X2C Charters

Four of our boats are located in Palm Cay Marina, Nassau, Bahamas and two of our boats are in Key West, Florida. Both are great starting points for a myriad of trips to the hundreds of islands in the beautiful Bahamas waters or to explore all Keys.

Palm Cay Marina in the Bahamas is also a wonderful place to explore, with its beach club with pool, restaurant, cafe/convenience store, spa and tennis courts. Palm Cay also has apartments and town houses that you can rent before/after your trip. For more information on the marina, click here.

Just like hotels, we need time to clean the boat and stock it up with food (if you have a chef) before we are able to start the trip. Therefore, check-in is usually around 4-5pm of the day you booked. You may spend the first night in the marina before setting sail the following morning if you hired a captain. If you want to be able to check-in early and sail off the same day, we'd recommend booking the boat the day before.

Let's start with what you shouldn't bring - no normal suitcases! Everything on the boat needs to be secured while the boat is moving and a large, hard suitcase will take up a lot of space. It's best to bring a duffel bag/backpack that once unpacked can be folded into a small place in the cabinets.

As far as clothing, we recommend the following:

- Swimwear

- A warm sweater/jacket (evenings and the wind can make it chilly)

- A waterproof jacket 

- Boat friendly shoes (soles that don't mark the boat)

- Lots of shorts/T-shirts (those that dry quickly after getting wet are ideal)

- A warm outfit in the event that you encounter colder weather

- Rash guards are a good idea due to the strength of the sun 

- Sunhat and sunglasses

- Sun cream

Sheets, blankets and towels will be provided for you. Hand soap will be provided but please bring your own toiletries. If you are traveling with hand luggage only, there is a convenience store at the Palm Cay Marina in the Bahamas where you can buy toiletries (they stock Sun Bum sun cream which was not available at the local supermarket), or it is a short taxi ride to the local supermarket. 

FUEL

Fuel for the boat is not included and is an extra but is reasonable. For our largest 62-foot boat, its consumption is around 2L of diesel an hour. As an example, for a 7-day trip in the Exumas in December 2021, the cost was around $600.

CAPTAIN, CHEF AND FOOD

Dream Beauty

Food and beverages (including alcoholic- within reason) are included. Fees for both the captain and the chef are included when you book Dream Beauty.

All other X2C yachts

Food is not included in the price. If you decide to hire a chef, there is a fixed price for the food.

If you decide to hire a captain that is an additional cost.

TIPS

You should also plan for tips to the captain and chef if you hire them, and we recommend between 10-20% of the price of the booking, or more if you are extremely satisfied with their service.

OTHER

Lastly, access to some of the Bahamas marine national parks requires a fee - please make sure you bring cash on the boat for these payments.

Completely unplugging and enjoying the beauty and nature of the Caribbean is a great way to relax and unwind in a fast-paced, technologically driven world. However, we understand that at times this may not be possible, and you need to have internet/phone connection.

Once you leave the marina, you may not have access to good, reliable service. If you require more reliable service, we recommend you purchase Wi-Fi on the boat at an additional charge. Even with this, you may not get the same speed you are used to at home so please be aware of this.

Everyone reacts differently to motion, and some may be more prone to sea sickness than others. The good news is that sea sickness, in the worst scenarios, will only last 1-2 days, as your body finally acclimatizes to the motion.

Here are some tips to ease sea sickness, especially at the start:

1) Stay outside and at the back or at the top of the yacht

2) Look out at the horizon at the waves

3) If you need to stay inside because of weather, stay on the top deck, not in the rooms at the bottom. The closer you are to the front the more motion you will experience

We encourage everyone to have some sea sickness medicine with them in case someone needs it.

The boats do not provide scuba diving gear, however if you do want to go diving, we may be able to arrange a stop at one of the Islands and link you to a Scuba Diving company.

It really depends on the individual; particularly how flexible they are to get on/off the yacht. This can get particularly tricky when getting onto the dinghy boat with slightly rough water.

We are equipping Dream Beauty with a special dinghy that will have a drop bow for easy access in and out of the yacht. This avoids the need to step over the dinghy and instead easily walk out on a beach. If you have someone in your group with limited mobility, you may want to consider booking Dream Beauty.

Dream Beauty will also be equipped with a number of sea scooters to help those who are a little less confident/more hesitant of swimming in open waters.

Please also bear in mind that there are stairs to get down to the rooms as well as stairs to get to the top of the yacht, so anyone onboard should be able to do stairs fairly confidently.

For our yachts docked in Nassau, Bahamas, laundry facilities are located in the Palm Cay marina.