Merrill-Stevens Yachts, which closed its charter division in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, earlier this year, has now shuttered its yacht sales division in Fort Lauderdale and will close that office completely this week, a source within the company confirmed for me this morning.

The Palma de Mallorca office in Spain remains open and is still booking retail charters, as well as managing about 10 charter yachts, the source said. More news is expected later this week about the fate of that Palma office, its charter brokers, and the charter yachts it represents.

“Today, yes, we are open,” the source told me. “When we get to later this week, you know, by Thursday, I have no idea.”

I’ll keep you posted here on the CharterWave Editor’s Blog as I learn more.

I think the most impressive thing I’ve seen here at the Tortola charter show this week is not any single boat, but the way that some boats and crew that have been considered “problems” in the past are showing quite well and winning over a good number of brokers.

As I reported here on the CharterWave Editor’s Blog back in May, a company called Oceanwide Yacht Charter Group went out of business this past spring. The company used to manage a decent number of sailing catamarans, but its owner (who has since disappeared, reportedly along with a good bit of cash) had a lackluster reputation for providing quality yachts for charter. Consequently, there were some nice boats and good crew that developed bad reputations because of their association with him, and that reputable charter brokers would no longer book. In at least some of the cases, from what I can tell, the yachts and crew had no idea what was happening at the management level.

What I’m seeing on the docks this week are a few of those same boats–cleaned up and looking great–along with some of the better crew, who are now on other yachts and eager to provide great service through reputable management companies. It’s terrific to see, and these folks deserve a good bit of credit. They’re successfully working to bring boats with bad reputations–earned or otherwise–back into the mainstream charter market.

One example is the 44-foot sailing catamaran Catatonic, whose new owner is a lifelong bareboater striving to make his yacht better than any boat he’s ever chartered himself here in the Virgin Islands. Another is the sailing catamaran Good Medicine, whose captain’s attention to detail in refurbishing the yacht caught my eye during my tour last night. And just a few minutes ago, I stepped off the 55-foot sailing catamaran Frangines, whose captain, Dusty Graham, has overcome an earlier association with that bad manager and is now being recommended to me by brokers worldwide as one of the best to work with in all of the Virgin Islands.

The beauty of annual, industry charter shows like this week’s here in Tortola is that brokers get on the boats, see the crew, and learn firsthand which yachts to recommend confidently to you as a potential client. I think it’s great that there are some boats and crew getting back onto that “good list,” and I look forward to sharing full reviews and interviews about them here on CharterWave during the upcoming months.

One of the things I’m hearing about a lot on the docks here at the Tortola charter show is that there are a fair number of boats that still have availability for Christmas charters–an unusual situation this late in the season.

Even more interesting is that some of those boats are typically among the first to book up. A good example is the stunning, 76-foot sailing catamaran Zingara, which had a Christmas cancellation thanks to the downturn in the worldwide economy.

The upshot is, of course, that if you thought all the good boats were already gone for the holidays, you can think again. There is absolutely still time to book. Just don’t expect too much of a bargain. The yachts are all trying to hold their regular rates, on the presumption that business will pick up again soon. Based on what I’m hearing, a lot of the boats here in the Virgin Islands already have at least 10 charters booked for the upcoming season, so they’re not panicking. At least not yet. They’re just wanting to promote the unusual amount of remaining availability.

Any reputable charter broker can tell you more about which top yachts are still out there to be had. My suggestion is to call now if you’re interested–not just because good boats tend to go first and fast, but also because you will need to get airline tickets down to the islands at a time when the major carriers have cut back substantially on flights. Finding a great charter boat for Christmas won’t be your biggest problem. Finding plane tickets that coincide with your charter dates is going to be the bigger challenge at this point in the season.