Yacht
Joanne’s secret, when it comes to speed, is that she is a jet boat. She has a deep-V hull (sort of like an upside-down paper hat) that carves through the water and keeps her bow above the ocean at full speed. Most other motoryachts Joanne’s size have displacement hulls, which push through the water instead of getting on top of it. It’s faster to cruise over something than to go through it, hence Joanne’s ability to leave other 120-footers in her wake.

With more speed tends to come a lack of control, a problem Joanne’s designers solved by giving her a deep-V hull that is carried all the way back aft. This gives the captain more maneuvering control than he would have on a high-speed boat where the deep-V hull gives way to a flat surface at the boat’s stern. Think of a water ski with a fin, compared with a flat snow ski. The snow ski may let you go faster, but it won’t let you carve turns the way a water ski will.

That same principle is what helps Joanne’s captain zip through the water without, well, wiping out the crew and guests. Just don’t expect him to be able to conserve much fuel on your charter; the yacht’s engines guzzle the stuff—and your expense budget—faster than most other yachts out there.

Crew
Capt. Dan Webster is the kind of guy who just plain belongs in the Bahamas. After decades spent working on yachts in the charter industry, he knows the world’s premiere cruising grounds as well as he knows his own back yard—and yet the Exumas remain his favorite place to be. This works out well for charter guests, because Dan takes you to all of the hidden-away coves and beaches that he’s scouted over the years, but that other charter captains have yet to find. If you want gorgeous tropical settings all to yourself, Dan’s the man to get you there.

The rest of Joanne’s crew is equally amiable, and though they may move to other yachts before you read this, we can honestly report that we would trust this captain’s opinion on hiring not only a vacation yacht’s staff, but even our own personal housekeepers. He’s not going to stand for anyone who refuses to muster a smile under even the toughest of circumstances, and we feel confident that no matter whom he has working for him when you step onboard, they’ll take terrific care of you.

Chef
Jennifer Morden grew up on a farm in Michigan and learned to cook with whatever the family’s garden offered. Her mother owned a bed and breakfast, and her sister owned a restaurant. She took what lessons they gave her and capped them with a degree from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in Massachusetts, all of which help her make the best possible meals in remote places like the Exumas, where ingredients can be hard to come by.

 “I cook pretty simple,” she says. “I don’t think it has to be complicated.”

Everything she served us was wonderful, from the butternut squash soup to the Kahlua tiramisu. But the recipe we all wanted most was for an appetizer Morden whipped up using only what was available ashore. Off the top of her head, she called it Raspberry-Spinach Salad.

Here’s how it’s done:

• Puree a package of frozen raspberries with sugar to your personal taste.
• Cook the mixture, strain it, and set it aside.
• Use raspberry vinegar as the base of your dressing, combining whatever amount you need with a package of Splenda, two tablespoons of honey, and salt, pepper and olive oil to taste.
• Mix in about two tablespoons of the frozen raspberry/sugar blend.
• Toss the dressing over fresh spinach leaves with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, diced celery, sliced red grapes and orange slices.

Enjoy!

Accommodations
Joanne was built in 1991, and though she has been well-kept and refit to keep her looking good inside and out, her layout is of yesteryear. That’s a good thing if your charter party is two couples with children looking to split the bill, because Joanne lacks the grandiose master cabin onboard so many new builds today. In its place, she has two equally sized queen-berth staterooms on the bottom deck along with two identical twin-bed cabins.

All five adults in our party were perfectly comfortable in all the guest cabins, which means you can also expect few complaints from grown-ups who end up in the twin-berth staterooms.

Destination
A lot of vacationers bypass the Bahamas for the Caribbean, thinking the former too close to home to be at all beautiful or enchanting. It’s simply not true. The Exumas section of the Bahamas, where we were, is one of the most gorgeous cruising grounds on the planet, with clear, shallow waters and virtually no cruise ships or crowds, anywhere.

A must-see stop is Big Majors island, home to a couple of wild pigs that yachties have been feeding over the years.  The big one called Emily will walk right off the beach and into the surf to meet your dinghy—and you’d better have some raw veggies for her, lest she try to climb inside the little boat and find them herself.

When you’re done going hog wild, you can enjoy any of the pristine beaches that the Exumas offer. In many cases—especially during the months of March and April, before the big summer tourism season—you’ll have the entire stretches of sand all to yourself.