Yacht charter and Boat rental in Caribbean

The Caribbean charter fleet is spread across island nations and territories rather than along one coastline: the British and US Virgin Islands, French Martinique, the shared island of Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten, Grenada and the Grenadines, and Antigua all run their own bases. Yacht charter in the Caribbean means island-hopping between these territories rather than following a single coast, with each stop usually only a few hours' sail from the next.

Why Sail the Caribbean

Sailing here is shaped by the trade winds, which blow from the northeast to east for most of the year at 12-20 knots, strongest and most consistent from December to April and lighter and more variable through the summer. Because the islands sit close together in chains, much of the sailing is done within sight of the next island, most notably in the British Virgin Islands, where the Sir Francis Drake Channel keeps land visible on both sides for almost the entire route.

When to Go

• December to May: the high season, with steady 12-20 knot trade winds, dry weather, and the most boats in the water.
• December and January: the trade winds are typically at their strongest of the year, sometimes called the Christmas winds.
• June to November: the Atlantic hurricane season, running officially from 1 June to 30 November with activity peaking in August-October. Charter companies typically move or lay up their fleets outside this window, and many boats are based further south in Grenada or Trinidad, though no island in the region is entirely outside the hurricane belt, as Grenada's Hurricane Ivan in 2004 showed.

Charter Options: Bareboat, Skippered, Crewed

Bareboat charter in the Caribbean. Unlike much of the Mediterranean, most Caribbean charter bases do not require a formal sailing licence. Instead, the charter company reviews a sailing resume describing your recent experience skippering a similarly sized boat, typically within the last five years.

Skippered charter in the Caribbean. A professional skipper handles navigation and the boat, useful for crews without a strong enough sailing resume or for a first visit to reef-strewn anchorages.

Crewed charter in the Caribbean. A captain plus crew handle sailing, cooking and anchoring throughout the trip, common on larger catamarans and monohulls and for longer multi-island itineraries through the Grenadines or the Virgin Islands.

Types of Boats in the Caribbean

Sailing yacht rental Caribbean (monohull)

The traditional choice for working the trade winds upwind or on a reach. Common brands in the fleet include Beneteau, Jeanneau and Dufour, from around ten-metre boats with two cabins to yachts over fifteen metres. Available bareboat, skippered or crewed.

Catamaran rental Caribbean

The most common boat type across the region's charter fleet. Shallow draft suits anchoring close to reefs and sandbanks, and the flat, stable ride downwind matches the steady trade-wind routes between islands. Usually 4-6 cabins for 8-12 people.

Motor yacht rental Caribbean

Engine instead of sails, useful for covering longer distances between island groups quickly or for day trips from a single base. Sizes range from day boats to crewed yachts over 15 metres.

Where to Sail in the Caribbean

Yacht charter British Virgin Islands

The Sir Francis Drake Channel runs roughly 22 nautical miles between West End, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda, sheltered enough that it feels like sailing on a large lake rather than open sea. At its eastern end, the Baths on Virgin Gorda are a formation of granite boulders up to ten metres across, deposited around 70 million years ago and now forming a maze of shaded pools at the waterline. The BVI is the busiest charter ground in the Caribbean and, like most of the region, does not require a formal sailing licence for bareboat charter.

Yacht charter US Virgin Islands

St. Thomas, centred on the port of Charlotte Amalie, is the main provisioning and check-in hub for the USVI. Neighbouring St. John is largely covered by Virgin Islands National Park, established on 1 December 1956 after businessman Laurance Rockefeller donated over 5,000 acres of land on the island to the US federal government.

Yacht charter Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten

One island split between two nations since the Treaty of Concordia, signed on 23 March 1648 by the French and Dutch governors on Mount Concordia: French Saint-Martin covers about 21 square miles, Dutch Sint Maarten about 16. The border is rarely marked or enforced day to day, and the treaty is the oldest surviving one still demarcating an active international land border.

Yacht charter Martinique

Most charters here are based at Le Marin, one of the largest marinas in the Caribbean, on the island's sheltered south coast. Offshore to the south, Rocher du Diamant, a 175-metre basalt islet, was commissioned into the Royal Navy in February 1804 as HMS Diamond Rock and garrisoned by 120 men to help blockade French-held Martinique during the Napoleonic Wars, until a Franco-Spanish force recaptured it in 1805. On the northern coast, the 1902 eruption of Mont Pelée destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre within minutes, killing an estimated 28,000-30,000 people in the deadliest volcanic disaster of the 20th century.

Yacht charter the Grenadines

A chain of small islands between St. Vincent and Grenada, sailed mostly island to island rather than from one fixed base. The Tobago Cays Marine Park, established in 1997 around five uninhabited cays, protects a shallow, reef-enclosed lagoon that is one of the most sailed anchorages in the region.

Yacht charter Grenada

Known as the Isle of Spice for a nutmeg industry introduced in 1843 that once produced around 2,000 tonnes a year. Hurricane Ivan struck as a Category 4 storm on 7 September 2004, killing 29 people, damaging or destroying roughly 90% of buildings, and uprooting more than 550,000 nutmeg trees, a crop that takes up to 30 years to reach full maturity and is still short of its pre-hurricane output.

Yacht charter Antigua

English Harbour's Nelson's Dockyard, built up through the 18th century and named after Horatio Nelson, who served here from 1784 to 1787 and reportedly called the posting an "infernal hole", is the only continuously working Georgian-era dockyard in the world. The Royal Navy closed the yard in 1889; it was restored as a national park in 1984 and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. Antigua Sailing Week, first held in 1968, is one of the longest-running regattas in the Caribbean.

What It Costs to charter a yacht in the Caribbean

Price depends more on timing within the high season than the season length suggests. A sailing yacht for a week (Saturday to Saturday) costs about €1,462 in late May, near the end of the high season, rising to about €1,974 in February. A catamaran, the most common boat in the regional fleet, runs from about €1,891 up to €2,731 across the same window. A power catamaran costs from about €2,511 up to €4,091. A motor yacht and a motorboat move far less with the calendar: a motor yacht held between about €5,765 and €5,895, and a motorboat stayed at exactly €1,600 in both periods checked.

Yacht charter and Boat rental in Caribbean

Charter a yacht and explore Caribbean! Prices start from 122 € per day. Choose from the largest selection of catamarans, sailboats, power catamarans, motor boats and motor yachts.

Popular regions are Caribbean Islands, BVI, British Virgin Islands, Martinique, Bahamas, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Dominican Republic, Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands, USVI, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and Cayman Islands.