22 May Safe Haven: Why a yacht may offer the best post-lockdown vacation
…This era of history has shown the importance of connection, and how humans struggle quite profoundly when their social bonds are disconnected. A yacht is the ultimate place to reconnect and recover, whether that’s with your spouse and children, the extended family, or your best friends…
Safe Haven
Why a yacht may offer the best post-lockdown vacation
Vacations are going to be very different for the foreseeable future. As long as the coronavirus continues to circulate in our communities, people are going to be looking for safe, low-risk vacations far away from crowds. Owning a yacht in the age of coronavirus is therefore an extraordinary privilege, providing a way to escape and explore the world again in a secure and comfortable environment.
After a time of confinement, being on the water feels more beautiful than ever; the sparkling sea and emerald forests, the quiet coves and that distant, beckoning horizon. As restrictions are being lifted, it will soon be time to chase that horizon, to cruise under big blue skies and relish the feeling of sunshine on our faces again.
Our first holiday ‘post-lockdown’ is one we will remember forever. Here are some of the reasons why owners of a private yacht will be able to enjoy a worry-free vacation providing a much-needed chance to rest, recover, and have fun with loved ones.
1. A Yacht is an island of safety…
A yacht allows you to pull up the passerelle (let’s call it a drawbridge) and cast off from land. This type of holiday dramatically reduces any chance of virus transmission, entirely avoiding the risks of crowds, restaurants, and mass accommodation. The safety of a yacht sits in stark contrast to staying in hotels or cruise ships, where you cannot help but come into contact with a large number of staff and guests, often unknowingly.
On a yachting holiday, contact with outsiders is extremely minimal. You won’t need to use taxis, trains, flights, or ferries to transit between places of interest. You just board, unpack, and allow the yacht to float from one gorgeous destination to the next. You only need go ashore when you want to. And because it is your yacht, it feels like home.
This ‘safe haven’ quality of a yacht is exactly why many yacht owners around the world have boarded their yachts to ride out the tail end of the pandemic.
2. Yachts are extremely clean and hygienic…
Yachts are, by their nature, highly controlled and hygienic environments. Crewed yachts in particular are astonishingly clean, with the live-aboard crew dedicating much of their daily routine to a rigorous cleaning schedule, where every surface is wiped and soaped, vacuumed and squeegeed.
No other accommodation option can rival the cleanliness of a private yacht, with its sealed, air-conditioned interior and teak decks never touched by the dirt of a street shoe. If you’re concerned about germ transmission when outside the house (and aren’t we all a little bit germ-shy now?), a vacation on your yacht will put your mind utterly at rest.
3. Yachts are quite self-sufficient…
Yacht owners are in the privileged position of being able to board their well-stocked yacht and leave the world and its worries behind, spending their days anchoring off quiet coves, playing on water toys, and basking in the long hours of summer sunlight. Depending on the storage capacity of the vessel, there may be no need to go ashore at all during the trip, except to drop rubbish at the dock, or fill up on fuel. If you run low on supplies but don’t want to head into town to shop, there are also specialist yacht provisioners who can deliver to the yacht in port, or even by seaplane or boat if cruising remotely.
4. A yacht is the ideal place to recover, reconnect, and make happy memories…
For children who have been confused by the lockdown, and for parents who have been stressed by the enormity of the crisis and the challenges it has presented on the home front, there is no better tonic for the soul than a serene holiday in nature.
While private yachts are the epitome of luxury, the pleasures they provide are, at their heart, very simple. It’s the sound of water lapping at the hull, the splash of a fish jumping, and the buzzing of cicadas on a hot summer’s day. The shrieks of kids being pulled along on an inflatable, or dive-bombing off the top deck into the sea. Or watching spectacular sunrises and sunsets, and enjoying long lunches on deck, the air filled with the sounds of chatter and clinking cutlery, the soft hiss of a beer being opened or the gentle pop of a champagne cork. Happy family memories are made in moments like these, everyone relishing their newfound freedom.
This era of history has shown the importance of connection, and how humans struggle quite profoundly when their social bonds are disconnected. A yacht is the ultimate place to reconnect and recover, whether that’s with your spouse and children, the extended family, or your best friends.
This coming holiday may well be the most golden of a lifetime.
5. A yacht offers plenty of opportunities for health and fitness…
A private yacht is incredibly well set up for physical and mental wellbeing, beginning with the abundant vitamin D gained from long days spent in the sunshine, sunbathing on deck and splashing about in the sea. If your yacht has a chef on board, you’ll also be treated to delicious gourmet meals with the very best produce and fresh-caught fish.
A yacht is also a great way to stay fit, especially as many traditional fitness routines are off-limits for now. Whether that’s waterskiing behind the tender, scuba diving, or heading ashore for a morning run along the beach, yachting allows you to exercise in many fun ways. Yoga on deck, morning laps around the yacht, or a hike through sweet-smelling pine forest – the possibilities are endless.
6. A yacht offers children a different kind of education…
The school year has been massively disrupted for our children. But they can get another type of education while on the boat, learning to navigate by the stars, to catch and clean fish, and learn history and geography through the places they visit. Other possibilities include birdwatching, fish identification, cooking and art classes, dressing the table for dinner or learning about the yacht’s machinery. Older kids might learn to drive the yacht’s tender or have a supervised turn at the helm. There’s a tremendous amount to learn on a boat, and better still, it’s fun! Taking your child away on your yacht can enrich their education in unexpected ways.
A new perspective
Coronavirus has brought into sharp focus some of the most fundamental human needs. Family. Safety. Food. Freedom. As restrictions lift around the world, and we’re able to roam again, a yacht offers an idyllic way to enjoy all of these things, allowing you to escape into nature and make happy memories, knowing you are safe with family and friends. This is the true privilege of owning a yacht, and not just in the age of coronavirus.