Company Retreat Days on the Water

Most retreat agendas have one slot that is supposed to be the part people remember, and it is usually a restaurant. A half day on the water does the job better, for about what the restaurant costs, and it has the advantage that there is no signal to check.

We run private boats out of Sebastian Inlet on Florida’s Space Coast, between Melbourne Beach and Vero Beach. Private means your group only. Our boat takes six, and for a full retreat group we run two or three boats together with partner captains — up to eighteen people on the water at once, same plan, same stretch of lagoon.

Fitting It Into the Agenda

Half days run four hours: 8am to 12pm, 12pm to 4pm, or 4pm to 8pm. The midday slot is the usual choice — sessions in the morning, boats after lunch, dinner back on shore. The 4pm slot runs into sunset and makes a natural end to a day of meetings. A full day is eight hours and becomes the whole agenda for that day, which suits a shorter retreat where the boat day is the retreat.

What the Day Can Be

You do not have to pick one thing for everybody. A common retreat set-up is one boat fishing and one boat on the sandbar, meeting up at the same island.

• Fishing — inshore for snook, redfish and trout, rods, bait, licences and cleaning included. No experience needed; most guests have never fished.
• Sandbar and islands — anchor in clear shallow water off a spoil island, wade, swim, hunt shark teeth. Sandbar Charter or Island Hopping.
• Wildlife — the lagoon cruise for dolphins and manatees, which is the easiest sell to a group with mixed appetites.
• Sunset — the Sunset Tour at 4pm, flat water and the last hour of light.

A Quieter Reason It Works

Six people on a boat for four hours end up talking to each other in a way that a conference room does not produce. There is no head of the table, nowhere to hide behind a laptop, and a lot of unhurried time. Several of the groups we take out book the boat specifically as the conversation, not the activity — an anchored hour at an island is a better place to talk through next year than a hotel function room.

Getting There

Sebastian Inlet is roughly twenty minutes from Melbourne Beach and Vero Beach, half an hour from Melbourne and Palm Bay, and under an hour from Cocoa Beach and Orlando Melbourne International. Most retreat groups stay on the barrier island or in Vero. We send the exact meeting point when you book.

Shorter version? See corporate team building days — the same boats, built around a single afternoon.

Prices

• Half days — $600 per boat, up to 6 guests (fishing is $600 for up to 4, $100 each extra to 6).
• Full days — Island Hopping $975, Full Day Inshore $975.
• A $100 deposit per boat holds the date; the balance is due at the end of the trip. Full details on the rates page.