A night at anchor: what actually happens

The evening

Boarding is around six, which in winter means you leave the Marina in daylight and lose it on the way out. The run to the anchorage takes about twenty minutes — behind the Palm crescent most nights, or in the lee of the World Islands if the forecast suits.

The anchor goes down, the engines go off, and the difference is startling. Dubai is four kilometres away and completely silent. Most people spend the first half hour just registering that.

Dinner, and the part nobody predicts

Dinner is served at anchor by arrangement — brought aboard before you board, held, and served on the aft deck or at the saloon table. There is no rush and nowhere to be, which is a stranger feeling on a boat than it sounds.

The thing nobody predicts is the swimming. Getting into flat black water four kilometres offshore, with the deck lights on and the skyline in the distance, is the part every group ends up talking about. It happens around ten most nights.

The night itself

Deck lights go off around midnight. Crew sleep aboard and keep an anchor watch, which means someone is awake or on alarm all night — the boat swings on its anchor and that has to be monitored.

The generator runs continuously for air conditioning and charging. It is audible below and it is the main reason people either sleep well or do not. Cabins are yacht cabins: comfortable, air-conditioned, and smaller than a hotel room. Anyone expecting a floating hotel suite will be disappointed, and it is better to know that beforehand.

• Crew aboard all night on anchor watch
• Generator runs continuously — audible in the cabins
• Cabins made up with linen and towels, air conditioning throughout
• Sleeping capacity is lower than daytime capacity: six on the 62ft, not twenty-two

The morning

First light off Dubai in winter is around 06:45 and the water is at its flattest of the entire day. A swim before anyone onshore has had breakfast is, for most people, the reason to do this at all.

Breakfast is served under way on the run home, and you are alongside by about ten. The whole thing is sixteen hours, of which roughly forty minutes are spent moving.

What it costs and what it needs

From AED 14,000 for the evening-to-morning charter on the 62ft, and from AED 22,000 for a full twenty-four hours noon to noon. Crew, fuel, generator power and berthing are included; catering is arranged separately.

Three days' notice minimum, because overnight charters need coastguard notification. The anchorage is chosen on the day from the forecast rather than fixed in advance — we will not sit out a rough night for the sake of a plan made a week earlier.