how to obtain information on how to charter and skipper my own boat in the Caribbeans?

Answer 1

if you mean chartering a boat and driving it yourself, check each individual yacht charter companies policy....you have to provide some evidence you know the pointy end goes forward and then pass a checkout briefing when you get there...if a company is doubtful, they may make you take a captain for some or all the charter.

Now, if you mean chartering a boat you already own......look for links to the VI Charterboat League and/or Flagship.two organizations of people who are doing just that down here.

It is a fiercely competitive business; most boats are ecstatic to make 20 week long charters a year; 10 is probably the average.

It is a grueling business, if you have back to back charters you may only have 6 hours to drop off one party, clean, re provision and fix anything broken. The strain gets to you; I would say the divorce rate in couples doing this is 50%....

The standards have gone WAY up.........in the 80's charterers would be satisfied with a tuna sandwich and a clean berth. Nowadays, you need 3 gourmet meals, private cabins with A/C, every water toy known to man.....

It can be a fun way to live; DONT expect to get rich and don't expect to cover a huge overhead.....look at the VICL charter league web site, read Caribbean Compass at www.caribbeancompass.com, and good luck!

Answer 2

Conch Charters in BVI handles boats and chartering of them as well as captains. They have a web site. We had an excellent trip with them on a boat that belonged to a doctor somewhere. We asked for a captain also as we had never sailed there. We got a David Gale who had a smaller boat there he chartered also.