Cruising Life

Iconic Bimini Big Game Club Opens Again

By Peter Janssen on December 2, 2020 Cruising Life, Destinations

The Big Game Club in Bimini just reopened, one of the most iconic cruising, fishing and diving destinations in the Bahamas, and reachable from South Florida in five or six hours on a trawler, or about two hours on a fast boat. Take a Magnum or an Intrepid, and you can be at the Big Game Club for a relaxed lunch and get back at your dock at Turnberry or Fisher Island long before evening cocktails. (Although all the Big Game Club’s facilities – the marina, restaurants and resort – are now open, you have to abide by the Bahamas’…

New Princess V78: Light-Filled Luxury Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on December 2, 2020 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Princess Yachts has launched its new V78, a contemporary, light-filled family express cruiser that’s designed for an owner-operator and reaches speeds in the mid-30-knot range powered by twin 1,900-hp MAN diesels. The flagship of Princess’ V series of yachts, the new 78 has four staterooms, all with en suite heads, on its lower accommodations deck. The full-beam, midships master is reached by a private staircase from the salon. The salon is filled with natural light all around. The side windows are almost four feet high, and the electric sun roof opens far enough to expose about half the main deck.…

Dive Boat Captain Indicted in 34 Deaths

By Peter Janssen on December 2, 2020 Cruising Life

Federal prosecutors just indicted the captain of the dive boat that caught fire last year off the Southern California coast on 34 counts of manslaughter. The captain, Jerry Boylan, 67, is expected to turn himself in to authorities within the next few weeks. A fast-moving fire broke out at night on the 75-foot dive boat Conception on Sept. 2, 2019, Labor Day Weekend, when it was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, off the coast of Santa Barbara. The boat was on a three-day chartered dive trip, with 33 passengers and six crew on board. All the passengers, and one crew…

New Study: Megalodon Sharks Grew to 60 Feet

By Peter Janssen on December 2, 2020 Cruising Life

If you think today’s great white sharks are bad news, consider the Megalodon shark (above). It lived from 23 to 3 million years ago, and some were as big as 60 feet long and weighed 100 tons. By comparison, Nukumi, the largest great white ever tagged by OCEARCH, the shark research organization, was 17’ 2” long and weighed 3,541 pounds. In recent studies, scientists have learned much more about the Megalodon, particularly after finding fossils in nurseries in northeast Spain. Researchers from the University of Bristol and Swansea University just published a new study, based on 25 Megalodon teeth they…

Panama Posse, with 153 Boats, Starting in Mexico

By Peter Janssen on November 30, 2020 Cruising Life

The popular seven-month, 4,500 nm Panama Posse, a no-schedule, multi-route cruising odyssey from Mexico to Florida, kicks off this week from Barra de Navidad, Mexico. The rally was started in 2017 to promote safe cruising and to help boats navigate the Pacific Coast through the Panama Canal and up to Florida at the start of the cruising season. The first year the rally attracted 83 boats; the second year, 123 boats, and last year it had 178 boats. This year, with many cruisers worried about traveling during the pandemic, 153 boats have signed up. Initially, the rally was almost entirely…

Dramatic Video Shows Spanish Police Chasing Drug Smugglers

By Peter Janssen on November 30, 2020 Cruising Life

The Spanish police arrested five alleged smugglers after a five-hour, 100-nm chase in the Med, taking dramatic video pictures from their helicopter as the men tried to escape, throwing cubes of a white substance, thought to be hashish, into the sea. You can see the video below. “Do you want to see what the chase on the high seas was like?” the police asked in releasing the video. “More than five hours and 100 nautical miles.” The chase started when the National Police in their helicopter saw a 45-foot speedboat, with twin 300-hp outboards, about 80 nm off the coast…

Missing Boater Rescued 86 Miles Off Florida Coast

By Peter Janssen on November 30, 2020 Cruising Life

Stuart Bee, 63, is a lucky man. He was rescued, clinging to his sinking 34-foot Sea Ray, about 86 miles offshore on Sunday morning, almost two days after he left his marina in Port Canaveral, Florida. Here’s the story from the Coast Guard: Bee left Cape Marina in Port Canaveral about 4 on Friday afternoon. When he didn’t return Friday night, his family raised the alarm, since he usually didn’t spend the night on the water. The Coast Guard said it got a call at 11:40 on Saturday morning from someone at the marina, also saying Bee was overdue. The…

New Folding Electric Bike Goes 20 mph

By Peter Janssen on November 29, 2020 Cruising Life, Gear

Here’s a new high-tech, folding, electric-powered bike that could fit in your lazarette of your boat and then give you a comfortable ride on shore. It has a top speed of 20 mph and a range of about 50 miles on a single charge. The new bike is the Gocycle GXi, just named one of Time’s 100 Best Inventions for 2020, and in ten seconds it folds into a package that’s about two feet high and 14 inches wide. With a frame made from injection-molded magnesium alloy, the Gocycle GXi weighs just 38.6 pounds, and it can carry a load…

Okean Launches Prize-Winning 80 With Open Layout

By Peter Janssen on November 18, 2020 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Okean 80 Flybridge gives a whole new meaning to an open layout. Made in Brazil, the new cruiser won the Revelation of the Year Award at the 2020 World Yachts Trophies ceremony in Cannes in September. The flagship of the Okean fleet (there’s also a 50 and a 55), the new 80 delivers on Okean’s signature “Open Up Your World” theme. Indeed, it features a seamless transition between the interior and exterior spaces in the salon, where the hull sides drop down to form balconies and the side doors open wide to let in the sea breezes. The…

Jeanneau Launches All-New NC 795 Weekender

By Peter Janssen on November 18, 2020 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Jeanneau has just launched its NC 795 Series 2 weekender, an all-new version of the best-selling NC 795 (more than 1,000 built so far). Among other things, the NC (for New Concept) 795 Series 2 has a new, 26′ 8″ hull, and it can be powered by a 250-hp Yamaha outboard. The new Jeanneau is built as an all-around coastal cruiser, with a V-berth forward that can sleep two, and a convertible dinette that can sleep two more. The protected helm deck is filled with natural light with windows all around and a sliding glass door aft that leads to…

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