Bahamas cruising charters

[Merlin1111]

Can anyone suggest the name of any yacht rental company in the Bahamas where I can rent a 30'-32' sailboat bareboat for a week or so?

[capn_mark]

Hey Merlin, we just got back. Navtours has boats in Nassau and Georgetown, but I think the smallest they have is a 34. They a great company to deal with, and the Exumas are my favorite place. Moorings or Sunsail is in the Abacos as well.


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[CSY Man]

Never heard of Navtours, but now checked their web page. It list a bunch of miscellaneous expenses such as cleaning fees, linen fees, deductible fees and taxes, etc., but no listing of boats or rates or packages.
(Or I did not spend enough time trying to navigate the webpage )

Capt_Mark: Did you charter with Navtours in the Bahamas?
If so, got some details, boats, prices, etc?
Thx

[capn_mark]

Hey CSY,

Yup, chartered with them 4 times now and have been very happy with the service and the boats. They have 2 bases, one in Nassau and one in Georgetown at the south end of the Exuma chain. The Exumas are the favorite sailing grounds of my family, and having the option of a one way trip either N or S works great for us.

I'm not a huge fan of their website as far as looking at pricing and availability, but it's not a big deal. Click on Bahamas, then pick a boat and dates, and it will return the price. Just play with the dates a bit (like look at a really short charter period of 1 or 2 days) to get an idea of the prices. Their new boats are obviously a higher rate than the 6 yr old ones, but I still find them to be very competitive.

Since our last BVI trip in 2011, we have decided instead on Navtours and the Bahamas for 3 vacations. Early season Dec/Jan/Feb can be a little bit hit and miss on the weather depending on cold fronts coming off the US but it is still very pleasant. March / April / May in my experience has been great weather. And no, I am not affiliated with Navtours, just a happy, repeat customer.

Enjoy!

Mark


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[CSY Man]

Ok, good info thanks.
Will keep playing with the website, it may have stalled out on me or something as nothing happened half the time I tried to click boats or whatever.

Been to the Bahamas and the Exuams numerous times on my own boat, which I sold 2 years ago. Miss it a lot
Now I have the choice of getting another boat, OR charter...

Looking at a well equipped medium sized boat like a Catalina 34 or some such thing will probably cost me $75 to $95K with insrpurance and maintenance, etc to the tune of $10K year.
Or I could charter for $10k and pocket the $95k.
Not sure yet, but I want to explore the charter thingy before I decide.

[KNoel]

We haven't used them yet, but they are nice folks and they get many good reviews over on the Abaco Forum (www.abacoforum.com):
Cruise Abaco Home : Sailing Charters Bahamas

[capn_mark]

CSY, yes, I understand... We cruised the Bahamas 20 years ago on our own boat, and I always think of getting another, but can't make the $ flow work in my favor. Chartering works good for now for us.


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[CSY Man]

Been back to the Navtours webpage clicking around to find boats and rates.
Still no cigar.
Found a few boats for sale on their site, but not buying. Also found that a crewed catamaran is $1995 a week per person, looks like food and booze is included..
I am looking to bareboat a monohull, but they won't share that information for some reason. Can't find a tab for Boats either.

If you chartered a monohull Capt_Mark, roughly how much did you pay?

Not sure we we will go with friends, just me and wifey for a week, probably a small boat would be okay, 31' or so, but would also look at 35-38 of the price is right.

[capn_mark]

Make sure u clicked on 'destination Bahamas', then a calendar should be on the right.

http://www.navtours.com/en/destination_bahamas.html

I plugged in a couple of dates, and found about about $2600 per week for April on their 34 footer. That link also shows their list of boats


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[CSY Man]

Ok, got some of the info now.
(Using iPad, perhaps the page needs a flash players or some such thing,)
When I check for availability, it says 0 selection because I did not choose a boat.
Yet there is no list or link to let me choose a a boat. Anyway, no big deal. I can try a different computer, or send them an email.
Thx though.

[Vasco]

Navtours boats are all over the northern Exumas. Usually Nassau to black point. Lots of cats and a few beneteaus Mostly 393's. most of their clientele is from Quebec . They seem to be expanding since I saw them four or five years ago. Boats seem well equipped with solar panels etc.


Toronto in summer, Bahamas in winter.

[CSY Man]

Hope they have low-season prices July and August, nice in the Exumas then and close enough to Nassau in case of a hurricane.

[gunkylump]

Navtours have at least a half dozen or more boats at Emerald Bay Resort Marina, and they were on the go steady when we were there for two weeks in February.

They had a cleaning staff come in and clean the boats when they returned, and there was a guy doing maintenance items as well. Looked like the boats were pretty well taken care of.

I was told, and I'm sorry, but I forgot by whom, that they run the majority of the boats in the Bahamas during the winter months, and then take them up to Lake Champlain in the summer months, so they have a few miles on them.


Emerald Bay Resort Marina is about 16 miles or so north of Georgetown.

gunk

[CSY Man]

Thanks Gunk, good info.
Possible no boats in The summer, oh well⛵️

[gunkylump]

I don't know if they take all of the boats north, and it was information that was passed on to me by another sailor. They did have some large cats at Emerald Bay, and some Bene's, all looked to be in pretty good condition without getting on board to really look. Lots of smiling faces both outbound and inbound though!

Definitely worth an e-mail for additional info I would think!

gunk

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