I’m often asked by those new to sailing about where they should charter so they can sail a lot. The truThis, chartering is about many things including seeing new places, relaxing, having a cocktail on deck with a view, or just living (mostly) off the grid for a few days. It’s also about keeping an itinerary, which often affects how much sailing you’ll do. Sure, you can have a romping sail back from Anegada in the British Virgin Islands, or a tacking duel up the coast of Croatia, but the reality is that you’ll sail a lot less on charter than you think.
But there are exceptions.
This past May, I returned to St. Martin after five long years, along with five friends for whom it was whole new adventure. As we were landing at Princess Juliana Airport on Sint Maarten, we saw the airport gawkers on Maho Beach below. This is a trippy airport with jumbo jets descending to within feet of a beach just before touching down on the tarmac ahead. There’s even a bar set up expressly for spending an afternoon taking selfies doing this, and those with underdeveloped survival skills line up by the airport fence, waiting for the big planes’ jet engines to rev up for takeoff. They come away with sand embedded in their skin or broken bones from
