Charter broker Kathleen Mullen of Regency Yacht Vacations (a CharterWave sponsor) recently returned from a private cruise to the Galapagos Islands and the Marquesas—two destinations that many charter brokers never visit during their lifetimes.
    Here are excerpts from an exclusive interview that I snagged with Mullen this week, before she even had a chance to get over her jetlag. The Galapagos photos (including the one above) are from one of my previous yacht charters there, while the Marquesas photograph is courtesy of Tahiti Tourism.

The Galapagos Islands and the Marquesas are not exactly hotbeds of yacht charter. How did you end up in both aboard a yacht?
I was one of two people invited to join the crew of seven aboard a private, 125-foot sailing yacht, and help with the watches while the yacht was under way. I flew to the Galapagos Islands by way of Ecuador and spent some time in the islands before we sailed from Galapagos to the Marquesas. They are northeast of Tahiti in French Polynesia. It was a 3,000-mile sail across the Pacific Ocean, and it took 11 days. I really enjoyed it.

Let’s start with Galapagos. Was it your first time there?
It was, and I found that what a lot of people say is true: The place has amazing wildlife and geological sights, but the yachts available for charter really are not up to international standards. For the right client, it could be the charter of a lifetime, but you have to really want to go, and you have to be willing to settle for yachts that are not the quality of others you may have chartered in the past.

What about the Marquesas? I haven’t heard of much yacht charter happening there.
I’d never been there before, either. What I learned is that there are really small cruising boats that come and go, but no charter boats based there. The only way to charter a proper boat in the Marquesas is to catch one that is passing through on its way to another destination. You might have a charter broker keep an eye out for a yacht that announces plans to be there, but it could take quite a lot of time to find the right boat for a charter.
    The Marquesas are really off the beaten track, definitely out of the way. A lot of the islands are uninhabited, or you’ll have an island with a harbor and a beach community, but no roads across the island to the next village three harbors over.

If the Marquesas are so far out of the way, how would a charter client even get there?
You would fly into Tahiti and then take a 2½-hour flight to the Marquesas to meet your yacht.
    I was there on a pretty big boat, and from what I saw, if you can catch a big boat going through, it would be a great charter. There are plenty of fish, lobster, crab, and seafood, and the snorkeling is memorable. But you really have to want to get away from everything. There are no five-star hotels, no fancy restaurants. It’s just you and the boat, nature hikes, waterfalls plummeting 1,000 feet, beautiful shells on the beaches, a lot of the places where Gaughin painted, that sort of thing.

I suppose that’s something that Galapagos and the Marquesas have in common, then. You really have to want to get in touch with nature to enjoy a yacht charter in either location.
For me, the sailing was also part of the fun. I enjoyed being on a big, modern boat with all the new helm electronics, getting a feeling of how a boat like that operates on the water, and seeing how the crew of seven interacted. Anyone who enjoys sailing would probably feel the same way.
    At the same time, though, this trip was a reminder to me of how hard it can be for a chef to provision for a charter in places so remote, of why you need to catch a good boat with serious amenities going through instead of trying to make a charter work with the local fleet and minimal services ashore, and of why you need to be sure that you are well prepared with a good plan, top safety equipment, and a well-maintained yacht.
    This is not the kind of charter that is an everyday booking for a broker. If you want to do a charter of this nature, it’s important to book through a broker who actually understands what you’ll be getting into.

You can reach Kathleen Mullen through the Regency Yacht Vacations website.

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