Central America

Belize sits behind part of the second largest barrier reef system in the world, and the reef is the reason to bring a yacht here at all. The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, the water inside it is shallow and protected, and the cayes strung along it are close enough together that a week can move a few miles at a time and still see something new every day. Offshore, on Lighthouse Reef, the Blue Hole is the dive most guests have already heard of and the one they ask for by name.

Costa Rica gives the charter its Pacific side. The Gulf of Papagayo, on the northern coast, carries the marina infrastructure and the sheltered water, and the national parks start close enough behind the shore that a morning ashore is a genuine option rather than a long drive inland. Sport fishing is a large part of why boats come here, and the wildlife is the other half of it.

Panama holds both coasts and the canal between them, which is why a week here can begin on one ocean and end on the other. A transit is a day of its own and has to be booked well ahead. Off the Caribbean side, the San Blas islands are governed by the Guna themselves and remain almost undeveloped: hundreds of small cays, shallow water and very little ashore beyond the villages.

This is the part of the Americas where reef, rainforest and an ocean crossing sit inside a single itinerary. It is not a coast with a large charter fleet standing by, and the boats that do cruise here tend to be in the region for a season before moving on. Tell us the months you have and we will tell you honestly what is out there for them.