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Owners of Calliope
Length: 32.5m
Year: 20§8
Location: Istanbul
Getting excited?
Fingers crossed, we’ll be taking possession of our new Numarine 32XP expedition yacht very soon. There have been a few delays, and my husband is now in Istanbul trying to speed things along. We’ve got six guests joining us in Capo d’Orlando, Sicily in early August so hopefully it will all come together for that
Any hiccups along the way?
Well, we have just found out the container in Fort Lauderdale that we filled with china, flatware, towels and even jet skis didn’t make it on to the transporter and will be arriving in Turkey two weeks later than we thought – and even that’s not guaranteed. So it might be paper plates for a week or two. We’ve been smuggling bed linen over on various trips during the last year, so at least we’ve got that
How’s the boat looking?
We found a fabulous designer in Newport – Cheryl DiGennaro from Newport Yacht Interiors. She also did Pete Townshend’s yacht Gloria. I’m thrilled how beautiful the textiles came out. I’ve made two trips over to Turkey during the build and my husband has made countless. We’ve had a great time in the spice markets and have a million photos of the yacht during its build
So where to first?
Our plan is to start in the Aeolians, then follow the coast until late September, stopping along the Amalfi Coast, the French Riviera and finishing up in the Balearics. We can’t wait!
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Bill Jesse
Yacht: First Home
Length: 28m
Year: 1988
Location: Exumas
How’s the boat?
Great, but as a beautiful 30-year-old, First Home is always having work done. With older yachts I think there are two types of owner: those who spend less to get maximum volume for their money but do bare bones maintenance, and those who are looking to preserve and enhance an older classic. My wife Jessica and I fall into the latter category. First Home was built in 1988 – she’s the famous Tom Fexas hull design and the model was in build for over 20 years. We acquired her 13 years ago and did a “down to the studs” rebuild, converting her from a marina yacht to a beach yacht. After cruising her in Baja, California, we moved her to Fort Lauderdale in 2013
You’re big fans of the Exumas. What do you love about it?
We love that there is basically nothing there except the natural beauty of the cays and the sea. Of course there are pockets of civilisation on Highbourne Cay and Staniel Cay, but most of the northern Exumas are a natural paradise. The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park does an amazing job on very limited resources of preserving a broad swathe of the chain while still permitting access. There are many places where you can tuck in virtually privately, even in high season, and have a wonderful quiet spot. You do need to have a shallow draught as anything more than two metres starts to become very limiting. We love going in the summer – we go there to cool down! The summer is also quieter and more private. Having said all of that, we are noticing in recent years much more traffic based on large fast multi-outboard excursion boats. Some of the unique charms of the chain are losing their lustre. For example, the famous swimming pigs at Big Major’s Spot rarely need to swim anymore now that there are tons of folks on the beach feeding them corn chips
Have you got a favourite spot to land the tender?
We always enjoy the “lazy river” between Shroud Cay and Hawksbill Cay. You need to go at low tide, hike to the east side of the cut and then let the flood tide float you down through sands back on to the Exuma Bank. At the north end of Shroud Cay is an amazing creek that cuts through dense mangroves completely across the cay. Think Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the African Queen
What’s your sundowner of choice?
We try to invent special drinks every evening. Sometimes they might celebrate an event, sometimes just a location. On our last trip it was our son Charles’s birthday. Charles is a collector of Gundams, a robot toy, so the chef created the Gundam Punch. Quite tasty, and potent. In the absence of something special Jessica will usually opt for a Ketel One Martini and I’ll do a G&T with Bombay Sapphire and Fever-Tree tonic water
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Malcolm Watkins & Peter Kerr
Yacht: IV Three
Length: 24m
Year: 2012
Location: Melbourne
Congratulations on the sale of Elettra
Thank you. We’ll miss our Perini (above) – she was originally built for Fabio Perini, founder of the shipyard. We cruised her all over the Western Med and put her through ongoing refits, but we’ve decided to close the chapter on the Mediterranean for a few years. We’ll be back, and when we do we have a goal of doing it in a “recently new” Perini if a good example becomes available. It’ll be around 40 metres with a few permanent crew. This will open up the Caribbean and Bahamas
How are you getting your fix in the meantime?
We’re going to cruise our home country of Australia. We bought an Ocean Alexander 78 long-range cruiser a year ago to keep locally so we could jump on it whenever we wanted. We are hoping to take her all the way up the east coast into the Coral Sea this coming summer and ultimately over the top of Australia into the Gulf of Carpentaria – when the cyclone season ends, of course. It’s really exciting and we’re getting her in shape now for the coming Southern Hemisphere summer, when we’ll do some shakedown cruises to Tasmania. We can’t quite quit the Med, though, and will be heading north for the Cannes Yachting Festival to take a look at all the new boats
Photography: Adobe Stock; Courtesy of owners. Map: Jing-Zhang