Sailing Curaçao

Curaçao is a Dutch constituent country in the southern Caribbean — one of the ABC islands, about 65 kilometres off the coast of Venezuela, where Dutch, Papiamento, Spanish and English are all spoken. It is a single arid island rather than a chain: a dry, sunny landscape of cactus and divi-divi trees, a UNESCO capital of pastel Dutch colonial houses at Willemstad, and a leeward coast cut into a string of sheltered coves and white-sand beaches. What makes it one of the great cruising grounds is the combination — a fully protected natural base with customs, fuel and provisioning at the dock, and a coastline of turtle beaches, dive sites and an offshore island within an easy day's sail.

The sailing turns on dependable trade winds and flat, sheltered water. The leeward (west and south-west) coast is the cruising heart — calm in the lee of the island, with the steady easterly trades giving good reaching between anchorages. Offshore to the south-east lies Klein Curaçao, a small uninhabited island of white sand, an old lighthouse and turtle snorkelling — the signature day sail. And to windward lie the neighbours: Bonaire, about thirty nautical miles east, with its world-class marine park, and Aruba, further west — the makings of a longer voyage across the ABC islands.

We base our fleet at Spanish Water (Spaanse Water), on the sheltered south-east coast — a large, fully protected natural lagoon, the best base in the southern Caribbean. That choice is deliberate. From Spanish Water, every anchorage worth sailing to is within a comfortable day: Caracas Bay and the Tugboat wreck at two nautical miles, the beach clubs of Jan Thiel at four, Willemstad at seven, Playa Porto Mari at fourteen, Klein Curaçao at sixteen offshore, and Westpunt and the Blue Room cave at twenty-eight. The lagoon is flat water in any weather — customs, fuel and provisioning all to hand — and we clear out early each morning into the quiet of the coast.

This guide covers what a charter actually looks like — the season, the route, the anchorages one by one, the neighbouring islands, and the practical questions guests ask before they book. If you already know Curaçao and simply want to talk dates, the enquiry button works from anywhere on this page. If you are still deciding whether this is the right cruising ground for your week, read on.

A note on how charters here divide. A day charter is a single day out of Spanish Water — six to ten hours, a route shaped on the morning of, back to the lagoon by evening. It suits guests staying ashore on the island who want one day on the water, and it is the least expensive way to see the coast under sail. A term charter is a week aboard — seven nights at anchor along the coast or across to Bonaire, the yacht as the accommodation. It suits guests who want Curaçao to be the holiday rather than an excursion from it. Both run on the same fleet, with the same crew, from the same lagoon.

The sailing itself is forgiving and consistent. The water is protected in the lee of the island, so the seas inside the coast stay flat to moderate even when the trades are up, and the passages between anchorages are short. The offshore run to Klein Curaçao and the crossing to Bonaire are proper trade-wind sailing — fifteen to twenty-five knots on the beam — but from the deck of a crewed yacht, the timing and the conditions are somebody else's job to watch. It is a cruising ground that rewards first-time charter guests and seasoned sailors equally, which is not true of everywhere in the Caribbean.

What does not change between a day and a week is the kind of yacht and the kind of day. Our fleet is classic crewed sailing yachts — Cap II, a 77 ft CNB flagship; Flying Wing, a 75 ft classic; and SISU, a 37 ft entry yacht — each chartered privately, never by the seat, never sub-chartered out of region. The day is shaped around the guests aboard: where to anchor, how long to stay, when to sail. That is the Rex Sailing difference, and it is the same whether you are aboard for eight hours or seven nights.