Sail the Eastern Mediterranean, on your terms.

Bareboat or skippered, how to actually decide

Bareboat means you and your crew sail the yacht yourselves. It's cheaper, and it's the only option if part of the appeal is actually sailing rather than being sailed. Most operators will ask for a sailing CV or a licence (an ICC, RYA Day Skipper or equivalent) before they hand over the keys, and they check it more carefully than people expect.

Skippered means a professional comes with the boat. Nobody on board needs to hold a certificate, and you get someone who already knows the anchorages, the local wind patterns and which marina office actually answers the radio. It costs more, but it removes the single biggest risk in chartering: putting an unfamiliar boat into an unfamiliar bay under time pressure.

The honest way to decide isn't "have I sailed before." It's whether your group actually wants to spend the week sailing, or wants a week on the water with the sailing handled for someone else. A crew of confident, current sailors chartering somewhere they've been before is a good bareboat candidate. A first trip to a new coast, a mixed-experience group, or a boat too big for anyone aboard to have handled solo, that's what skippered is for. Tell us honestly where your group sits when you send an enquiry. We'd rather talk you out of the wrong option than watch you find out at the dock.

The best time to sail the Dalmatian coast, month by month

June: the sea hasn't fully warmed up yet and evenings can still be cool, but the wind is reliable, marinas aren't full, and prices sit well below peak. A good month if you'd rather have room to move than a warm swim every day.

July and August: the warmest water and the longest days, and also the busiest anchorages, the fullest marinas, and the highest prices of the year. Book months ahead if these are your only option, and expect to share every popular bay with a dozen other boats.

September: most people's actual answer once they've sailed it more than once. The water is at its warmest from the summer, the wind is still consistent, and the crowds thin out noticeably after the first week. If your dates are flexible, this is where they should land.

October: quieter still, cheaper still, but some coastal restaurants and smaller marinas start closing for the season, and the first autumn storms can bring the Bora, a sudden, strong northeasterly that's worth respecting rather than sailing through. Fine for experienced crews, less forgiving for a first charter.

What a security deposit really covers

The deposit isn't a fee, it's an authorization hold on a card, usually released within a couple of weeks after the charter ends cleanly. Most operators don't touch it unless something on the check-out inspection doesn't match the check-in one.

It typically covers damage to the hull, rigging or sails, missing or broken equipment, a fuel or water tank returned emptier than agreed, and excessive cleaning if the boat comes back in a state beyond normal use. It's not there to cover normal wear, a scuff that was already on the hull before you boarded, or a shortened itinerary because of weather, that's the operator's risk, not yours, as long as you can show the damage predates your charter.

The one thing worth doing every time: walk the boat with the base crew at check-in and photograph anything that isn't perfect, from a scratched winch to a stain on a cushion, before you leave the dock. It's the difference between a five-minute disagreement and losing part of a deposit over something you didn't do. Some operators also offer a deposit waiver for a daily fee, effectively insurance against the deposit itself, worth comparing against your own travel insurance before you assume you need it twice.

Getting to the charter: the routes that actually make sense

The mistake we see most often isn't a bad flight price, it's a good flight price into the wrong airport. The nearest major hub to a marina isn't always the nearest airport, and a three-hour transfer after landing turns a relaxed first day into a rushed one. Check the actual distance to the base, not just which airport has the most direct routes.

Fly in the day before check-in whenever the schedule allows it. Charter handovers run on a fixed window, usually a specific afternoon slot, and airlines don't reliably hit their own schedules. A same-day arrival with no slack means one delayed flight can cost you the first night on board.

The same applies on the way home. Check-out is almost always a fixed morning hour, not "whenever you're ready," so a flight booked for early afternoon on the last day is tighter than it looks once you've added the drive or transfer to the airport. Build in the buffer on both ends, and if you're not sure what's realistic for a specific base, ask us. It's a five-minute question that avoids a bad first or last day.