OVERNIGHT & MULTI-DAY PRIVATE YACHT CHARTERS · PUERTO VALLARTA & RIVIERA NAYARIT
Nights at
Anchor.
A crewed yacht with private cabins, a chef and a full bar, moving twenty miles a day and anchoring each night in a different bay. One bilingual person on shore answers for all of it.
FROM
Two nights inside the bay. Or six along a coast the road does not reach.
8,000 USD
per 24 hours
NIGHTS
2 to 6
Two-night minimum
GUESTS OVERNIGHT
8 or 9
By yacht · up to 35 by day
ABOARD · ASHORE
2 pm · noon
Lunch on arrival, breakfast on departure
FROM
8,000 USD
Per 24 hours, all-inclusive, IVA included
READ THIS FIRST
This is not a day
charter that runs late.
Nights at Anchor is the overnight private yacht charter composed by Boat and Bay in Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit. You board at two in the afternoon and lunch is already laid. From then until breakfast on your last morning, the yacht, the crew, the chef, the bar and the coast are yours.
Enough to wake in one bay and eat lunch in the next. It is the difference between a voyage and a delivery run, and I do not raise it for a schedule.
20
NAUTICAL MILES A DAY
I board with you, walk you through the yacht, and step off at the dock. The crew was briefed the day before, on you and the standard I expect. From then on I am reachable from shore, day and night.
Oksana
FOUNDER · YOUR ONE POINT OF CONTACT
Coffee on the aft deck. The bay is glass until about ten.
WHY BY SEA, AND NOT BY ROAD
The coast worth seeing has no
road to it.
By yacht the coast becomes one continuous road. The captain drives it, and you unpack once.
The places
Two national parks, three islands, a dozen coves and beaches with no road, and towns like Yelapa and Tehuamixtle that are reached by water first. A car sees the highway and a strip of sand at the end of it. The yacht anchors in the middle of the picture.
The road
Highway 200 is one lane each way. Past Compostela to the north and past the cape to the south, it is slow, unlit and in places unpaved: not a road I ask guests to drive after dark. At sea there are no checkpoints, no night driving, and nobody but you and the crew.
The days
Every day is already a day on the water. No separate charter to book, no chef to find, no bar to stock, no taxi back. Coffee before the marina wakes, lunch at anchor, the toys in until the light goes, dinner under the stars, and the next bay by breakfast.
BY ROAD
BY SEA, WITH BOAT AND BAY
Isla Isabel
Five hours to the nearest port, then a tour boat
A night at anchor off the island, frigatebirds at dawn
Careyes
Eight hours on Highway 200
Lunch at the beach club, stepping off the tender
The hidden coves
Higuera Blanca, Playa Caballo, Isla Coral: no road at all
Anchored in the middle of the picture
Luggage
Checkouts, transfers and bags at every stop
Unpacked once
AN HONEST NOTE
Priced per couple per night at about where a top villa category at Punta de Mita or Mandarina sits, with the meals, the bar and the boat already inside the number.
What the yacht does not give you: a spa, a golf course, and a shower with unlimited hot water.
If those are the point, book the resort and let me compose one day on the water. If the coast is the point, there is no other way to see it.
The yacht anchors in the middle of the picture.
THE FIRST TWENTY-FOUR HOURS
What the day and the night
actually look like.
2:00 pm
ABOARD · LA CRUZ DE HUANACAXTLE
You board after lunch has been laid, not before. The crew has been aboard since morning. Check-in is the same from La Cruz, Nuevo Vallarta, Marina Vallarta, Punta de Mita, Los Muertos or the beach in front of your hotel.
4:30 pm
EL ANCLOTE, PUNTA DE MITA
The anchor goes down off the point with the Marietas on the horizon, out of the chop that builds inside the bay after three. That is why the first night is usually here.
6:15 pm
SUNSET
The crew knows what you drink by now. The light goes behind the point and the water turns to metal. Then it is dark, and the sound is the water against the hull.
8:30 pm
DINNER
Seafood leads at lunch on this coast: aguachile, octopus, the day's catch. Dinner is heavier and slower, a rib eye or salmon. The menu was chosen with you the week before, not from a list on the day.
The night, at anchor
7:10 am
FIRST LIGHT
Coffee on the aft deck before anyone else is up. The bay is glass until about ten. This is when the paddleboard goes in, and the reason nobody sets an alarm for the afternoon.
11:30 am
YOUR LAST MORNING
Breakfast is included; lunch on the final day is not. Checkout is between eleven and noon, at the marina or the beach we agreed on. That is the one fixed time in the whole voyage.
FIELD NOTE · THE CABINS
On the 76-foot and 85-foot motor yachts the crew has its own cabin and bathroom, forward and away from yours. You will not cross paths in a corridor at seven in the morning. On the catamarans and the 71-footer I show you the cabin plan before you choose.
FIELD NOTE · THE GALLEY
The galley on this coast is built around seafood. If you want beef for dinner, say so on the preference sheet. It is bought fresh for the voyage, not taken from a freezer.
FIELD NOTE · THE NIGHTS
Night passages are possible, with a second captain aboard and watches kept through the night. They are also unnecessary on most routes. Everyone sleeps better in a bay, so that is where I plan the nights.
THE VOYAGES
Four coasts. Twelve voyages.
Pick a colour and a number of nights.
Every voyage, planned to the hour, in one guide.
Distances, anchorages, meals ashore and checkout for all twelve. Sent by email.
THE TWELVE VOYAGES
Every itinerary, at a glance.
A
Within the bay
B
North
C
South
D
One way
A1
2 nights
Punta de Mita and the Marietas
The Marietas at dawn before the permit boats, and a day of toys at Careyeros.
A4
5 nights
The bay, with a night ashore
All year · 97 nm · steps off Marina Vallarta
C1
4 nights
Cabo Corrientes to Careyes
November to March · 166 nm · steps off Barra de Navidad
A2
3 nights
North shore to south shore
Lunch at The Beach With No Road, Los Arcos before the tour boats, step off in the Romantic Zone.
B1
5 nights
North to Isla Isabel
April to October · 235 nm · steps off Marina Vallarta
C2
3 nights
Corrales and Tehuamixtle
D3
5 nights
Manzanillo, via the south coast
A3
4 nights
The whole bay
Dinner on the sand at Playa Caballo, the waterfall at Yelapa, a last night off Mismaloya.
B2
3 nights
San Pancho and Chacala
April to October · 116 nm · steps off Punta de Mita
D1
5 nights
Mazatlán, via Isla Isabel
D4
3 nights
Los Cabos, pure cruising
Apr–May and Oct–Nov · 520 nm · steps off Cabo San Lucas
THE THIRTEENTH WAY
Set a number of nights and a direction, and decide each morning with the captain where you sleep.
Frigatebirds nesting at arm's length, and a crater lake inside the island.
ISLA ISABEL · NATIONAL PARK · ROUTE B
THE PRICE
INSIDE THE NUMBER
One number, with the voyage inside it.
FROM
8,000 USD
The yacht, its captain and crew
A full bar
Private cabins for up to nine
The toys aboard
A chef, and a menu chosen with you
On one-way voyages: the empty return, fuel and crew
Lunch on arrival to breakfast on departure
One bilingual person on shore, day and night
Not inside: lunch on your final day. Meals and nights ashore are shown on each itinerary.
Per 24 hours, all-inclusive, IVA included. Two-night minimum.
01
Tell me the coast and the number of nights.
02
The week before: your preference sheet, and the menu.
03
I board with you at two, and step off at the dock.
QUESTIONS I AM ASKED MOST
Before you write.
How much does an overnight yacht charter in Puerto Vallarta cost?
From 8,000 USD per 24 hours on a 76-foot motor yacht for up to eight guests, all-inclusive with IVA; the catamarans from about 9,000 USD, the 71-foot and 85-foot motor yachts from about 11,500 and 15,000 USD. That covers crew, chef, all meals, the bar, fuel, toys, berths and park wristbands. A night ashore, add-ons and gratuity sit outside it. Two-night minimum.
Why not rent a car and drive the coast?
Because the places worth a night have no road: the coves at Higuera Blanca, Playa Caballo, Isla Coral, the Islas Cocinas, Isla Isabel. Where a road exists it is Highway 200, one lane each way, slow by day and not somewhere I send guests after dark once you are past Compostela or the cape. By sea you unpack once, every day is a day on the water, and the captain does the driving.
Are you aboard for the voyage?
No. I board with you at check-in, walk you through the yacht and the plan, and step off at the dock. The crew has been briefed by me the day before. From then on I am reachable from shore for the whole voyage, including at night, and the captain and I speak every morning. If you would like me aboard as host for a large party, that is possible and priced separately.
Does the yacht move at night?
Almost never. The nights are spent at anchor in a bay, which is where everyone sleeps well. A night passage is used on the return from Isla Isabel and on the one-way voyages. When it is, a second captain is aboard and watches are kept through the night.
Can we board in one place and leave from another?
Yes, and it is included. Board at Punta de Mita and step off at Los Muertos, or board from the beach in front of your hotel and end at La Cruz. The tender does the last hundred metres where there is no pier.