Indian Ocean Islands private sailing holidays by luxury Catamaran

How many people can they take?

These yachts can accommodate from 1-12 guests on board although if there are several children, we can sometimes take up to 16.

What activities are on offer?

This all depends upon your own interests and proclivities! We offer the most wonderful scuba diving yacht charters with a dive master on board.  We can also offer fishing (game or fly fishing) charters, or a charter where one can simply have fun and relax. We can arrange for paddle boards for stand up paddling, sea kayaks, there is swimming with dolphins in the ocean, snorkelling, picnics on islands.  There is also wind surfing, wake boarding and water skiing.

The yachts also all have tender boats which one can use for exploring.

Of course, this does not include land activities on the particular islands which could include visiting local communities.

We can also arrange for a marine biologist to be on board, as your guide, assisting you with all the fish that you see in the ocean and transforming your holiday! We can also include a professional photographer if you wanted to know how to improve your photographic skills or simply have your own holiday recorded too.

In Tanzania, we can offer swimming with whale sharks around Mafia Island from November through to March.

In the southern hemisphere, humpback whales tend to migrate during July, August and September and it’s a wonderful time to see them.

When is the best time of year?

Year round, with the exception of late April and May in Tanzania and the northern Quirimbas archipelago of Mozambique and excluding January and February for the Seychelles and Mauritius and Madagascar.

Is this type of holiday good for families and are there age restrictions?

We think that a sailing holiday is simply perfect for a family as it allows everyone some space, tremendous bonding, and a large variety of activities to keep everybody happy! We can also obtain a nanny or au pair should you require assistance. There is no child age restriction.

Depending upon which country you choose, a sailing holiday could either be a stand-alone holiday for a week or 10 days to two weeks, or it could be at the end or beginning of a safari as it complements the safari experience so well.

What is a typical day on board one of these catamarans?

Again, depending upon one’s interests, there is no ‘typical’ day, rather each day is designed around you and what everyone in your party feels like doing! Some could go scuba diving, whilst non scuba divers could snorkel, culminating on an island for a picnic lunch with freshly caught seafood and salads. After relaxing on the beach, it could be that some would like to swim or read whilst others might want to go wake boarding, water skiing or Stand up paddling.

Depending upon where you are, you could arrange one day to visit one of the villages. In Mozambique in particular, this is possible, whether in the southern part of the Bazaruto archipelago or the northern Quirimbas archipelago, one can still find villages where time stood still.

The local people are always friendly and so excited to see a new face (which doesn’t happen terribly often!).  The Quirimbas in particular is renowned for its diving, and in particular, Neptune’s arm. In fact, coral researchers say that the Quirimbas has some of the most unspoiled and unbleached coral to be found anywhere in the world.

In Madagascar there are a number of islands that one could sail around in the northern part of the island from Nosy Be and Nosy Iranja, where at certain times of year one can see leopard sharks, humpback whales, manta rays and dolphins.  One can even go inland and visit one of the national parks such as Andasibe or Mantadia where the lemurs can be seen. Diving is sensational here – a recent research study showed that 304 of 340 hard coral species for the entire western Indian ocean was to be found on the north western coast of Madagascar.

In Tanzania, there are four regions that we use, including Zanzibar, Mafia, Pemba and Songa Songa  and of course, in Mauritius and the Seychelles, we would base the area on the time of year, (i.e. whether whales will be in the area or not).

With all these charters, there is also the possibility of spending some time on the boat (perhaps five nights ) and then ending up at a luxury lodge for the last couple of nights, should one want to ring the changes and end off somewhere more permanent.