If you want to change your break less than 6 weeks before your arrival date, we will do our best to accommodate your request, but due to the limited number of places available on our itinerary this may not always be possible and we reserve the right to apply our cancellation policies.

Please see our Booking Conditions for details.

Insurance

You will need personal accident and travel insurance and we need to see evidence that you are covered for this when you arrive. You should check that your policy doesn’t specifically exclude sailing as a sport. There are some companies named here who specifically provide insurance for sailing and you will definitely need additional insurance covering offshore sailing (up to 60 miles offshore) for our Milebuilding trips.

We hold professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

Arriving & Departing

Where possible we will meet you at the airport, however due to the possibility of different flight arrival times for people on the same trip as you, you may need to wait for other members of the group to arrive. In some cases it may be more pleasant to arrange an alternative rendezvous point so that you’re not kicking your heels at the airport for a long time.

Please note that any transport costs from the airport are not included in the price of your trip.

There’s nothing worse than flight delays to turn your dream holiday into a stressful nightmare!

If your plane is late and you miss our airport rendezvous time, you will need to make alternative arrangements from the airport. The easiest thing is obviously to jump into a cab and you should be able to claim the additional expense from your travel insurance company.

In the majority of cases we don’t depart from your embarkation port until the following day, so arrival delays of up to 18 hours are not a problem.

If your plane is so late that we need to commence our voyage, we will advise you of an alternative meeting point a little further up the coast. Again, you will need to cover any additional costs and reclaim them against your travel policy.

We can arrange local transport from the yacht to the airport at the end of your trip. Please note that the cost of this transport is not included in the price of your trip.

Yes, we realise that yachting is at the mercy of weather conditions and despite having planned our itinerary meticulously, there is always the slim chance that freak weather will prevent us from getting to your departure port!

Please be assured that we will provide transportation to your planned departure airport in the event that this happens.

Coming Alone

Absolutely! We welcome single travellers and you can be sure of a warm reception. Many of your fellow yachties will be in the same boat and within hours, you will have made a whole new group of friends.

When booking you can select from a range of options which include booking a double or twin cabin to yourself or booking a place in a shared cabin. If you choose to share a cabin, the maximum number of people in a cabin is 2.

Don’t worry, we know you’ll all get along like a house on fire!

Sailing Tuition

We’re not an accredited sailing school which means that we don’t have to stick to rigid curricula and can offer a more relaxed pace.

All of the crew have, however, taught in RYA, ASA or CYA Sailing Schools and hold qualifications appropriate to their roles on board.

If you would like to take your experience further and gain a formal qualification, we have good links with RYA, ASA & CSA Sailing Schools offering sail training in the sunshine!

We will happily record your sea miles in a sailing Log Book (these are available on board if you don’t already have one) but there is no formal certification for your trip.

If you would like to take your experience further and gain a formal qualification, we have good links with RYA, ASA & CSA Sailing Schools offering sail training in the sunshine!

We’ll give you a full safety briefing when you arrive and show you round the boat which will start to get you in the swing of things!

As we head off towards the horizon, we will employ a mixture of theoretical techniques and a lot of practice so that you start to know the ropes.

If you have a bit more knowledge, we will be pleased to share the responsibility for passage planning and navigation with you.

No! Even with a full complement of complete novices aboard, your able crew can handle the boat and any weather that’s thrown at them.

Our job is to introduce you to sailing in a relaxed fashion at your own pace.

Health & Fitness

You don’t need to be able to swim the Channel or run a marathon, but you should be reasonably fit and agile.

Sailing is a sport that uses a lot of muscles that you don’t tend to employ on a daily basis so expect a few aching shoulders & glutes.

Please let us know if you can’t swim – this doesn’t mean that you can’t participate fully in our activities but we will need to keep a special eye on you going overboard!

Yes, we always utilise the freshest local produce for cooking on board and we love the whole healthy lifestyle thing.

With all the fresh local fish & supplies its hard not to eat healthily!

Apart from the sailing and unrestricted access to the largest salt water swimming pool, we carry snorkelling gear, lilo’s and other toys for messing about in the water. We also have an inflatable dinghy and outboard for exploring the coves.

Ashore, you can hike up the hills, go cycling, or take advantage of other activities available in the local area. Your crew will help you to organise additional activities if required.

For those of you who like to Scuba dive; although we don’t carry equipment on board the yachts; the crew can put you in contact with local dive companies in most of our locations.

Our crew hold recognised First Aid qualifications and are on hand to deal with all emergencies.

Your welfare is of the highest importance to us and we have all the resources on board to get you to the nearest doctor or hospital if (heaven forbid) the need were to arise

The biggest contributor to seasickness is being tense and worried, so you should try not to stress about your trip and mind over matter can help a lot!

As soon as you get on board, just accept that the boat moves a little and try to relax and move with the boat.

Please let us know whether you think you might be prone when you come on board and we will give you advice

Yes, we carry a range of medications on board from travel sickness wristbands to herbal remedies. If you are concerned, you should pay a visit to your GP and he can prescribe seasickness patches which you stick behind your ear. These are very effective .

The sailing conditions in the Caribbean are fairly gentle and there are things you can do to help you get over nausea quickly:

Lie down as soon as you start to feel queasy – there, we just gave you an excuse for sprawling out on deck! Lying down and even sleeping causes your muscles to relax and you will become more accustomed to the movement….unconsciously!

Eat little and often – keeping your stomach occupied seems to take its mind off expelling contents!

Bananas are a great remedy and healthy too!

Ginger is also efficacious, either biscuits or ginger ale.

Drink lots of water – dehydration is a contributor to nausea.

Living on Board

We always obtain a weather forecast before leaving port so there are rarely any big surprises weatherwise.

You may be asked to don a life jacket if it blows up a bit and the sea gets a bit rough, but the instructions of our experienced crew will ensure your safety.

When we’re in port you can come and go as you wish provided it won’t interfere with our itinerary.

When we’re at anchor things need to be a little more planned as we only have the one dinghy to take you to and from shore.

When we’re at sea, I’m afraid you’re stuck on board until we get into port!! If you really hate it, you’re best to go to sleep until we reach shore.

Our staff are on hand to make your stay as comfortable and carefree as possible, however we do expect you to chip in with day to day chores; after all, its all part & parcel of living on a boat!

We don’t have laundry facilities on board and you will need to be careful with water usage, but you are welcome to rinse out your smalls in the sinks! In most destinations there are launderettes although some only provide overnight services which may not always fit with our cruising itinerary.

It’s a bit like sharing a luxury caravan with a bunch of friends! Except that we can harness the power of the wind to transport our home to different magical places, our terrace has a perfect sea view and the Caribbean sea is our private swimming pool!

On a more serious note, the cabins and ensuites tend not to be as big as hotel bedrooms, and instead of nipping down the corridor to the hotel bar you’ll be jumping in the dinghy to go ashore!

We have a contraption which supplies 220v power just like on land, and large water tanks mean that, with a little care, fresh water on board is not a problem. However, care needs to be taken with things flushed down the toilets…but more on that when you arrive!

Green Stuff

We use natural fibres on board for our sheets, towels and crew T-shirts.

We discourage the use of packaged water for drinking and have a very good water purification system on board so you don’t have to buy bottled water.

We provide sunscreen, hair and body wash, moisturiser and lip balm, all of which are made using ingredients that are non toxic to marine life.

What’s Included

You will be provided with bed linens and towels so no need to bulk up your luggage with towels! We provide sunscreen, hair and body wash, and moisturiser, all made with natural ingredients non harmful to marine life. We also carry a kayak and a paddleboard, and a range of snorkelling equipment and fins but you may prefer to bring your own.

What to Bring

Travel light! A checklist of what to bring is given in your pre-arrival literature and the most important thing to remember is to bring a squashable holdall!

In our experience you really only need to bring a swimsuit, shorts, T shirts and perhaps one going out frock. Life on the islands tends to be pretty informal, although somehow the local women manage to give the most informal wear a bit of added chic!

Don’t stress it, there’s nothing you can’t buy here if you forget it and clothes tend to be surprisingly cheap.

The minimum you will need to cover is your evening meals as indicated on the trip web page, and a little more for soft and alcoholic drinks – the crew often get a kitty together – and any contingencies or shopping trips!

There are ATM’s everywhere we go so you can draw out local currency as you need it.

There are no compulsory additional charges other than local meals etc as already indicated.

Please refer to the pre-arrival literature we send to find out what’s included and what’s not included. Specifically, you will need to organise flights to and from your arrival and departure points. We have indicated website links to the airlines serving these airports.