The water is a live wave spectrum, not a loop. Push the wind up and the crew takes reefs in, exactly as they would at sea.
Five sailing yachts out of Saltmere Bay — bareboat if you hold the ticket, skippered if you would rather read on deck. Four island routes, all of them sailed by our own crew first.
Rates are per yacht, not per guest, and they are the rates you pay. Bareboat means you sail her yourself; skippered adds a professional skipper who knows every anchorage on the routes below.
12 guests in 6 cabins, 18 crew. Chef, tender, two dive compressors. Chartered fully crewed only, minimum one week.
8 guests in 4 cabins, 5 crew. Carbon rig, 19 knots on a reach. Skippered only; the rig is not a boat to learn on.
6 guests in 3 cabins. Teak decks, hank-on headsails, a galley that works at 20 degrees of heel. Bareboat from 200 logged miles.
6 guests in 3 cabins, bimini, cockpit table, swim platform. The boat most first charters leave on.
4 guests, one double cabin, outboard tender. Out at nine, back on the quay by seven, or overnight in the near bays.
What moves the number: fuel and harbour dues are billed at cost on return, a refundable security deposit of $1,500 to $9,000 is held on the card depending on the yacht, and the final clean is $120 flat. Nothing else appears at the end of the week.
Every mooring we send you to has been swum, not just charted. Here is the same water from the other side of the surface: the light that gets through, the sand that holds, the ledge that does not.
The chain below is drawn the way the coast actually behaves — ridge noise, a falling mask at the shore, colour by height. Redraw it and you get another island; the route markers stay on the water where a route would run.
Saltmere, Cormorant Cove, Two Ledges and back. Short hops, warm water, the route we give to a first bareboat week.
Seven days along the outer islands: a lighthouse anchorage, two fishing quays and one long reach with the swell on the beam.
Ten days for crews who want miles. Two overnight passages, one of them under a full moon if the dates fall right.
The left column is already in the rate you saw above. The right column is what people usually add, with the price attached so nothing is a surprise on the quay.
Linen for every berth, two towels per guest, cookware, a full set of charts and pilot books.
From check-inOn davits or towed, fuel for the week in the tank.
All yachtsMasks, fins, a float line and one inflatable board with a pump.
All yachtsNinety minutes at the office the evening before, weather window and anchorages walked through with you.
90 minA daily VHF check and a number that a human answers for the whole week.
24 / 7Sails the yacht, teaches if you ask, sleeps ashore or in the crew cabin.
Per dayBreakfast and lunch aboard, the boat kept in order, shopping done.
Per dayThree courses at anchor, provisioning billed at cost.
Per dayTwo tanks, weights, regulator and a guide on the surveyed sites. Certification required.
Per diver / dayStocked before you step aboard, from a list you fill in online.
Per guest / dayMERIDIAN SAIL began in 2012 with one 11-metre boat and a handwritten booking sheet taped to the office window. The sheet is still on the wall, though the fleet is five yachts now and the flagship carries eighteen crew.
We do one thing: we put people on the water in this bay and bring them back on time. That means we sail every route ourselves at the start of the season, swim every anchorage we recommend, and refuse charters when the forecast says the week will be misery rather than sailing.
If you have never held a helm, take a skipper for the first two days and keep him for the week if you like the company. If you have crossed oceans, we will hand you the keys and stay out of your way.
— Ines Varela and Tomas Reidy, Meridian Sail
They moved our start day forward by twelve hours because of a forecast we had not seen, and the whole week stayed flat. That call was the charter.
First time with children aboard. The briefing covered the two anchorages where a swim ladder is actually usable, and that is exactly where we stayed.
Tomas handed me the helm on day one and said nothing for four hours. I have paid a lot more for a lot less trust.
Check-in is at the office at the head of the pontoon, not on the boat. Bring the ticket, the deposit card and one crew list; everything else we have aboard.
| Charter office | Hours |
|---|---|
| Monday | 08:00 – 19:00 |
| Tuesday | 08:00 – 19:00 |
| Wednesday | 08:00 – 19:00 |
| Thursday | 08:00 – 19:00 |
| Friday | 08:00 – 19:00 |
| Saturday | 08:00 – 17:00 |
| Sunday | 10:00 – 15:00 |
One answer from a person, usually the same day. No deposit is taken at this step and nothing is charged until the contract is signed at the office.
We will come back with the boat, the weather window and the final number.
No. Bareboat needs a recognised skipper certificate and at least 200 logged miles, and we do ask for both. If you do not have them, take the same yacht skippered at the rate in the table — it is often the cheaper way to learn, because you sail her all week with someone aboard who knows the bay.
We watch the forecast from three days out and call you. In practice that means one of three things: your start moves by half a day, your route flips to its mirrored version, or — twice in fourteen seasons — we cancel and refund in full. A charter that spends the week pinned in harbour is not a charter.
No, and nobody should promise it. Fuel and harbour dues are billed at cost when you hand the boat back, against receipts we show you. A typical week on Sable comes to $90 to $150 of diesel and about $210 of quay fees for the two nights alongside.
Children yes, on every yacht, with jackets in their sizes if you tell us the ages at booking. Dogs yes on Sable, Halyard and Kittiwake, with a $180 cleaning supplement; not on Trade Wind or Meridian I, where the decks are varnished teak.