Nosy Be Catamaran Charter
YACHT GECKO
The boat that changed our lives is coming home.
The Boat That Started It All
In 2008, a little over a year after she was built in Cape Town, Gecko, our beautiful Jaguar 36 sailing catamaran, set off across the Mozambique Channel for Madagascar.
At the time, we could never have imagined quite where that journey would lead.
Gecko arrived in Nosy Be and rapidly became one of the most popular charter catamarans in the area. She carried guests out among the islands, anchorages and extraordinary waters of northwest Madagascar and introduced countless people to a part of the world that we had fallen completely in love with.
And, in a roundabout way, Gecko was the reason MadagasCaT was born.
What began with one catamaran in Nosy Be grew into something much bigger: years spent getting to know the islands, the people, the anchorages, the lodges and the wonderfully unpredictable character of Madagascar.
Gecko was there at the beginning of it all.
And now she's coming home!
We sold Gecko in 2019 and, sadly, she has spent much of the intervening years sitting unused.
We never really expected our paths to cross again.
But in a rather lovely twist to the story, repeat clients of MadagasCaT have now bought her.
Gecko is soon returning to South Africa, where she will undergo a complete refit before making the voyage back to Nosy Be.
And in April 2027, Gecko will return to the waters where her story really began – once again available for charter through MadagasCaT.
For us, this one is personal.
We know this boat. We know what made people love her. And we know just how well a catamaran of this size works among the islands of the Nosy Be archipelago.
We are enormously excited to see her sailing there again.
Meet Gecko
Gecko is a Jaguar 36-foot sailing catamaran, built in Cape Town in 2007.
At 36 feet, she offers something increasingly difficult to find in the charter world: a proper sailing catamaran that is large enough to be comfortable but small enough to retain the relaxed, intimate feeling of being on your own yacht rather than aboard a floating hotel.
Her shallow draft and catamaran configuration are ideally suited to exploring the islands around Nosy Be, slipping into beautiful anchorages, moving between islands and giving guests the freedom to experience Madagascar from the water.
Following her refit, Gecko will combine that original character with substantially renewed equipment and facilities.
What's being added during the refit?
Gecko's new refrigeration setup will be particularly generous for a yacht of her size.
She will have two stainless-steel fridge/freezers positioned side by side behind the galley, together with a double-drawer fridge/freezer with an integrated ice maker behind the saloon area. A separate top-loading refrigerator will be recessed into the countertop specifically for keeping drinks cold.
And because cold drinks without ice in Madagascar would be bordering on uncivilised, we're particularly pleased about that built-in ice maker.
Fresh water – lots of it
One of the important additions for life aboard in the tropics will be Gecko's Schenker Zen 100 water maker, capable of producing approximately 100 litres of fresh water every hour.
That makes a considerable difference on a yacht operating among remote islands, where being able to produce fresh water independently means less reliance on shore supplies.
And yes – there will be hot water
Gecko will have a hot-water geyser supplying hot water for showers, installed in the starboard engine compartment.
She will also have two pop-out freshwater showers at the stern, both with hot water – rather wonderful after a swim, snorkel or dive.
Why charter Gecko?
Gecko isn't intended to be a vast, ultra-luxury catamaran.
That's rather the point.
She's for people who want to experience Madagascar, rather than simply look at it from the deck of a very expensive floating apartment.
A Gecko charter is about waking at anchor off an island, jumping overboard before breakfast, sailing to somewhere that isn't on most maps, eating freshly caught fish, snorkelling clear reefs and watching the sun disappear over the Mozambique Channel with something cold in your hand.
She's small enough for the experience to feel personal and adventurous, but after her refit she'll have the equipment that makes life aboard considerably more comfortable.
And there is something else that specifications can't really convey.
Gecko knows these waters.
She has sailed them before.
She has carried people through this archipelago before.
She helped start the company that will now be marketing her.
Almost two decades after she first sailed from Cape Town to Madagascar, Gecko is going back to Nosy Be.
We can't wait to welcome her home.
Gecko at a glance
Returning to Nosy Be: April 2027
Yacht: Gecko
Type: Sailing catamaran
Model: Jaguar 36
Length: 36 ft
Built: Cape Town, South Africa
Year: 2007
Chartering in Nosy Be since: 2008
Major refit: South Africa
Returning to Nosy Be: April
Charter marketing: MadagasCaT
Refit equipment confirmed so far
Two stainless-steel fridge/freezers
Double-drawer fridge/freezer
Integrated ice maker
Dedicated top-loading drinks refrigerator
Schenker Zen 100 water maker – approximately 100 litres/hour
Hot-water system
Two external stern freshwater showers with hot water
Further specifications, accommodation details, photographs and charter information will be added as Gecko's refit progresses.
A note about the photographs
The photographs currently shown on this page are historical photographs of Gecko from her previous life in Nosy Be. She is undergoing a complete refit in South Africa before returning to Madagascar, so these images do not represent her new finishes, furnishings or equipment. New photographs will be added as soon as the refit is complete.
