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Cruising Grounds

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August 24, 2010

A taste of the pure life

Freelance stew Franki Black took some of her yachting wages and volunteered for six months teaching English in Costa Rica.

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August 9, 2010

Navigating the Strait of Messina, enjoying Italy's west coast

On our way from Athens to Toulon on the 26m motor yacht Aisling a few summers ago, we had decided to brave all the perils of the Strait.

June 29, 2010

Herreshoff museum awakens passion for yachts

An afternoon of history reminds Capt. John Campbell about the roots of yachting.

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May 4, 2010

Aeolian Islands: Erupting and attractive

The small but active volcanic islands off Sicily are worth a visit.

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March 29, 2010

Montenegro emerges

Montenegro is on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, between Croatia to the northwest and Albania to the southeast. Its inland neighbours are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo, so it found itself very much in the middle of the Balkan war of the 1990s.

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March 15, 2010

Victoria, BC, is more than gardens and tea

No matter the far corner of the world in which I may be traveling, when I say I live in Victoria, British Columbia, fellow travelers invariably smile knowingly, "Ah yes, Butchart Gardens and afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel. Victoria is so British!"

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March 1, 2010

Megayachts welcome in Tahiti

If looking at a world map, Tahiti and her islands – officially called French Polynesia – are a long way away from the usual superyacht destinations like the Mediterranean and the Carribean.

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January 18, 2010

Elba: Mostly Italian, thoroughly European

The island of Elba is Italian, and has been so for much of the past three or four thousand years, but it is inextricably linked with French history. It was, of course, the place where Napoleon was banished for his first period of exile.

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December 14, 2009

Little land, but a captivating nation

The Equatorial Indian Ocean spreads endlessly blue before us, hiding Addu Atoll just over the horizon. With landfall just hours away, we stared ahead, searching for a sign of land. Finally, we made out a few buildings, coconut palms and the white crest of waves breaking on the fringing reef.

October 27, 2009

Liguria is king of the coast if you’re talking Northwest Italy

If you talk to people about the northwest of Italy, most folk will think you mean Tuscany, or Toscana as the Italians would have it. They have heard of Tuscany mainly because of Florence, with its plethora of churches and arty things, and Pisa, with its ubiquitous tower, yet few seem to have heard of Liguria, which lies to the north and west of Tuscany.

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October 1, 2009

The color and culture of Japan
I first went to Japan in 2001 to deal with a 37m yacht being bought from a Japanese owner. We organized a freighter to ship it to the United States, but we would have more than two months before it left Kobe. “How often are you going to have a yacht in Japan?” I said. “Let’s go cruising.” I joined the yacht in Japan; however yachts generally approach from two directions. From the north, the first port of call is Hakkodate on the northern island of Honshu or an extra day and a half down to Yokohama and Tokyo.
September 27, 2009

The color and culture of Japan
I first went to Japan in 2001 to deal with a 37m yacht being bought from a Japanese owner. We organized a freighter to ship it to the United States, but we would have more than two months before it left Kobe.“How often are you going to have a yacht in Japan?” I said. “Let’s go cruising.”
August 26, 2009

Dig into Gibraltar : There is more to the British territory than the Rock and duty-free shopping
Gibraltar is a place of contrasts; history vies with the modern life at every corner. Many people consider that the brash Main Street with its duty-free shops is all that Gibraltar has to offer, yet with the minimum amount of effort, an interesting history awaits.
July 22, 2009

Island nation has sailing in its genes
Bequia, (pronounced BECK-wee) is a sailor’s island. Indeed, until relatively recently, the only way to reach Bequia was by boat; the island had no airport until 1992.The island lies a few miles southwest of St. Vincent in the Windward Islands, and forms part of the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is a small island, just seven square miles in total.
June 24, 2009

Pitcairn Island – Outback Pacific
A swath of blood red sky bathes the morning horizon as the brooding hulk of Pitcairn Island emerges from the Pacific. As the M/Y Turmoil pushes into a heavy swell, the somber red sunrise is a fitting backdrop to a bloody and tumultuous history for this small wind-battered rock that lies at 25 degrees south.
May 22, 2009

Travel to Isles des Saintes to enjoy charm unspoiled
The Isles des Saintes are universally known as the Saintes. They are a group of small islands a few miles south of the French island of Guadeloupe. Although they are administered by Guadeloupe, they have a unique charm, and they seem to have avoided the worst of modern development. Indeed, not much has changed since I first went there in 1972.
April 29, 2009

Finding history and beauty on the islands in the Pacific
The M/Y Turmoil spent five weeks this spring in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. We cleared into the Sollies at the capital, Honiara, after the long haul down from Hawaii. Our local agent was Gerald Stenzel from Tradco (tradco@solomon.com.sb ). Clearance was straightforward, though we did notice that most officials down this way ask for lunch when they come onboard.
April 29, 2009

St. Thomas gets proactive to protect its charter future
The hot topic at the 2009 St. Thomas Yacht Show in April was plans for a proactive future for the island’s charter industry in the face of economic woes.
March 25, 2009

Turning to Tunisia- Yachts seeking VAT exemption go to N. Africa after Malta opts to join the European Union
One of the vagaries of European law allows many yachts to stay in the European Union without paying VAT, provided they leave European waters at least once every 18 months. It used to be that such vessels would visit Malta, often on their way to or from Greece. The visit would clear the VAT status for another 18 months and allow the boat to fill up with duty-free fuel. Malta went and spoiled this easy option by, rather selfishly, joining the EU.
February 23, 2009

Captain’s visit to Grenada his best in 37 years of visits
Port Louis is a new full-service marina that has emerged from the ruins of the old GYS, in the lagoon of St. George’s. Even when GYS was in its heyday in the 1970s, it always seemed to have a ramshackle, tumble-down air. As the years passed, the wooden docks began to disintegrate, to the point that last time I was at GYS, one had to leap across gaps in the wooden decking to get ashore.
January 21, 2009

Megayacht crew takes donated medical goods to Belize City
After two years of logistics and planning, a megayacht delivered more than $16,000 worth of donated medical supplies to the Belize Emergency Response Team in December, courtesy of the efforts of YachtAid Global. Founded by Capt. Mark Drewelow in San Diego, YAG puts donated items on yachts heading to Third World countries to deliver to the coastal communities they visit.
January 21, 2009

Two BVI boats, crew, bring supplies, outboards to Haiti
Captains and crews of two British Virgin Islands’-based charter yachts spent Christmas transporting gifts and supplies to residents of Ile a Vache, an island off the southern coast of Haiti.
December 26, 2008

Must-have for travels to Spanish ports
Eight years ago, Kathy Parsons published "Spanish for Cruisers" and made communication history amongst the charter captains, cruisers, marina and boatyard workers, marine technicians, mechanics and others who work on, live on, repair, maintain or have anything else to do with boats – and who speak only English or only Spanish.
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November 24, 2008

Find peace, tranquility in Turkey’s Gocek Bay
When we arrive in Turkey, we usually clear into Fethiye and the deal that the agent is able to make is that we deliver the papers and passports to him in Fethiye, then we get permission to go to the comparative tranquility of Gocek. He does all the running round to the various offices and eventually delivers the Transit Log and various papers to us on board in Gocek.
October 29, 2008

Avoid crowds, Gulets to enjoy Turkey fully
The southwestern coast of Turkey offers some delightful cruising. Unfortunately, because it is so nice, it can get crowded. There are literally hundreds of the locally built wooden Gulets that charter in the area, especially from Bodrum and Gocek. Many of them are rent-a-bed operations and tend to have some rowdy, cheap and cheerful punters on board. A few of those can spoil any anchorage.