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Indian Ocean

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Yacht charter in Indian Ocean

8 yachts available in Indian Ocean. Departing from 2 marinas. Prices from €3,854 per week.

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  • 8
    Yachts available
  • €3,854
    From / week
  • 2
    Marinas & bases

Practical info

Chartering from Indian Ocean: the basics

Departure marinas
2

Bases you can start the week from.

Licence needed?
Not always

8 boats here can be booked with a professional skipper, so no licence is required.

On the water

Sailing conditions in Indian Ocean

How you charter here
Usually with a skipper

102 of the 180 boats across the seven countries are skippered only — the highest share of any large basin we list. Reef-pass navigation and long distances are why.

Typical boat
Catamaran, 17.9 m

136 catamarans of 180, averaging 4.1 cabins with a 2017 build year. Shallow draught matters inside lagoons.

Where the fleet is
Eden Island, then the Maldives

103 boats at Eden Island in the Seychelles — over half the basin — and 35 around Malé and Hulhumalé. The other 42 are spread thinly across five countries.

Seasons do not align
The monsoon arrives at different times

The dry, steady half of the year is what you want, but the window shifts by a month or two between the Seychelles, the Maldives, East Africa and the Mascarenes. Check the country page.

Navigation
Eye-ball pilotage in good light

Reef passes and lagoon entrances rather than charted channels. Legs run mid-morning to mid-afternoon with the sun high.

Changeover day
Saturday or Sunday

158 boats on Saturday and 22 on Sunday. Prices start around €1,310.

Worth the detour

Where to drop anchor in Indian Ocean

  • 1

    The Seychelles inner islands

    103 boats at Eden Island and the only genuine bareboat market in the basin: Mahé, Praslin and La Digue sit close enough together for short hops, with granite boulders and shallow sand between them.

  • 2

    Praslin and La Digue

    Anse Lazio and Anse Source d'Argent are the beaches the Seychelles sells, and both are a short sail from Eden Island. The channel between the two islands is shallow and best crossed at height of tide.

  • 3

    The Seychelles outer islands

    Aldabra and the Amirantes are hundreds of miles from Mahé and permit-controlled. They are expedition territory, not a week from the marina.

  • 4

    The Maldives atolls

    35 boats around Malé. The week is a route between atolls with a crew, and the appeal is diving and surfing access rather than harbour-hopping — there are no towns to tie up in.

  • 5

    Zanzibar and Pemba

    The East African side, reached from Dar es Salaam. Stone Town is a World Heritage site and the monsoon winds here have names — kaskazi and kusi — that set the season.

  • 6

    Nosy Be and the Malagasy archipelagos

    Madagascar's north-west: the Radama and Mitsio groups, almost empty, with land-and-sea breezes rather than trades. Two crewed boats.

  • 7

    Mirissa

    Sri Lanka's whale-watching harbour, with 19 crewed day boats. One of the highest concentrations of blue whales anywhere — but a day on the water, not a week.

  • 8

    What this basin is not

    A chain you can island-hop end to end. The Seychelles and the Maldives are about 1,200 nautical miles apart. Pick one country and sail it properly.

Suggested routes

A week out of Indian Ocean

How an Indian Ocean week is shaped

7 days

Rather than one route — these seven countries span thousands of miles — this is the pattern that holds across the basin. The country pages carry the actual itineraries.

  1. 1

    Boarding, and a short first leg

    Provisioning is done for you on a crewed boat. Move one hop and anchor; nothing here rewards a long first day.

  2. 2

    Into the lagoon or between islands

    The first reef pass. Timed for high sun and, where it matters, for the tide.

  3. 3

    The far anchorage

    Most weeks reach their turning point early and then work back slowly. Distances look small and take longer than they should.

  4. 4

    A reef or park day

    Nearly every country here has managed marine areas with buoys, fees and in places a permit. The crew arranges them.

  5. 5

    Ashore

    A village, a market or a World Heritage town, depending where you are. The one day the boat is not the point.

  6. 6

    The return leg

    Back toward base with the trade wind, usually easier than the way out.

  7. 7

    Handover

    Saturday on most boats, Sunday on 22 of them.

Find a boat for this route

Before you book

Local rules and paperwork in Indian Ocean

Expect a skipper
102 of 180 boats are crewed. Where bareboat exists — mainly the Seychelles — operators ask for a sailing resume rather than a certificate. Elsewhere the crew comes with the boat and no qualification is needed from you.
Reef passes are the hazard
Not wind, not swell. Lagoon entrances are narrow and the charting is thin in places. Move in good light with the sun behind you, and take local advice over the chart where they disagree.
Marine parks and permits
Common, and country-specific. Buoy-only areas, per-person park fees and permit-limited islands all exist here. Several of the best places need arranging weeks ahead — ask when you enquire, not on arrival.
Check the season by country
There is no basin-wide answer. The monsoon turns at different times on different coasts. The country pages give the actual months; a date that is perfect in the Seychelles can be the wrong half of the year in Tanzania.
Do not plan to combine countries
The distances are oceanic. Roughly 1,200 nautical miles separate the Seychelles and the Maldives. Each country here is a holiday in itself.
Self-sufficiency
There is often nothing ashore. Outside the Seychelles' inner islands, provisioning, fuel and spares range from limited to absent. On a crewed boat this is handled; on a bareboat it is your planning problem.

Checked October 2026. Rules change — confirm the detail that matters for your trip when you book.

What is here

The Indian Ocean fleet at a glance

The fleet in Indian Ocean is made up of 8 motor yachts.

Most boats here are motor yachts, averaging 11.6 metres.

Weekly prices start in the €3,000 – €6,000 range, where 4 boats are listed.

Boats sleep between 4 and 6 guests, with cabins up to 3.

The most common size band is under 10 m, with 4 boats.

8 boats can be chartered with a skipper; 0 are available bareboat.

8
Motor yachts
from €3.854

Budget

Charter prices in Indian Ocean

Weekly rate, set by the operator. No booking fee.

Space on board

Boat sizes

Sleeping 4–6 guests

  • under 10 m 4
  • 10 – 13 m 1
  • 13 – 16 m 1
  • 16 – 20 m 2

Yachts in Indian Ocean

Puffer 2023

Puffer

Goa

7.34 m
From €551 / day €3.854 / week
Katy 2011

Katy

Goa

7.24 m
From €551 / day €3.854 / week

About the destination

Why charter from Indian Ocean

Across the seven countries that share this basin we list 180 boats, and the numbers describe a very particular kind of holiday: 136 catamarans, an average length of 17.9 metres, and 102 of the 180 sold with a crew. More than half the fleet here comes with a skipper, which is the highest proportion of any large basin in this guide.

That is not an accident of marketing. The Indian Ocean's cruising grounds are atolls and lagoons entered through reef passes, and the navigation is done by eye in good light rather than off a chart. Add the distances — the Seychelles' inner islands are a comfortable week, but almost everything else here is a long way from almost everything else — and a local skipper stops being a luxury.

The fleet is heavily concentrated. Eden Island in the Seychelles holds 103 boats on its own, more than half the basin, and it is the one base here that supports a genuine bareboat market with short hops between granite islands. The Maldives adds 35 around Malé and Hulhumalé, where the product is almost entirely crewed and the week is a route between atolls. The remaining 42 are spread across five countries in ones and tens, and those are day boats and expedition charters rather than weeks afloat — the country pages say which is which.

Seasons here do not move together, because the monsoon arrives at different times on different coasts. In broad terms the drier, steadier half of the year is what you want, and the specific window differs by a month or two between the Seychelles, the Maldives, East Africa and the Mascarenes. That is a country-page question rather than a basin-wide one.

Two scheduling notes: 22 of the 180 boats change over on a Sunday rather than a Saturday, and the price floor across the basin is about €1,310.

Charter bases

Marinas in Indian Ocean

Panaji port

6 yachts

Goa

View yachts

Mumbai Harbour

2 yachts

Mumbai

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Browse by type

What kind of yacht are you after?

Catamarans

Catamarans

137 available

Motor yachts

Motor yachts

39 available

Sailing yachts

Sailing yachts

4 available

Gulets

Gulets

1 available

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Our Indian Ocean listings include 8 motor yachts.
Weekly rates here fall mostly in the €3,000 – €6,000 range. Prices are set by the charter operator; we add no booking fee.

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