Destinations

Mackinac: #1 Summer Travel Destination

By Peter Janssen on June 22, 2023 Destinations

It’s always been a personal favorite, but I was still a bit surprised to learn that Mackinac Island, nestled between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, had been voted the number one Best Summer Destination in the United States in the 2023 USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards. Mystic, Connecticut, with its historic seaport and aquarium, was number three. Nantucket, Catalina, the San Juans? Oh well. Lots of people love Mackinac (pronounced “Mackinaw”), and for good reason. A four-acre island at the top of Lake Huron, just around the corner from the top of Lake Michigan, Mackinac has been a major tourist…

Silent-Yachts Planning New Resort in Fiji

By Peter Janssen on June 13, 2023 Cruising Life, Destinations

Silent-Resorts, the partner of the innovative Austrian electric catamaran builders Silent-Yachts, just announced that it’s planning a new collection of luxury off-the-grid homes in Fiji. Construction of the new totally solar-powered homes is set to begin at the end of the year. And new owners will have exclusive use of Silent-Yachts’ solar-electric tenders, speedboats and catamarans. The Fiji project will be the second solar-powered marina and residence resort built by Silent-Resorts. The first, in Exuma, the Bahamas, is now under construction and the company says it’s “progressing rapidly.” Owners there have use of a Silent 55. The Bahamas resort is…

Big Waterfront News from Fort Lauderdale

By Peter Janssen on June 12, 2023 Destinations

Fort Lauderdale, already known as the yachting capital of America, is going to get bigger yet. The city government just approved a $1 billion redevelopment of the Bahia Mar complex, home of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, to include four condominium towers, a 23-floor luxury hotel, a marina village with restaurants and bars, and a park with a public waterfront promenade. Then, across town, the Port 32 Fort Lauderdale Marina, a new development, opened this week on the Marina Mile on the New River, just west of I-95. It has room for 32 yachts in a three-acre yacht basin,…

Lyman-Morse Camden Expansion Now Open

By Peter Janssen on June 5, 2023 Destinations

Now that summer has started, Lyman-Morse says that its new waterfront development in Camden, Maine, one of the most desirable cruising destinations on the East Coast, is in full swing. Lyman-Morse, based in Thomaston, Maine, decided to expand to Camden and create a new waterfront development, including a marina, restaurants, and even some crew quarters, in 2015. It bought about 33,000 square feet of marine service and commercial space and started major renovations, but things went south after a fire in 2020. But now everything is open and ready. On the boating side, you now can reserve a mooring or…

Norman’s Cay: New Marina, Great Back-Story

By Peter Janssen on May 31, 2023 Destinations

If you want to channel your inner Miami Vice, or just explore one of the smaller islands in the Bahamas with absolutely gorgeous waters and a pristine white sand beach, then put Norman’s Cay on your go-to list. It’s not hard to get there. Norman’s is in the northern Exumas, about 55 miles below Nassau and 220 miles from Miami. It’s small, just a few hundred acres, but it has a new marina that has plans to grow, and it’s also an official point of entry for the Bahamas. And Norman’s has a unique history, even in the Bahamas. It…

Canouan: The Caribbean’s Hidden Gem

By Peter Janssen on May 25, 2023 Destinations

Canouan is probably the best Caribbean island you’ve never heard of. At least it has never crossed my radar screen. No cruise ships stop there, no jumbo jets land there, no megayachts gather there for A-list New Year’s Eve parties. But now Canouan (pronounced kuh-nuh-wn), with gorgeous white sandy beaches, clear blue water and only 12,000 people, is experiencing something of a boomlet. A relatively new luxury marina has 120 slips for boats up to 320 feet; a new five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel has opened along a beach; waterfront restaurants and bars are starting to spring up with sunset views…

Moorings Plans Croatia Rendezvous

By Peter Janssen on May 17, 2023 Charter, Destinations

The Moorings just announced that they’re holding their first rendezvous ever in Croatia next fall. Starting in historic Agana, not far from the airport in Split, the rendezvous will take place from October 14 to 21, and the week-long cruise will explore the best of Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast. The coast there, in central Croatia, offers some of the Med’s premiere cruising grounds, with more than 30 islands, ancient fortresses, protected national parks, rocky outcroppings, historic villages and translucent water. There are also pristine beaches, secluded coves, unspoiled natural settings, and wonderful small restaurants to try some exquisite local cuisine. To…

15 Favorite Boating Spots: MarineMax

By Peter Janssen on May 9, 2023 Destinations

Now that boating season is starting again, we have to face the perennial question of where to go. We all have our favorite spots, but much of the adventure of boating involves finding new ones. To help with that, MarineMax, the retail giant with 125 locations (including 78 dealerships and 57 marinas) around the world, should have some expertise here, and they just put together a list of their 15 favorite boating spots. Spoiler alert, they are: The Chesapeake; Florida Keys; Mackinaw Island; Nantucket; Ogunquit, Maine; Lake Lanier, Georgia; St. Augustine; Galveston; Lake of the Ozarks; the Mississippi; Lake Tahoe;…

Harbour Island: A Little Gem in the Bahamas

By Peter Janssen on April 24, 2023 Destinations

It’s only about 3.5 miles long and a little more than a mile wide, but Harbour Island, just off the northeast coast of Eleuthera, is a little gem of a boating, fishing, or vacation destination in the Bahamas. Once there, you won’t find any casinos, high-rise condos or big chain hotels, but you will find a charming community, Dunmore Town, with pastel houses (some dating to the 1700s), winding streets, quiet resorts and vacation rentals, two first-class marinas, and Harbour Island’s iconic Pink Sand Beach, a three-mile stretch of soft sand that’s on almost everybody’s list of best beaches in…

CCA Publishes New Digital Guide to Maine

By Peter Janssen on April 19, 2023 Destinations

The Cruising Club of America just launched its new digital Maine Cruising Guide, offering detailed information and local knowledge about more than 70 harbors and anchorages along the coast from the Isle of Shoals on the New Hampshire border up to Eastport on the Canadian border. You don’t have to be one of the CCA’s 1,400 members to access the guide; it’s free to everyone, and it builds on members’ experience with the first guide, written last year. It provides up-to-date local knowledge shared by 30 veteran CCA members who either homeport in Maine or have cruised there for decades.…

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