Amalfi Coast Yacht Charters

Your week begins at Marina d'Arechi just south of Salerno — 50 to 60 minutes from Capodichino airport by car, or a 1-hour-26-minute Frecciarossa direct from Rome's Termini station for guests routing through Rome. The marina takes catamarans and sailing yachts through 100 meters in 8 meters of water at the quay; the wide entrance and lower berthing rates compared to the Naples-side marinas make it the operational base for the catamaran end of this region's charter inventory. Your professional crew meets you at the slip with cold drinks and a chart briefing that frames the week ahead.

Mid-morning the captain slips lines for the gentle 6-nautical-mile run west to Cetara — the small fishing village tucked under the SS163 cliff road at the eastern end of the Costiera Amalfitana proper, and one of the few places on this coast that is still working as a fishing port rather than as a tourist destination. Lunch is on the small town quay or on board at anchor: anchovies are Cetara's calling card, and the village invented colatura di alici (a clear amber sauce produced from salt-cured anchovies, fermented and pressed) which has been made here since Roman times. Al Convento or Acqua Pazza for the formal version; the harborside grills for the casual.

After lunch a short 5-nautical-mile run further west takes you to Amalfi town. Marina Coppola at the harbor takes yachts up to 35 meters in 8 to 11 meters of water — the most sheltered berth on this stretch of coast, ten minutes' walk from the Cathedral of Sant'Andrea at the top of the town's main piazza. Evening: a long dinner at Eolo on the seafront or a simple grilled-fish trattoria off the main piazza, the cathedral lit up above the town and the harbor quiet by 23:00.

Ravello sits seven kilometers up the cliff above Amalfi — about twenty minutes by private driver up the SS373 hairpins. Half-day excursion: tender to the Pennello pier at 9:30, driver up the switchbacks, an hour at Villa Rufolo's gardens (the cantilevered Belvedere stage where the Ravello Festival has run every summer since 1953, and where Wagner wrote in the guestbook in 1880 that he'd found Klingsor's magic garden), then a short walk to Villa Cimbrone for the Belvedere of Infinity — the cliff-edge terrace lined with marble busts. Coffee in Piazza Duomo, back to the yacht in time for a 13:00 lunch.

Mid-afternoon the captain slips lines for the 13-nautical-mile run west around the tip of the Sorrento Peninsula to Nerano. The route hugs the coast — Praiano on the starboard side, the arched bridge over the Fiordo di Furore directly above as you pass under, the cliffs at Conca dei Marini and the Emerald Grotto's entrance buoys visible from the deck. By late afternoon the boat is anchored offshore Marina del Cantone in 8 to 15 meters of sand, the Sorrento Peninsula sheltering the bay from the north.

Evening: dinner at Lo Scoglio (Da Tommaso) — the family-run restaurant tucked into the hillside above the bay, with its own private wooden tender that runs from anchored yachts to the terrace. The order is set: spaghetti alla Nerano, grilled day-boat fish, a Greco di Tufo from the cellar. Lo Scoglio is one of the most-photographed restaurants on the Italian coast and Stanley Tucci's introduction in "Searching for Italy" made it more so — the concierge holds the table weeks in advance during peak season. Conca del Sogno at Recommone bay just east is the alternative, also boat-only, also runs its own tender shuttle.

The shortest passage of the week — a 5-nautical-mile hop across the Bocche di Capri from Nerano to Capri. Most weeks the captain stages it for late morning so the day-tripper ferries from Naples and Sorrento have already landed and the harbors are at their busiest before lunch. Capri is most enjoyable from the water in the late afternoon and evening; the boat angle handles the morning differently.

On the way in, the captain holds station off the Faraglioni rocks for the photographs, then anchors at Marina Piccola in 6 to 10 meters of sand on the south side or stern-tos at Marina Grande on the north for yachts up to 60 meters that have a berth booked in advance (the marina sells out months ahead in summer). Lunch is on the boat at anchor — the chef's spaghetti alle vongole or the day's catch grilled on the aft-deck plancha. Pasta-by-the-water in Italy isn't a cliché, it's the right thing to do.

The afternoon belongs to the Blue Grotto if conditions allow — a tender drop at the cave mouth on the northwest side of the island, and one of the grotto's wooden rowboats through the 80-centimeter opening. €18 per person, payable cash to the oarsmen, closed when the swell is up. Late afternoon as the day boats clear, the funicular up to the Piazzetta lands you in the heart of Capri Town for an evening walk before dinner. Mammà off the Piazzetta for one Michelin star, Aurora for the family-owned room with the long wine list, or Da Paolino under the lemon canopy at the foot of Monte Solaro for the iconic dinner-under-the-trees experience (booked weeks ahead in peak season).

Capri's reputation for being crowded comes from the day-trippers, and the yacht is the cheat code for getting around them. The standard play this morning is up early — chairlift to Monte Solaro at 8:00 AM before the first ferry from Sorrento has landed. The chair runs from Anacapri to the highest point on the island in twelve minutes, and from the summit you can see the whole Amalfi Coast laid out south and the Bay of Naples north. By 9:30, when the day boats are coming in, you're back at Anacapri for an espresso and a walk through Villa San Michele — Axel Munthe's villa-and-garden, built into the ruins of one of Tiberius's chapels in 1896.

Late morning, the tender drops you back at Marina Piccola where the catamaran is anchored in 6 to 10 meters on sand. The shallower-draft catamaran has a real advantage here — closer to shore, easier swim platform, more comfortable for the afternoon. Lunch on board, then the swim platform is open: snorkel along the cliff base, kayaks and paddleboards off the transom for the kids. Capri's Marina Piccola is famous for being the photo-postcard angle of the Faraglioni — the long lazy afternoon at anchor under the rocks is the entire point of being on a yacht here.

Late afternoon as the cruise crowd thins, the captain repositions the catamaran for an evening passage around the Faraglioni — the famous arch transit at Faraglione di Mezzo if the sea is flat enough — then back to Marina Piccola for sundowners on deck. Dinner is your call: La Fontelina under the rocks for the daytime spot, or back on the boat tonight for the chef's full evening setup. Le Grottelle near the Arco Naturale (closed Tuesdays, phone reservations only via +39 081 8375719) for guests wanting the off-the-tourist-track room.

Today is the longest passage of the week — an open 18-nautical-mile crossing northwest from Capri to Ischia across the Bocche di Capri. On a sailing yacht or catamaran with the right wind angle this is the day the canvas comes out — typically a beam reach in light-to-moderate summer breezes, with the cliffs of the Sorrento Peninsula falling off the stern and Ischia's volcanic flanks growing on the bow. In settled June and September weather it's a comfortable three-hour run; in shoulder months it's timed to the breeze direction.

Ischia is the largest of the Bay of Naples islands and the one with the longest history of being visited specifically for its thermal water — the springs that seep out of Mt. Epomeo's flanks have been drawing Romans, Bourbons, and twentieth-century film directors for two thousand years. Your captain's anchorage choice shapes the day. Casamicciola, on the north shore, is the better-protected bay and an easy tender hop to the thermal complex at Negombo (a private booking gets your group a dozen pools at different temperatures terraced into the hillside). Forio on the western coast is the choice for the late-afternoon sun and a quieter evening at anchor.

Late afternoon the catamaran repositions to the Castello Aragonese — the medieval fortress on its own islet off the eastern shore of Ischia, connected to the main island by a stone causeway. It's been continuously inhabited for 2,500 years, fortified into its current shape under the Aragonese in the 15th century, and it's the visual marker most charter clients carry away from Ischia. Dinner is on board at anchor, the silhouette of the Castello off the bow as the lights come on along the causeway.

A short 5-nautical-mile hop south takes you from Ischia to Procida — the smallest and most underrated of the Bay of Naples islands, the pastel-coloured one that turns up in every Italian-cinema postcard from the 1950s. Marina Corricella is the photographable side; Marina di Chiaiolella on the southwest is the protected anchorage. Mid-morning swim, an espresso at a kafeneion ashore in Corricella, lunch on the boat at anchor with the fishing fleet coming and going.

Mid-afternoon the captain slips lines for the 14-nautical-mile run southeast across the Bay of Naples to Sorrento. Vesuvius sits to port, the Sorrento Peninsula directly on the bow, the long gentle curve of the bay underneath. Late afternoon arrival at Sorrento's Marina Piccola — a small craft harbor shared with the public ferry pier, only suitable for yachts up to 40 meters and chronically congested in peak summer. The catamaran's 12-to-14-meter beam fits the visitor side of the marina; larger yachts anchor offshore and tender in.

Sorrento's old town climbs the cliff above the marina, and the Foreigners' Club terrace at the top is the right place for a sunset aperitivo before dinner. Il Buco for the one-Michelin-star room in the 16th-century monastery cellar five minutes from the marina; or fifteen minutes up the ridge to Sant'Agata for Don Alfonso 1890 — back to one Michelin star plus a green star after their 2025 sustainability renovation.

An 8-nautical-mile run east from Sorrento takes you back to Positano for a last morning on this stretch of coast. Yachts up to 50 meters pick up a buoy in the offshore mooring field maintained by the local cooperative — there's no marina at Positano, just the buoy field and the wooden jetty at Spiaggia Grande for tender landings. Mid-morning ashore: a short walk up the cliff steps to one of the small cafés along Via Cristoforo Colombo for an espresso, the dome of Santa Maria Assunta with its majolica tile catching the morning light, and a last look at the cliff-stack from the angle most photographs of this town can't reach from shore.

Back to the boat by 11:00, swim platform open one final time, lunch on board at the buoy. By early afternoon the captain is slipping the mooring line for the 12-nautical-mile run east along the coast back to Salerno. The route hugs the cliffs — Praiano, Furore's arched bridge, Conca dei Marini, Amalfi town from the water one last time, and the long final approach into Marina d'Arechi past the breakwater.

Disembarkation at Marina d'Arechi by mid-afternoon. Crew has the transfer arranged — direct to NAP for guests flying out the same day, or to Roma Termini via direct Frecciarossa from Salerno's Stadio Arechi station (1 hour 26 minutes to Rome, often easier than driving back to Naples). Many groups stretch the trip with a post-charter night in Salerno itself or a Pompeii day on the way back to Naples — both 30 minutes by car from the marina.

Your week begins at Porto di Mergellina in Naples — ten minutes from Capodichino airport (NAP), with the Castel dell'Ovo silhouette across the bay and the headland of Posillipo above. Larger motor yachts above 75 meters embark instead at Marina di Stabia at Castellammare, twenty-five minutes south of NAP and the largest superyacht facility in the Bay of Naples. Either way, your professional crew meets you at the slip with cold drinks and a chart briefing that frames the week ahead. Many groups arrive a day early and stage Pompeii on the buffer day — 30 minutes from either marina by car, with a private archaeologist guide booked weeks in advance to walk the site as the 9:00 AM gates open.

Mid-morning the captain slips lines for the 12-nautical-mile run southwest to Procida — the smallest of the Bay of Naples islands and the right place to start the week. Procida has none of Capri's intensity and none of Ischia's spa-day traffic. Marina di Chiaiolella, the protected bay on the island's southwest side, is where the captain anchors for the afternoon.

On a 35-meter-plus motor yacht the boat itself is most of the day — the swim platform comes off the transom, the chef sets a long welcome lunch on the aft deck, the water toys come out, and the bay holds quietly through the afternoon. Dinner is on board at anchor; the chef's welcome menu, a Greco di Tufo from the cellar, and the lights of Marina Corricella across the water as the harbor settles for the night.

A short 5-to-7-nautical-mile hop takes you from Procida to Ischia, the largest of the Bay of Naples islands. The thermal springs on Mt. Epomeo's volcanic flanks have been drawing visitors for two thousand years, and the spa culture is still the island's calling card. Your captain's choice of anchorage shapes the day — Casamicciola for the better-protected bay and an easier tender to Negombo's terraced thermal pools, or Forio on the western coast for the late-afternoon sun and a quieter evening at anchor.

If your group wants the spa morning, a private booking at Negombo or Poseidon Gardens gets you a dozen pools at different temperatures in the hillside; both are walk-from-the-tender. If you'd rather stay on the boat, the snorkel kit comes off the swim platform and the chef sets a long lunch on the aft deck. Larger motor yachts are most of the day — flybridge for cocktails, beach club for the afternoon, formal dinner setting on the aft deck.

Late afternoon, the captain repositions to the Castello Aragonese — the medieval fortress on its own islet off the eastern shore of Ischia, fortified into its current shape under the Aragonese in the 15th century and the visual marker most charter clients carry away from Ischia. Dinner is on board at anchor, the silhouette of the Castello off the bow as the lights come on along the causeway.

Today is the longest passage of the week — an open 18-nautical-mile crossing south from Ischia to Capri. On a 35-meter-plus motor yacht this is comfortable inside two hours; the cliffs of the Sorrento Peninsula grow on the bow and the Bay of Naples falls off the stern. Most weeks the crossing happens during late breakfast on the aft deck.

Capri appears as a single steep limestone wall, then resolves into the two harbors on either side of the island. Marina Grande on the north shore is the only marina that takes overnight stern-to berths up to 60 meters — book months ahead in summer. Marina Piccola on the south side is the day anchorage in 6 to 10 meters of sand. Your captain's choice depends on yacht size, weather, and how the next day is staged. On the way in, the captain holds station off the Faraglioni for the photographs, then noses around for the famous arch passage at Faraglione di Mezzo when the sea is flat enough.

The Capri play starts now. The day-tripper ferries from Naples and Sorrento land between 9:30 and 11:00 in the morning and clear out between 16:00 and 18:00. Your captain's plan is to be in the harbor by mid-afternoon, get you ashore for a quiet stroll up the funicular to the Piazzetta around 17:00 once the cruise crowd has thinned. Dinner at L'Olivo at the Capri Palace up in Anacapri (the only two-Michelin-star room on the island) or Mammà off the Piazzetta for the one-star option, and back aboard for a quiet night.

Up early — chairlift to Monte Solaro at 8:00 AM before the first ferry from Sorrento has landed. The chair runs from Anacapri to the highest point on the island in twelve minutes, and from the summit you can see the whole Amalfi Coast laid out south and the Bay of Naples north. By 9:30, when the day boats are coming in, you're back at Anacapri for an espresso and a walk through Villa San Michele — Axel Munthe's villa-and-garden, built into the ruins of one of Tiberius's chapels in 1896.

Late morning, the tender drops you back at the boat where the captain has anchored at Marina Piccola in 6 to 10 meters on sand. Lunch is on board at anchor. On a 35-meter-plus motor yacht the lunch service is the formal setting — the chef's tasting menu, a Capri-cellar bottle, the swim platform dropped after coffee. Capri's Marina Piccola is famous for being the photo-postcard angle of the Faraglioni — the long lazy afternoon at anchor under the rocks is the entire point of being on a yacht here.

The afternoon belongs to the Blue Grotto if conditions allow — a tender drop at the cave mouth on the northwest side of the island, and one of the grotto's wooden rowboats through the 80-centimeter opening. €18 per person, payable cash to the oarsmen, closed when the swell is up. By late afternoon the day boats have cleared and the island settles. Dinner is your call: Da Paolino under the lemon canopy at the foot of Monte Solaro (booked weeks ahead during peak season), Mammà off the Piazzetta, or back on the boat for an evening at anchor with the Faraglioni framing the cockpit.

A short 5-nautical-mile hop east takes you from Capri to Nerano. The captain anchors offshore Marina del Cantone in 8 to 15 meters of sand, and Lo Scoglio runs its own wooden tender from anchored yachts to its terrace at the foot of the village. The order is set: spaghetti alla Nerano, grilled day-boat fish, a Greco di Tufo from the cellar. By August the bay is a parking lot of 30-meter motor yachts at midday — the concierge holds the table months ahead.

After lunch the swim platform is open in Recommone Bay just east of the main beach, sheltered from the boat traffic and quieter than Marina del Cantone proper. Mid-afternoon the captain repositions for the 8-nautical-mile run east along the coast to Positano. The approach is the angle of Positano most photographs of this town can't reach from shore — the cliff-stack of pastel houses cascading down to Spiaggia Grande, the dome of Santa Maria Assunta with its majolica tile catching the late sun.

Positano has no marina — yachts up to 50 meters pick up a buoy 300 to 400 meters offshore in the cooperative-managed mooring field and tender guests in to the wooden jetty at Spiaggia Grande. Dinner is on shore tonight: La Sponda at Le Sirenuse for the one-Michelin-star room with the lemon-tree-and-candlelight terrace, or Zass at Il San Pietro a tender ride east of Positano with its own private sea-level dock and a cliff elevator up to the dining room. Back aboard at the buoy by 23:00, lights of Positano stacked above the cockpit.

The shortest passage of the week — a 6-nautical-mile run east along the coast from Positano to Amalfi, with two stops along the way that the round-trip itineraries skip. First stop, mid-morning: the Fiordo di Furore, a 25-meter pebble cove under the SS163 arched stone bridge. The mothership stands off, the tender threads under the bridge for a swim and photographs. Twenty minutes, not lunch — there's no dock and no taverna at Furore, just the cleft under the arch. The bridge itself is photographed as much as anything else on this coast.

Second stop, late morning: Conca dei Marini and the Emerald Grotto. The yacht anchors in the bay; the tender carries guests to the floating ticket booth at the cave mouth, where one of the grotto's small wooden rowboats takes you in through the 80-centimeter cave opening — the only way in, since no tender or larger boat will fit. €10 per person, payable cash. The grotto's interior light is the same emerald color as the Blue Grotto's blue, generated by the same effect — sunlight refracted through a submerged opening. Hours are roughly 09:00 to 15:00 daily, closed when the sea is up.

Mid-afternoon arrival at Amalfi town. Marina Coppola at the harbor takes yachts up to 35 meters in 8 to 11 meters of water — sheltered, ten minutes' walk from the Cathedral of Sant'Andrea. Yachts above 35 meters anchor offshore and tender in. Half-day Ravello shore excursion if your group hasn't done it yet — tender to the Pennello pier, twenty-minute private driver up the SS373 hairpins, an hour at Villa Cimbrone's Belvedere of Infinity, and back down for a 13:00 lunch on board. Dinner ashore: Eolo on Amalfi's seafront for the harborside view, or Rossellinis at Palazzo Avino back up in Ravello for the one-Michelin-star room with the cliff terrace.

A last slow breakfast at anchor in the shadow of the Amalfi cathedral, a final swim off the swim platform if the morning is warm enough, and the captain slips lines for the 12-to-15-nautical-mile run east along the coast from Amalfi to Salerno. The route is one of the most underrated stretches on this charter ground — the cliffs of Conca dei Marini and Praiano fall behind, the Maiori and Vietri sul Mare coastline opens to port, and the Gulf of Salerno widens toward the long curve of the Cilento Coast on the southern horizon.

Most weeks the captain runs this leg through lunch on board — the chef's farewell plate, a final glass of the cellar's best, and Marina d'Arechi's breakwater growing into focus by the time dessert is cleared. The marina takes yachts up to 100 meters in 8 meters of water at the quay — the southernmost charter base in the Bay of Naples region and the only one on the Amalfi side that handles full superyacht infrastructure.

Disembarkation by mid-afternoon. The crew has the transfer arranged — direct to NAP for guests flying out the same day (50–60 minutes by car via the A3), or to Salerno's Stadio Arechi station for the Frecciarossa direct to Rome's Termini in as little as 1 hour 26 minutes. Many groups stage the post-charter day differently than they would on a Naples round-trip — onward to Pompeii via Naples, a Cilento Coast extension south, or a Capri-Amalfi-Pompeii overnight in Sorrento before flying home. Your captain and chef will step off the boat already talking about when you're coming back, which is usually how the good ones end.

The week starts at Mergellina. Ten minutes from the airport, tucked under the Posillipo headland with the Castel dell'Ovo silhouette across the bay — the marina you've seen in every photograph of Naples ever taken. Your crew meets you at the slip with cold drinks and the chart briefing. The chef finishes provisioning while a steward settles your luggage into cabins and walks you through the boat. (Larger yachts above 75 meters embark instead at Marina di Stabia twenty-five minutes south of NAP — same welcome, bigger boat.)

By late morning the captain is slipping lines. Twelve nautical miles southwest across the Bay of Naples to Procida — the smallest and most underrated of the bay's islands. The afternoon's a quiet shakedown reach: the Posillipo cliffs falling off the stern, the pastel waterfront of Marina Corricella growing on the bow. Warm air, blue water, the city already gone. The kind of opening leg that resets your nervous system inside the first hour.

Procida has none of Capri's intensity and none of Ischia's spa traffic. The fishing fleet still comes in here at dusk. The yellow-and-pastel houses turn up in every Italian-cinema postcard from the 1950s. The captain anchors at Marina di Chiaiolella — the protected bay on the island's southwest side — and the swim platform comes off the transom. Your first dinner is on board at anchor: the chef's welcome plate, a Campanian white from the lower slopes of Vesuvius, the lights of Marina Corricella across the water as the harbor settles.

A short 5-to-7-nautical-mile hop takes you from Procida to Ischia, the largest of the Bay of Naples islands and the one with the longest history of being visited specifically for its water. The thermal springs that seep out of Mt. Epomeo's volcanic flanks have been drawing Romans, Bourbons, and twentieth-century film directors to Ischia for two thousand years, and the spa culture is still the island's calling card. Your captain's choice of anchorage shapes the day — Casamicciola for its better-protected bay and easier tender access to the thermal complex at Negombo, or Forio on the western coast for the late-afternoon sun and the view back across the bay toward Procida.

If your group wants the spa morning, the standard play is a private booking at Negombo or Poseidon Gardens — both are walk-from-the-tender, both have a dozen pools at different temperatures terraced into the hillside, and both are open through October. If you'd rather stay on the boat, the snorkel kit comes off the swim platform and the chef sets a long lunch on the aft deck with the shoreline drifting past. The water in May, June, and September is in the low 70s; by mid-July it's pushing 80°F.

Late afternoon, the captain repositions to the Castello Aragonese — the medieval fortress sitting on its own islet off the eastern shore of Ischia, connected to the main island by a stone causeway. It's been continuously inhabited for 2,500 years, fortified into its current shape under the Aragonese in the 15th century, and it's the visual marker most charter clients carry away from Ischia. Dinner is on board at anchor, the silhouette of the Castello off the bow as the lights come on along the causeway.

Today is the longest passage of the week — an open 18-nautical-mile crossing south from Ischia to Capri across the Bocche di Capri, the wide channel that separates the Bay of Naples from the Amalfi side. Your captain plans it around the morning forecast. In settled June and September weather it's a smooth two-hour run; in shoulder months with weather behind it the crossing is timed to the breeze direction. Either way it's the only meaningful piece of open water on the week, and most weeks it goes by during late breakfast on the aft deck.

Capri appears on the bow as a single steep limestone wall, then resolves into the two harbors on either side of the island — Marina Grande on the north shore (the working harbor and the only marina that takes overnight stern-to berths up to 60 meters), and Marina Piccola on the south side under the Faraglioni rocks (a sand-bottom anchorage in 6 to 10 meters, sheltered from the north only). Your captain's choice depends on yacht size, weather, and how the next morning is staged. Either way the photographs everyone wants come on the way in: the captain holds station off the Faraglioni for ten minutes while the tender comes around for the angles, and the famous arch-passage between Faraglione di Mezzo's two rocks happens only when the sea is flat enough.

The strategy for Capri starts now. The day-tripper ferries from Naples and Sorrento land between 9:30 and 11:00 in the morning and clear out between 16:00 and 18:00. Your captain's plan is to be in the harbor by mid-afternoon, get you ashore for a quiet stroll up the funicular to the Piazzetta around 17:00 once the cruise crowd has thinned, dinner at Mammà off the Piazzetta or at L'Olivo up in Anacapri (the only two-Michelin-star room on the island, booked weeks in advance), and back aboard for a quiet night at the Marina Grande quay or at anchor at Marina Piccola.

Capri's reputation for being crowded comes from the day-trippers, and the yacht is the cheat code for getting around them. The standard play this morning is up early — chairlift to Monte Solaro at 8:00 AM before the first ferry from Sorrento has landed. The chair runs from Anacapri to the highest point on the island in twelve minutes, and from the summit you can see the whole Amalfi Coast laid out south and the Bay of Naples north. By 9:30, when the day boats are coming in, you're back at Anacapri for an espresso and a walk through Villa San Michele — Axel Munthe's villa-and-garden, built into the ruins of one of Tiberius's chapels in 1896, with the cloister open through October.

Late morning, the tender drops you back at Marina Piccola where the captain has anchored in 6 to 10 meters on sand. Lunch is on board at anchor — the chef's spaghetti alle vongole or the day's catch from the Capri fish market grilled on the aft-deck plancha. Pasta-by-the-water in Italy isn't a clichรฉ, it's the right thing to do. After lunch the swim platform is open: snorkel along the cliff base, or let the captain bring the tender around to the Grotta Verde and the smaller sea caves on the south side that the day-tripper boats don't reach.

The afternoon belongs to the Blue Grotto if conditions allow — a tender drop at the cave mouth on the northwest side of the island, and one of the grotto's wooden rowboats through the 80-centimeter opening. €18 per person, payable cash to the oarsmen, closed when the swell is up. By late afternoon the day boats have cleared and the island settles. Dinner is your call: Da Paolino under the lemon canopy at the foot of Monte Solaro (booked weeks ahead during peak season), Mammà off the Piazzetta, or back on the boat for an evening at anchor with the Faraglioni framing the cockpit.

A short 5-nautical-mile hop east takes you from Capri to Nerano, the bay tucked behind the tip of the Sorrento Peninsula and the lunch capital of this coast. The captain anchors offshore in 8 to 15 meters of sand, and Lo Scoglio runs its own wooden tender from anchored yachts to its terrace at the foot of the village — the same boat made famous by Stanley Tucci's "Searching for Italy." The order is set in stone: spaghetti alla Nerano (invented at Maria Grazia further down the beach, but Lo Scoglio's version is the one that keeps people coming back), grilled day-boat fish, a Greco di Tufo from the cellar. Booked weeks ahead in summer; the concierge holds the table.

After lunch the swim platform is open in Recommone Bay just east of the main beach, sheltered from the boat traffic and quieter than Marina del Cantone proper. Mid-afternoon the captain repositions for the 8-nautical-mile run east along the coast to Positano. The approach is the angle of Positano most photographs of this town can't reach from shore — the cliff-stack of pastel houses cascading down to Spiaggia Grande, the dome of Santa Maria Assunta with its majolica tile catching the late sun, the cliffs falling vertically into water deep enough that yachts pick up a buoy in the offshore mooring field maintained by the local cooperative.

Positano has no marina — yachts up to 50 meters pick up a buoy 300 to 400 meters offshore and tender guests in to the wooden jetty at Spiaggia Grande. The captain coordinates with the cooperative on arrival; reservations matter in peak season. Dinner is on shore tonight: La Sponda at Le Sirenuse for the one-Michelin-star room with the lemon-tree-and-candlelight terrace (reservations open 60 days out at 3:00 PM Italy time and book within minutes), or Zass at Il San Pietro a tender ride east of Positano with its own private sea-level dock and a cliff elevator up to the dining room. Back aboard at the buoy by 23:00, lights of Positano stacked above the cockpit.

The shortest day of the week — a 5-to-6-nautical-mile run east along the coast from Positano to Amalfi town. The captain's tempo is slow on purpose. Mid-morning departure with the cliffs of Praiano and the arched stone bridge over the Fiordo di Furore on your starboard side, a possible swim stop in the cove east of Praiano if the morning is settled. Marina Coppola at Amalfi takes yachts up to 35 meters in 8 to 11 meters of water — the most sheltered berth on this stretch of coast, ten minutes' walk from the Cathedral of Sant'Andrea at the top of the town's main piazza.

Amalfi was a maritime republic in the 9th century — a peer of Venice, Pisa, and Genoa with its own currency and trading network across the Mediterranean. The cathedral, dedicated to St. Andrew the Apostle (Peter's brother, one of the twelve), sits at the top of 62 stone steps above the main piazza. The relics were brought from Constantinople in 1206 after the Fourth Crusade and have been in the crypt under the silver-urn altar ever since. The façade you see now is a late-19th-century Norman-Arab-Byzantine reconstruction; the cathedral itself has roots in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Ravello sits seven kilometers up the cliff above Amalfi — about twenty minutes by private driver up the SS373 hairpins. Half-day excursion: tender to the Pennello pier at 9:30, driver up the switchbacks, an hour at Villa Rufolo's gardens (the Wagner-and-Klingsor villa where the Ravello Festival has run every summer since 1953), then a short walk to Villa Cimbrone for the Belvedere of Infinity — the cliff-edge terrace lined with marble busts that turns up in every Amalfi photograph ever taken. Coffee in Piazza Duomo, back to the yacht for a 13:00 lunch, afternoon swim, dinner ashore at Eolo on Amalfi's seafront or Rossellinis at Palazzo Avino back up in Ravello (one Michelin star) for groups making it a longer evening up top.

A last slow breakfast on deck in the shadow of the Amalfi cathedral, a final swim off the swim platform if the morning is warm enough, and the captain slips lines for the 13-nautical-mile run west to Sorrento. The route hugs the coast, passing the Bay of Salerno on the stern, the cliffs at Praiano and Conca dei Marini on the bow. Sorrento's Marina Piccola is shared with the public ferry pier — your tender lands you at the small craft dock and a five-minute walk uphill puts you in the old town for a final cliff-top espresso at the Foreigners' Club terrace.

From Sorrento it's a 14-nautical-mile crossing back across the Bay of Naples to Mergellina, with Vesuvius growing on the bow and the Posillipo headland off the starboard side. Most weeks the captain runs this leg through lunch on board — the chef's farewell plate, a final glass of the cellar's best, and the silhouette of the Castel dell'Ovo growing into focus by the time dessert is cleared.

Disembarkation at Mergellina by mid-afternoon. The crew has the transfer arranged — direct to NAP for guests flying out the same day, or to a hotel in Naples or onward to Rome via the Frecciarossa from Napoli Centrale (just over an hour to Roma Termini). The Pompeii ruins are 30 minutes by car from Mergellina if your flight isn't until evening; many groups make Pompeii the post-charter day rather than the pre-charter one. Your captain and chef will step off the boat already talking about when you're coming back, which is usually how the good ones end.