Private boat charters for couples in Turks and Caicos: honeymoons, proposals and a day for two

• Best value for two: the 26ft Regal, whose three-hour charter is priced for two and comes with a bathroom and a free Grace Bay shuttle, and the 35ft Catamaran, whose price includes two guests.
• Most private: the 28ft Luxury Boat, priced for the whole boat and made for small groups.
• Most comfortable: the 35ft Luxury Yacht, with an air-conditioned cabin, a shower and champagne on every charter.
• Under sail: the 41ft Sailing Catamaran.

For a couple, the smaller boats make the most sense. The 26ft Regal’s three-hour charter is priced for two guests ($1,256 all-in, and $69 for a third if you bring a photographer), long enough for a snorkel and a sandbar, with a bathroom on board and a free shuttle from central Grace Bay and Long Bay resorts.

The 28ft Luxury Boat takes up to six and is priced for the whole boat, so two people have it all to themselves. The 22ft Sports Cruiser’s price covers up to six, with a bathroom on board.

The 22ft and the 26ft run a free shuttle from central Grace Bay and Long Bay resorts; the rest leave from the Leeward marinas, 5 to 15 minutes away, or Turtle Cove, 10 to 15. On every listing the price is for the whole boat with taxes included; a deposit secures it, each listing shows its own free-cancellation window (24 to 72 hours on these boats), and a request is confirmed within a few hours, nearly always the same day.

The 35ft Catamaran’s price includes two guests, with a wide, shaded deck, a bathroom and bow netting to lie on while you’re anchored. The half-day platter is meats, cheeses, hummus, grapes and a baguette, with rum punch, a dark and stormy or a Moscow mule to go with it. A four-hour charter takes in a reef and a sandbar; a seven-hour one adds more of the cays, as far as North Caicos. The 30ft Catamaran is priced the same way, without the bathroom.

Good to know

The 30ft and 35ft Catamarans don’t run on Sundays. The 35ft meets at a private dock in Leeward Settlement, the 30ft at Blue Haven Marina, and neither offers a resort shuttle, so plan a taxi or a rental car.

For a honeymoon, comfort counts. The 35ft Luxury Yacht has an air-conditioned cabin with a shower for a break from the sun, champagne on every charter, and lunch included: ribs, chicken wings, rice, mac and cheese and salad.

For more space, the 51ft Lux Yacht and the 44ft Luxury Catamaran Yacht also have air-conditioned cabins and champagne on board.

Whichever you choose, ask for Water Cay: two miles of empty beach where the island’s wedding photographers take couples, with Half Moon Bay’s lagoon next door for the swim. All three leave from Turtle Cove Marina, 10 to 15 minutes from Grace Bay.

Honeymoon season notes

December to April is high season, when rooms cost 30 to 50% more, so book the boat when you book the room; February to April is the driest stretch. From September to November rates are at their lowest and resorts often add perks for honeymooners, but that is the heart of hurricane season, statistically busiest from mid-August to September, so book the charter for early in the stay: if the captain calls a day off for weather you get a refund or a new date, and a new date needs days left to land on. The water runs from about 78°F in February to about 85°F in late summer, warm enough to swim all year.

If the idea is to switch the engines off, the 41ft Sailing Catamaran is the boat. Its five-hour charter includes four guests, with two bathrooms, bow netting and beanbags, a subwing to be towed on behind the boat, and a platter and cocktails; the seven-hour day adds a picnic lunch. One honest note: the captain raises the sails when the wind allows and motors when it doesn’t, and the boat is back before dark. It doesn’t sail on Sundays. The 65ft Ultra Lux Sailing Cat is the step up, with an open bar and food through the day, priced for ten.

A private boat is a good place to ask the question: no audience, no rush, and the brightest water in the Caribbean behind you.

• Tell us when you book. Decorations, a cake or champagne can often be arranged. We check with the boat’s charter management what’s possible on your day and what it costs, and let you know before anything is added.
• We pass the plan on. Your notes travel with the booking, so the crew knows what you have in mind before you step on board.
• Pick a private charter, not a group tour. The group tours can’t do private setups.
• Bring your own extras. Every charter welcomes your own food and drinks, on top of what’s included.
• Count the photographer. Anyone who comes aboard to shoot it is a guest for the headcount and the price.
• Keep the ring safe. Leave it in the room safe until the morning, then carry it zipped in a pocket or a small dry bag, or hand it to the crew if you want it hidden. Ask on the sand or on deck at anchor, never while under way or treading water: a ring dropped in knee-deep water over a white sandbar can be found, one dropped over the reef or in a channel usually can’t, and fingers shrink a little when they’re wet.
• Pick the first stop. Half Moon Bay’s lagoon or Water Cay’s beach early in a morning charter, before other boats arrive, is the classic; a sandbar at low tide gives you white sand in every direction and nobody in the frame.

Light, photos and privacy

The light decides the photos, and every boat here is a day charter rather than a sunset cruise. In December the sun sets a little after 5 pm, so an afternoon half day finishes in the low gold light; in June it sets around 7:30 pm, long after the boat is tied up. Midday shows the water at its brightest turquoise and faces look best early or late, so in summer the honest plan is to ask at the sandbar at midday and take the sunset afterward from a west-coast beach by car; no boat needed for that part.

A phone in a waterproof pouch, handed to the person least likely to cry, does the job on a budget. A drone needs no permit for personal use, but the police guidelines keep it 160 feet from other people, and paid filming needs a permit from the Civil Aviation Authority, applied for at least 28 days ahead, so a hired drone operator has to sort that before the day.

Privacy is the point of a private boat: nobody aboard but the two of you, the crew and whoever you invite. Half Moon Bay is busier than it once was, but a sandbar at low tide lets you walk a hundred yards from the boat with nobody else in sight. Tell us the plan when you book, the notes travel with the booking, and the captain can pick the moment the boat is alone.

Our pick for a proposal

Book the 35ft Luxury Yacht’s four hours: $3,026 all-in for two, with champagne, white wine and rum punch, a lunch of glazed ribs, chicken wings, mac and cheese and salad, and an air-conditioned cabin to hide a ring and a nervous partner in, from Turtle Cove Marina, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before. For a lighter, smaller day, the 26ft Regal’s three hours at $1,256 for two, with a bathroom and a free shuttle from central Grace Bay and Long Bay resorts. The price includes taxes, a deposit secures the boat, and a request is confirmed within a few hours, nearly always the same day.

For birthdays, anniversaries and bigger parties, see celebration charters.