Children are the reason to book private, and the reason to book carefully.
Private matters because a family’s day runs on its own clock. A two-year-old naps when they nap. A seven-year-old will snorkel the same patch of reef for forty minutes and refuse to get out. A teenager wants the slide. None of that fits a group tour’s timetable, and all of it is fine on a boat that belongs to you.
Careful matters because the sun, the ladder and the length of the day will decide whether everyone remembers this trip fondly.
Start with the length, not the boat
The most common mistake families make is booking seven hours because it is better value per hour. For children under about eight, four hours is usually the right trip. You get a sandbar, a snorkel stop and a beach, and you come in before anybody melts down.
The half-day private boat charter is $1,450 for up to six guests plus 12% government tax, with extra guests at $75. For a family of four or five, that is the whole boat with room to spread out.
Go full day when your youngest is comfortably over eight, or when you have two adults who can tag-team. Seven hours at $2,500 buys North and Middle Caicos, the barrier reef and a Caribbean meal cooked on board by a private chef — which for older children is a genuinely big day.
Which boat for which family
| Family | Boat | The reason |
|---|---|---|
| Two adults, two or three kids over 5 | Private boat | Fast in and out of the water. Everyone fits the base price. |
| Anyone with a baby or toddler | Luxury yacht | Air-conditioned interior for naps, onboard bathroom, shade that does not depend on where the sun is. |
| Teenagers | Catamaran with slide | The slide is the entire trip as far as they are concerned. |
| Two or three families together | Catamaran | Up to forty guests. The only boat that takes a group that size. |
| Grandparents travelling with you | Yacht or 65ft | Shade, a bathroom and an easier way into the water. |
The five things that actually make or break a family boat day
1. Shade
Caribbean sun at midday is not the sun most visitors are used to. Our boats have cover, but an open boat is an open boat: the shade moves, and on a four-hour trip somebody will end up in it and somebody will not. If you have fair-skinned children, or a baby, the luxury yacht‘s air-conditioned interior and shaded deck seating is worth the difference.
Whatever boat you are on: long-sleeved rash guards beat sunscreen reapplication, every time. Bring hats with chin straps, because the ones without go in the sea.
2. Getting in and out of the water
Small children do not climb boat ladders well, and neither do tired ones. Our crew lift children in and out all day, every day — that is part of what the crew is for, and it is one of the practical arguments for a private charter over a packed group boat where the crew are managing thirty people.
If getting in and out easily is the main worry, the 65ft Fairline has a hydraulic swim platform: you step onto it at sea level rather than climbing anything.
3. Snorkelling that suits a beginner
Child-sized masks, snorkels and fins are included on every charter. The thing that makes or breaks a first snorkel is not the gear, it is the site: calm, shallow, and plenty to look at within three metres of the surface.
Tell the captain it is a first time and the route changes. We will take you somewhere protected rather than somewhere impressive, and the impressive one can wait until they are confident. There is more in our on-the-water guides.
4. Food and drink
Island rum punch, beers, sodas, juice and water are included on every trip. The full-day charters add a chef-prepared Caribbean meal: jerk chicken, kabobs, snapper, ribs, peas and rice, mac and cheese, plantains, salad and fruit. Mac and cheese is on that list for a reason.
You are welcome to bring your own anything — specific snacks, formula, a birthday cake. Tell us and we will have cooler space ready.
5. Where you get on
We do beach pickup in front of your hotel, resort or villa. With children, this matters enormously: no taxi, no marina car park, no queueing at a dock with a toddler on your hip. You walk down the sand and step onto the boat.
If your accommodation has no water access, pickup moves to TCI Ferry or Turtle Cove Marina. Ask us which applies before you book so there are no surprises on the morning.
What a family half day looks like
Roughly: pickup from the beach, twenty minutes out to a sandbar where the water is waist-deep and children can stand in the middle of the ocean, an hour or so at a snorkel site, a beach stop, and home. Sometimes a stop at Little Water Cay, where the rock iguanas live, which is reliably the bit the children talk about afterwards.
The order changes. The captain reads the day — wind, swell, where the other boats are — and moves things around. That is the advantage of a boat with nobody else on it.
Common questions
Is there a minimum age?
No. We take babies and we take grandparents. Tell us ages when you enquire and we will tell you which boat we would recommend and what to bring.
Do children count toward the guest total?
Yes — capacity is people, not adults. A family of six is six guests, which the base price covers on the boat and the yacht.
Are there life jackets for children?
Yes, in child sizes. Tell us ages and weights in advance so the right sizes are aboard.
What if a child gets seasick?
On a private charter you say the word and the captain changes the plan — calmer water, an earlier stop, or in. The catamaran is noticeably steadier than a single-hull boat if anyone in the family is prone to it.
Can we shorten the trip if the children have had enough?
Yes. It is your boat. We would rather bring you in happy at three hours than keep you out for the fourth.
How do we book?
Send us your dates and the ages of everyone coming. We will come back with a boat recommendation and a full price including tax.
