Thursday, March 28

Browsing: Destinations

One of the premiere cruising destinations on the West Coast, Desolation Sound, despite its name, is pretty easy to get to. It’s just 93 miles above the city of Vancouver, and getting there is half the fun. For those of us starting from the Seattle area, you just head up past the San Juans, cross the border to the Canadian Gulf Islands, go past Princess Louisa Inlet, and you’ll get there. Keep Vancouver Island on your port side, mainland British Columbia to starboard. Desolation Sound is a destination in its own right, but it also serves as a gateway to…

Riva, one of the most glamorous boat builders in the world, and Venice, one of the most glamorous cities in the world, seem to go together. So it seems natural that Riva just held its over-the-top 180th anniversary there, a black-tie affair with its own movie premiere, a performance at La Fenice opera house, sports stars, and even the unveiling of a new limited-edition Riva Aquarama, the “Anniversario,” on the Grand Canal in front of the Riva Lounge in the Gritti Palace. Riva was founded in 1842, when Pietro Riva, a local craftsman, started repairing fishing boats damaged in a…

Just across the border in Canada, the marina at Poets Cove Resort & Spa on South Pender Island is a little gem of a destination in the Pacific Northwest, offering peace and quiet in a luxurious setting with some of the best sunsets you’ll ever see. It’s not a surprise that the marina, with 110 slips, is the host of some boating rendezvous; indeed, Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats owners were just there. But it’s also no secret that the marina, set well into the protected end of Bedwell Harbour, is a great stopping point for anyone in the summer…

If you want to give yourself a treat this summer, take a trip up to Quebec, specifically Quebec City. With its rich history, vibrant French culture and large, modern marina, it’s one of the most alluring cruising destinations I’ve ever experienced. In the case of Quebec, getting there is half the fun. In 2014, George Sass, Sr., the photographer, and I cruised 495 nm from New York City (actually, Liberty Landing on the New Jersey side, across from downtown Manhattan) to Quebec City, going up the Hudson to Lake Champlain and then entering Canada. Lake Champlain itself is a great…

SILENT-RESORTS and EcoIsland Development just announced that they’re building what they say is the world’s first fully sustainable, zero-carbon, solar-powered yacht and residents’ club in the Bahamas. Named Club Ki’ama Bahamas, the eco-friendly development is only a ten-minute boat ride from Great Exuma Island. Construction is scheduled to start in June. People who buy homes there also will have the use of SILENT-YACHTS luxury power catamarans for a specified number of days. (This is the first SILENT-RESORTS destination property, in proprietary ownership with SILENT-YACHTS.) Club Ki’ama Bahamas will be a new enclave on Elizabeth Island, and it is the first…

Here’s the official announcement from the City of Fort Lauderdale about the start of a new $70 million Las Olas Marina, the future home of the Lauderdale show:  The City of Fort Lauderdale and SunTex Marinas broke ground on the new Las Olas Marina Thursday as part of a public/private partnership. In addition to being the future location of the expanded Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the iconic marina will redefine the Fort Lauderdale waterfront featuring fine dining, boutique retail, state-of-the-art infrastructure improvements, and lush pedestrian-friendly landscape. The $70 million project will be built and paid for by SunTex Marinas…

It’s still cold, very cold, in Alaska, but that hasn’t stopped John and Kathy Youngblood from cruising about 150 nm up to Haines, north of Juneau, on their 2004 Selene 53, Mystic Moon. The Youngbloods are veteran cruisers, having completed a 35,000-mile journey around the Pacific three years ago, and cruising in the Pacific Northwest since then. Despite storms and snow, they encountered whales, bears, otters and a lot of Dungeness on their latest voyage. Read about it on their blog:  Change of plans….Mr Weather has decided to complicate things a bit. Two storms are coming and we decided to make…

Since this is National Park Week, it’s an appropriate time to plan a summer cruise to Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island, way Down East in Maine. Surrounded by some of the best cruising grounds on the East Coast, Acadia offers a land-and-sea experience that will provide memories for many years to come. If you go in the summer (as opposed to the late-spring/early-fall shoulder seasons), you won’t get lonely. About 3.5 million people visit the park each year, at least in pre-Covid years. A lot of them use the bustling waterfront resort town of Bar Harbor as a…

If you’ve ever dreamed of living in a lighthouse, now’s your chance. The Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, about 1.2 miles off the coast of Northwest Oregon, is for sale for $6.5 million. Before you reach for your checkbook, you need to realize the lighthouse comes with some problems. First, you can’t land a boat there; there are too many rocks and steep cliffs. You can only come and go via helicopter, and even then you might have to make a second or third pass to get the sea lions off the landing pad. Second, it’s a mess. Opened in 1881, the…

For the past 42 years, Lyman-Morse, based in Thomaston, Maine, has been building boats ranging from carbon-fiber racing sailboats to luxurious Down East powerboats, creating a mix of cutting-edge technology and traditional craftsmanship. Lately, Lyman-Morse has been expanding, building a boutique hotel in Rockland, for example, and edging into custom home design. Now, it’s almost ready to open its redevelopment along the Camden waterfront, with a mix of restaurants, retail shops and gallery spaces for local craftspeople. The Camden redevelopment is almost complete, and is scheduled to open in June. Lyman-Morse actually has owned the Camden waterfront property since 2015…

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