I have a whole chapter in Have the Whole Boat titled “Emerging Destinations.” These are places where you can find a handful of charter yachts that are starting to poke around, but where a true yacht charter infrastructure of marinas and services has yet to evolve.

Thailand is one of the destinations I explain as emerging, meaning that a few crewed charter yachts are becoming available there each year. I think that number may be on the cusp of dramatically increasing, an opinion that solidified for me thanks to a press release in my in-box this morning.

The Village Coconut Island, which is northeast of Phuket in Phang-Nga Bay, has announced a partnership with Sunsail, one of the world’s largest bareboat and skippered yacht charter companies. It looks like they’re creating another Sunsail Club, which is a proper resort that includes beefed-up marina operations for offering charter vacations in addition to land-based ones. Three Sunsail Clubs already exist in Antigua, Greece and Turkey. Coconut Island will be the first to border the Indian Ocean.

In my experience, a marina like this improves services for yachts of most sizes, including larger, fully crewed ones–which means more of them are likely to visit. It won’t be a tidal wave of yachts at first, but keep your eye on Thailand over the next few years as a true up-and-coming charter hotspot.

And let’s all hope that the development that goes on there remains boater-friendly, which means far away from any existing or future cruise ship docks!

The time and date are set for my upcoming book signing at BlueWater Books in Fort Lauderdale: Thursday, April 12, at 6 p.m.

Before signing copies of Have the Whole Boat: The Insider’s Guide to Private Yacht Charter Vacaitons, I’ll give a short presentation about the most commonly asked questions regarding charter. It’s a nifty little PowerPoint that’s chock-full of insider information to help first-time charterers get their money’s worth.

Plus, the Fort Lauderdale-based charter company Northrop & Johnson has agreed to sponsor a yacht chef who will demonstrate the kinds of food you can expect to enjoy when you’re onboard a charter vacation. Free gourmet hors d’oeuvres for everyone in addition to the food and drinks provided by BlueWater!

Hope to see you there!

I had an eye-opening e-mail exchange yesterday with a charter agency that’s based Europe and the South Pacific.

The main broker at the agency was inquiring about advertising rates for CharterWave’s home page–our premier sponsorship spot. I told him what we’re asking (which is quite reasonable for a reputable online magazine) and he replied, “Wow. That’s about 12 times more than what I pay elsewhere. Thanks anyway.”

So I took a look at the less-expensive websites whose links he’d included, and what I found was, quite frankly, a bunch of garbage. There was no editorial designed to help you, the reader, make smart choices and find reputable boats and brokers. Instead, there was a bunch of marketing about how great charter is, and about how you simply need to “click here to book.”

If you read pretty much anything on CharterWave, then you know that’s simply not the smart way to book a charter. You need to ask key questions, have a continually updated resource (like CharterWave) where you can do independent research, and work with a reputable broker no matter what.

I have to say, I’m actually relieved we didn’t get this particular broker’s business. He’s not a member of any reputable professional organization, and the kinds of people he’s looking for as clients are ill-informed and ripe for being ripped off.

That’s simply not you, or any other CharterWave reader.