Crew Profile

Captain Bijan Kalantari
began sailing in the early seventies, and received his USCG 100 ton license when he decided to charter in 1987.

A New Yorker since 1957, he has owned a number of boats over the years. His sailing experiences have taken him through much of the Eastern seaboard from Annapolis, Maryland to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and all the major islands in between.

In the mid eighties he had his boat in the Bahamas for two years. He covered most of the Bahamian Islands north of Georgetown, and made several crossings to South Florida.

In 1993 he began to take his New York charters seriously, and eight years later in 2001 he extended his charter experiences to cover the winter months, by sailing down to the Virgin Islands and beyond. This migratory pattern of non-stop sailing between New York and the Caribbean twice a year, became a habitual occurrance, and has added much to his sailing experience.

He acquired S/Y Anahita in 2004 and oversaw it's complete and successful remodeling, renovation, improvements and refit.

Bijan has been through a number of careers, the first of which was in classical ballet that earned him performances with the Metropolitan and New York City Opera Ballets. Later, together with his wife he opened, (Lothar's) stores, for the French high fashion sportswear company, at Fifth Avenue in New York, and on North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. In 1975 he established his own real estate development company in Manhattan, and continued as a developer and builder until the mid-nineties.

Carmen Bonaparte
The passion for the culinary arts flourished in Carmen during her childhood. She was raised in a wine region on the German-French border were good food and wines were greatly appreciated.

She grew up around her uncle's restaurant, and after some culinary training under some of the best reaching chefs, she made up her mind to become a chef.

Carmen was trained at Chateau Colette in France, and since, she has worked as a chef in a number of well known restaurants on both sides of the Atlantic, and later conducted her own catering service.

She has worked on a number of sailing yachts such as: La Creole, Liberty, Flamboyance, and Anahita.