Destinations

Chicago’s Navy Pier Adding Transient Docks

By Peter Janssen on April 10, 2024 Destinations

There’s good news for anyone cruising in the Midwest or on the Great Loop. A new five-star transient marina is scheduled to open early in the summer of 2025 on Chicago’s iconic Navy Pier. The new Navy Pier Marina will be the only all-transient marina in Chicago, and it will have 6,400 liner feet of side-to docking for boats up to 130 feet. There’s no minimum boat size, and you can stay for hourly, daily or weekly docking on a mix of floating and fixed piers. The marina will have three gangways leading to Navy Pier itself, and it’s within…

Peter Island Resort To Reopen This Fall

By Peter Janssen on March 13, 2024 Destinations

Here’s some good news for fans of the British Virgin Islands (and I think that’s just about all of us). The new and improved Peter Island Resort is scheduled to reopen officially on October 3, and will be up and running for the rest of the year and the holiday season. The original Peter Island Resort was destroyed by the hurricanes in 2017. The six-year rebuilding has resulted in a major transformation and upgrading of the resort and its facilities. Not that there was anything wrong with Peter Island to begin with. I first sailed there many, many years ago…

Palm Beach Marina: Location, Location, Location

By Peter Janssen on March 7, 2024 Destinations

If you’re going to Palm Beach for the show on your boat later this month, or simply cruising in south Florida at any other time, take a look at the freshly renovated Town of Palm Beach Marina. You’ll be impressed. Most important is its location. It’s on the Intracoastal Waterway, just across Lake Worth Lagoon from the mainland and the show venue. In the other direction, it’s within walking distance of all the boutiques, galleries, restaurants and watering holes of Worth Avenue. The iconic Breakers hotel and resort is only eight-tenths of a mile away. It’s also just north of…

U.S. Issues Warnings for Bahamas, Jamaica

By Peter Janssen on February 13, 2024 Destinations

The State Department has issued travel advisories for the Bahamas and Jamaica, warning about crime and water safety in the islands. The advisory for the Bahamas was Level 2, meaning “exercise Increased caution.” The advisory for Jamaica ratcheted up to Level 3, meaning “reconsider travel.” The top level is 4, which basically means don‘t go there. The Bahamas advisory mentioned gang-on-gang violence, but said that “violent crime, such as burglaries, armed robberies and sexual assaults occurs in both tourist and non-tourist areas.” It said travelers should “be vigilant when staying at short-term vacation rental properties where private security companies do…

Miami: Beyond the Show

By Peter Janssen on February 7, 2024 Destinations

For years and years, Miami has been one of the most vibrant, lively and warm of all American cities, with people coming from all over the world for its culture, water, beaches and, in the middle of February, the boat show. But Miami is a great place to visit at any time. For cruising boat owners, it’s a destination in its own right or a waypoint on the Great Loop or the starting point of a cruise to the Bahamas, Caribbean or the Keys. Miami’s wide choice of restaurants will make you want to stay a while. For a waterfront…

Manatees Return to Crystal River, Florida

By Peter Janssen on December 11, 2023 Destinations

The manatees are back in Crystal River, Florida, offering a treat for anyone cruising on the Gulf Coast. The peak season is from now through February when as may as 600 manatees migrate there for the warm water, and Crystal River has more than 45 permitted guides who can help you enjoy them there. Crystal River, which calls itself the manatee capital of the world, is the only place in Florida where it’s legal to swim with the gentle sea cows. Crystal River is about 70 miles north of Tampa, on a seven-mile long waterway that connects Kings Bay with…

Belize: A Diver’s Paradise

By Peter Janssen on November 1, 2023 Destinations

Tucked into the western edge of the Caribbean between Mexico and Guatemala, Belize is a bit out of the way. But whether you head there on your own boat or arrive by air, it offers some of the best water, and most inviting diving spots, in the world. Indeed, Belize has more than 450 islands, plus the second longest barrier reef in the world and three of the four coral atolls in the Western hemisphere. It’s a diver’s paradise, with drop sites inside and outside the reef for both new and certified divers. The cerulean water is clear and warm;…

Longboat Key Marina: Voted #1

By Peter Janssen on October 25, 2023 Destinations

The large and luxurious Longboat Key Moorings marina in Sarasota has been a favorite for cruising boat owners for years, and it recently was named the number one marina in the U.S. by readers of Southern Boating magazine. The largest resort marina on the west coast of Florida, Longboat Key offers deep-water access to the Gulf as well as a protected location with first-class amenities. The marina has 291 slips, including many for transients; it can handle vessels up to 150 feet. Transient docking is $5.75 a foot, plus a $45 fee, both per night. You’ll be safe there, behind…

Lauderdale: Much More than FLIBS

By Peter Janssen on October 16, 2023 Destinations

If you’re one of the 100,000 or so people heading for the big Fort Lauderdale boat show starting Oct. 25, or if you’re just going to Lauderdale at any other time, do yourself a favor. Stay a while. Lauderdale, in my opinion, is one of the most relaxed, enjoyable cities on the cruising boat circuit. The fact that it’s also one of the world’s major boating centers, virtually filled with marinas, boatyards and boating service operations, is just extra icing on the cake. Fort Lauderdale is often called the Venice of America, for good reason. It has 165 miles of…

Explore the Beautiful Waters of Palau

By Peter Janssen on October 11, 2023 Charter, Destinations

If you want to see some of the most beautiful water in the world, head for Palau in the western Pacific. An archipelago with 340 islands, Palau is a nation in Micronesia, east of the Philippines and north of New Guinea. If that’s a bit far for your own boat, you can book one of the 11 cabins on the 129-foot Four Seasons Explorer catamaran. It has a draft of just 5’ 2” so it can reach a lot of the diving spots that larger boats can’t, and it has two tenders and a dive boat that can go just…

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