A Floating Hotel: Boat and Breakfast
The nation is home to thousands of bed-and-breakfasts. But a boat and breakfast? Try the city dock in Annapolis, Maryland or the waterfront in Newport Beach, California. As a matter of fact, so many boat owners are welcoming visitors for a night's lodging on their docked sailboats and yachts that there is even a national directory of floating bed and breakfasts.
A Night in Annapolis
The schooner Woodwind, a 74-foot sailing yacht tied up in front of an Annapolis hotel, offers a night on board after a two-hour sail past the U.S. Naval Academy and into the Chesapeake Bay. Of course, breakfast is included.
On a clear night, the Woodwind, piloted by veteran sailor Jennifer Brest or her dad Ken Kaye, sails back just as a big red sun is easing behind the statehouse dome. Brest, a marketing graduate from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is one of three family members who own the Woodwind. Her mother, Ellen, and Kaye, both retired Connecticut teachers, have sailed the Chesapeake for eight years and the waters of New England for decades before that.
But they are not just sailors. They are floating hoteliers.
How are they doing?
"My boyfriend is a sailor, but I had never stayed on a sailboat," says a guest, Rachel Gossage of Brooklyn. She concedes that the room is not expansive, just large enough for a bed. "You definitely have to like each other-almost be in love," she says.
The boat sleeps eight guests, two to a cabin. If more than six people are aboard, the captain and a crew member must spend the night too. A breakfast at 8:30 is part of the package and guests leave at 9 AM.
Although the boat is small, compared to a hotel facility, conditions are civilized. But Ken Kaye points out, "The main function is to sail and fit things into the existing space. With a house, you say how much room do I need? With a sailboat, how much speed do I want?"
Yachting in California
Vili Boyadjiev rents out a fleet of yachts tied up at the pier in gold-plated Newport Beach, 45 miles south of Los Angeles. She doesn't own any of them but the owners let her book them for dockside B & Bs. If you want to leave port with a captain aboard, that's extra. Most of the customers seem content to spend the day dockside. As one guest, David Schwartz of Sherman Oaks puts it, "It's certainly an entirely different kind of experience, right on the water, very luxurious."
"The name boat and breakfast could lead you to believe that we are similar to a bed and breakfast," Boyadjiev says, "but that couldn't be further from the truth. This is far from a small room with no view with rolls and coffee in the morning. This is an unforgettable experience that will take you far from the troubles and pressures of everyday life."
Guests have the run of the yacht and a panoramic view of the harbor
The boats range from 35 to 85 feet in length and come equipped with private showers. The beach is only six blocks away. Boyadjiev, a perpetual motion machine who works long hours, personally delivers breakfast to each boat in the morning.
It's easy, as one visitor remarked, to pretend to passersby that the boat is really yours. Boyadjiev does everything she can to encourage that feeling. "Let us help you realize [the] fantasy of owning your own private yacht," she says. "If only for a night, nothing can compare to this."
B&B Websites
Schooner Woodwind, a sailboat in Annapolis harbor.
Bed and Breakfast Afloat, a national directory of floating hotels.
