Allison, Author at Boating Journey

April 9, 2019April 15, 2019

Caribbean Cruise on Star Flyer – Part 3

Wrapping up our Caribbean Cruise on the tall ship Star Flyer

Scott and I were excited to be heading to Antigua after our stop in Guadeloupe. We honeymooned there in 2003 and that’s when we decided we wanted to retire in the Caribbean. This was our fourth trip back to the island and we knew exactly where to take our friends, Ben and Maria.

Our ship anchored in Falmouth Harbor, which is just west of English Harbor. Here you will find luxury yachts anchored in the harbor.

We had signed up for the “Swim with the Sting Rays” excursion on Antigua, which wasn’t scheduled until 1:30p. Since we had time to kill, we decided to take Ben and Maria on a quick tour of the island.

Quick Tour of Antigua

A few years ago, Scott and I took an island tour by taxi and we loved it! So we knew this was the best way to quickly show Ben and Maria our favorite Caribbean island. We only had about two hours for a quick tour. Our driver was Willie and super friendly! His first stop was the Blockhouse lookout. The lookout view is spectacular and includes Eric Clapton’s compound.

We then headed to Shirley Heights for a quick look out overlooking English Harbor and Nelson’s Dockyard. Captain Nelson built the Blockhouse, Shirley Heights Fort and Nelson’s Dockyard. He wanted to have a 360 degree view of intruders. It’s amazing to think about the fact that they built these forts high up on hills without machinery.

From Shirley Heights, Willie headed north, taking us to a few beautiful beaches on the western side of the island.

365 Beaches on Antigua

Antigua has a beach for every day of the year! As Willie drove us north, we stopped at a few beaches, including Jacqui O’s – the beach of romance!

After visiting a few beaches, we had about 40 minutes to get to St. John (the capital) for a quick tour. Driving around the island, really gives you a good sense of how the residents live every day.

St. John

We literally had about 10 minutes to spare when we arrived. To really enjoy all of Antigua, you need more than 2 hours! St. John offers lots of shopping and this is where the cruise ships come into port. There is a main shopping market for tourist with hundreds of vendors in the city center.

For some reason, Scott, Ben and Maria had a hankering for donuts! LOL We’ll laugh about this photo for years! Who knew Ben loved donuts so much! 😉

After a quick two hour tour, it was time to head to Pigeon Beach for lunch (hosted by the Star Flyer) and catch our bus to Sting Ray City.

Sting Ray City

Scott and I swam with the sting rays during our last trip to Antigua. I didn’t enjoy it much, as I was neck deep in the water and I was a bit freaked out with slimy fish rubbing by my legs! This experience was completely different and we loved it! We were waist deep and the trainers were amazing. Be sure to watch our YouTube episode (#32) to see Lola kissing me!

An Antiguan Sunset

We finished our day in Falmouth Harbor watching sail boats race in the harbor, drinking rum punch and saying goodbye to our favorite sunset.

After dinner, the ship had a fantastic steel drum band perform for us. It was the perfect ending of a great day!

St. Barths – here we come!

We sailed all night from Antigua to St. Barths. As I was walking around the deck, I noticed in the distance whale spouts. Be sure to see that footage on our YouTube episode.

Our last day of the trip was in St. Barth’s (St. Bartholomew). We had been told that the town was a mini Beverly Hills and drinks were $50 each. Since we hadn’t had any time to relax and lay in the sun, we all took a day off. It was the perfect day, enjoying the Caribbean breezes and warm sunshine.

One thing you will notice about St. Barth’s harbor, is the opulence! Anchored in the distance was Eclipse. Eclipse is the second largest yacht in the world at almost 535 feet. It has two helicopter pads, a mini submarine and three tenders!

All day long we watched expensive tenders drive! It really was quite the sight to see. Be sure to check out our footage on our YouTube channel (check back here) of all of the activity in the harbor.

St. Barth’s Sundowner

We had an amazing sunset on our last night. All of us hung out on the deck, for as long as we could before we said goodbye to the sun!

Traveling with Ben and Maria was great (hopefully they feel the same- LOL). We really had such a fun week and they were a big part of that.

The Star Flyer Events – Last Night

The ship had a nice dinner planned and a mini celebration from the crew. We then finished the evening watching a movie on deck, Around Cape Horn, which was filmed in 1929. It’s amazing that they got this footage – considering how long ago this was!

After the movie, the ship raised the sails with yet, another celebration. They had sparkling wine, music and colored sails.

Returning Home

We sailed all night from St. Barth’s to Sint Maarten. The ship has you place your luggage outside your room at 4:30am and you keep just your carry-on bag. Breakfast was served from 8am – 10am and customs/immigration were on board first thing in the morning

In order to leave the ship, you check-in with Sint Maarten customs/immigration and then they return your passports to you. We left the ship around 9am, but our flight was not until 1:30pm. So Scott and I took a taxi back to Holland House and got a day pass for our luggage. There we enjoyed a few local Carib beers and squeezed in some last minute shopping. There are lots of shops at the cruise terminal, but they don’t open until after 10am.

Though the airport is small, there are quite a few tourists shops there too, for any last minute shopping needs you have. The airport doesn’t have “restaurants / bars” per se, but they do have take-out for sandwiches and beers to go.

Bye Caribbean!

Scott and I are always sad to leave the Caribbean, but we can’t wait to return. How did we like the trip? Well, tune into our YouTube Channel for a full review and feedback about the trip.

Now that the trip is over, we’re anxious to get our new boat into service and ready for boating this summer. Stay tuned for that next adventure!

As always, thank you for following our blog! Be sure to subscribe and check out our YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter channels @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney

Watch the full tour here on YouTube:

Cheers, Scott and Ally

March 30, 2019April 9, 2019

Caribbean Cruise on Star Flyer Part 2

On the third day of our Caribbean Cruise on the tall ship, Star Flyer, Scott and I arrived in the port of Terre-de-Haut in Iles des Saintes. The Îles des Saintes, or Les Saintes, are dependency islands of Guadeloupe, a French overseas territory in the Caribbean. The main island, Terre-de-Haut, is known for Pain de Sucre Beach’s coral-rich waters and palm-lined Les Saintes Bay.

There were no excursions for this island, so most of the passengers took the tender to town to explore. It was a quick 5 minute trip to the dock, where we arrived to a quaint French town full of shops and restaurants. They only take the Euro, so we had to find an ATM to get cash for some items at the grocery store (water, beer).

Tour of the town

Terre-de-Haut consists of only a few streets. Lots of tourists were renting scooters to explore the island. It’s a fun little beach town, but very expensive. Scott and I stopped in a shop to buy a couple of nice shirts and our total was over $150 Euro ($180 US)!

If you want to have lunch, they have beautiful cafes, but they require reservations. Who uses Open Table when you’re out in the middle of the ocean? Sadly, some the restaurants were rude about it. We did sit down in one restaurant, that was literally along the shoreline and dinghy dock. But after 20 minutes, they never came to take our order, so we headed back to the ship.

The beaches of Terre-de-Haut

We grabbed a quick bite on the ship and then changed into our swimsuits to head over to the beach. The cruise line has a partnership with Hotel Bois Jolie. Simply buy a beverage from the bar and you should be able to get a beach chair. However, they don’t have a lot of chairs, so we ended up on a beach towel. You can snorkel right off of the beach, but they have tons of sea urchins, so make sure you wear your water socks!

Sun-downer in the Caribbean

Since we were in the Caribbean, we assumed we would have amazing sunsets each night, but it really depends on where the cruise ship is anchored. Isles des Saintes did not disappoint! The weather was warm, the breeze was light and the scenery was magical.

Day 4 – Guadeloupe

We arrived in Guadeloupe in the morning. This island is also a French colony. While we were waiting for customs to allow us off the ship, guests were allowed to climb up to the mast. Ben was ready, along with Fred – an 89 year old Coast Guard Veteran!

In case I didn’t mention it earlier, when you arrive on the ship, sign up for the excursions immediately or you will miss out. There were some for Guadeloupe we wanted to do, but we were too late. So we decided to head into town and visit the De Deshaies Botanical Gardens. The tender ride is about 10 minutes, as we were anchored pretty far out. Once you arrive at the dock, there are taxi drivers waiting for tourists to drive them to the gardens (which are up a steep hill-about 1 mile)

The Gardens

Guadeloupe is known for it’s lush and tropical scenery. The Botanical Gardens tour takes about an hour and they do have a restaurant inside. However, it was very buggy and Maria and I started to get eaten alive by “no see-ums”, so take bug spray!

The views from the gardens are stunning and definitely worth the trek. Plus they had a variety of birds AND goats! They were the highlight of the tour.

Though we made arrangements for our taxi driver to come back and get us, he never showed. So we had no choice, but to walk back down to the marina. It took about 20 minutes, but you walk on the road, so be cautious of cars.

We were all so exhausted after walking all day in the heat and humidity that we turned in early after dinner.

Watch our full episode on YouTube below:

Where to next?

Next stop is Antigua! Our favorite island in the Caribbean. Stay tuned for our next blog for a full island tour and swimming with the sting rays!

As always, thank you for following our blog! Be sure to subscribe for future updates. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

March 23, 2019June 3, 2019

Caribbean Cruise on Star Flyer Part 1

Why the Tall Ship, Star Flyer?

Everyone has been asking us, what made you go on a tall ship cruise on the Star Flyer? Well, Scott and I have always wanted to book a charter boat in the Caribbean, but we’ve hesitated for a few reasons. One, we don’t know how to bare boat & we were not sure if we would like sailing for seven days straight. The best alternative was to book a sailing trip with Star Clipper vacations, on the Star Flyer. This tall ship holds about 180 people and does not have the same luxurious amenities as a large cruise ship. My girlfriend from college cruised o this ship in the Mediterranean and loved it!

The Itinerary

This cruise was a 7 night cruise, visiting a new island every day:

Saint Maarten
Nevis
Dominica
Isle des Saints
Guadeloupe
Antigua
St. Barths

Hurricane Irma

We left on Thursday, March 7^th on a red eye flight out of Seattle and arrived in Sint Maarten, on Friday, March 8^th around 12pm. We chose to arrive a day early, in case we had any flight issues.

Scott and I knew that the island was still in recovery mode from Hurricane Irma two years ago. The airport was nearly destroyed and now the airport is almost back to normal. Customs and Immigration took us about an hour and was a bit chaotic. The drive to the hotel (Holland House) which was in Philipsburg took about an hour too. As we drove around the island, we saw numerous abandoned boats and buildings damaged by Hurricane Irma. Traffic can be bad driving around the island. So plan accordingly.

It was our wedding anniversary on March 8th and the hotel upgraded us to a suite – oh my, what a treat! Located right on the beach overlooking the bay, this is the place to stay!

Things to do

Sint Maarten is known for its airplane beach “Maho Beach”. Here jets fly directly over beach goers as they fly in. Scott and I couldn’t pass this opportunity up, so the following day we took a taxi to the beach to check it out. I will say, it was packed and loaded with people! There are two bars and they also have the flight schedules. Planes come in about every 20 minutes and we were there between 11:15am and 12pm. It is definitely a unique experience and I do not recommend standing directly behind a plane when it takes off. We were standing to the side and still got sand blasted. Be sure to watch our video on our YouTube channel for all of the footage.

Downtown Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Our friends, Ben & Maria were joining us on the cruise and they arrived about the same time we were at Maho Beach. We instructed them to go to Holland House, get a day pass for their bags and meet us for cocktails. The hotel is located on Fontstreet, which is the main shopping district. The outdoor bar is located along the beach boardwalk, which is full of restaurants, shopping and bars.

After a few cocktails, Maria and I headed to the Saturday Market for some souvenirs. One thing I will say about Sint Maarten, is that the residents are so friendly – probably one of the friendliest islands in the Caribbean.

Around 3:30pm, the hotel lobby was full of guests heading to the cruise terminal. Check-in for the cruise was between 4pm – 7pm, so we decided to hang back for an hour to avoid the crowds. This turned out to be a smart decision, as we flew through the terminal check-in.

The Star Flyer – Departure Day

Check-in on the ship was pretty fast (if you wait an hour). First you meet the purser, who takes your passports. If you know anything about traveling by boat to other countries, you know that the captain maintains your passports for check-in authorities. The same is true for large cruise ships. In return, you are given an “official ID” card from the cruise line – this allows you to enter and depart each country. Next we were given our keys and off we went (oh, with our welcome cocktail too).

Because the ship was swaying right away in port, I immediately put on my Sea-Band and took a Bonine motion sickness pill. Both worked like magic! After we dropped our bags off, we headed straight to the library to sign up for our excursions. These fill up FAST, so don’t wait too long. We missed out on a couple, but were able to get the Sting Ray Experience on Antigua.

We stayed in room 302 – which was located on the bow . Our room was nice a roomy and were told it was bigger than most. We do know that some of the top end rooms had couches and Jacuzzi tubs too.

One thing we didn’t think about though, was our room was near the top deck and it swayed not only side to side, but up and down. If you get motion sick, don’t pick this room! Every night from 5p – 6p, the cruise ship has light snacks and then dinner begins at 7:30pm. We were scheduled to leave port around 10pm after dinner and set sail. This was a pretty cool experience.

As we set off into the pitch darkness, they began raising the sails and also played the theme song, Conquest of Paradise each time. After spending about an hour on deck, it was time to head to bed.

Quick Note about Wi-Fi: The boat has it, but it’s $10/hour, so we never used it except on the last day. We waited to get on land and find bars that offered it for free.

Day one – Nevis

Since Scott and I were not used to sleeping on a moving boat (that went up and down all night long), we had a rough first night’s sleep. Scott and I headed to breakfast around 9am and we were still sailing (try going thru the buffet line while at a 15 degree heel). Finally we arrived in Nevis around 11am and dropped anchor.

The reviews said there wasn’t a lot to do or see on Nevis, so the four of us decided to relax on deck and soak up some sun. Keep in mind, they have two very small pools on deck meant to just cool you off.

To get to shore, our life boats (tenders) are dropped into the water and passengers use the gangway steps to climb down the side of the ship to the tender. It was pretty rough in the bay, so it was interesting to watch people maneuver both.

Our days on the ship consisted of the same activities each day – breakfast, lunch, cocktails, light snacks, cocktails and then dinner.

Each morning, the activities director will do a briefing of the new island and give instructions on what to do, type of currency and times of departure. Every evening, the ship has different activities at the tropical bar each night. This bar is the only bar and is the hub for all meetings.

Day two – Dominica

Each night the ship puts the next day’s itinerary in your room. Our next stop was Dominica, which is a very small rustic island. Dominica is the northernmost of the Windward Islands (though it is sometimes considered the southernmost of the Leeward Islands). They are a French colony.

The excursions for the island included river rafting, which we didn’t want to do, so we planned on checking the island out on our own. Before we arrived, we had a scheduled sail with our sister ship, The Royal Clipper from 9am – 10:30am. This was a really cool and beautiful experience. I was surprised to see so many people on the bow plank though!

What to do in Portsmouth, Dominica

There were two things to do on your own – you could go to the beach or go to the Fort. Scott and I love old Forts, so we headed in that direction. It’s located in the Cabrits National Park, about a 10 minute walk straight up hill.

We loaded up in the tender, which is scary at first. The ship is moving up and down about a foot and then you have to gracefully get on board.

The ride to the dock, was about 5 minutes and we immediately noticed the damage from Hurricane Irma. Dominica was nearly destroyed during the hurricane and they are still recovering.

Check in at Prince Rupert’s Tavern to buy your pass (I think it was US $5/pp) and this gives you access to the Fort and also the hiking trails.

I wasn’t up for any hike, so we just checked out Fort Shirley. You can explore the different buildings and the view look-outs over the bay.

After our hike, we headed back to Prince Rupert’s Tavern for a cold beer. They have free Wi-Fi when you buy food or drinks. We bought two beers and they came out of the freezer (almost slightly frozen). It was so hot that day, that these were the best beers we’ve had in a long time!

We returned to the ship a few hours later and discovered where they store all of their booze! They keep it in the belly of the ship and use a cargo net to bring it out.

Sundowner

We wound down the day with a cocktail watching the sunset. No matter the day, you can’t beat a warm Caribbean night with good friends, cocktails and an amazing sunset.

Next we head to Isle des Saintes. Stay tuned for our next update and be sure to check back for our episode on Day 1 – 3. As always, thanks for following our blog! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @BoatingJourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

Watch Episode 30 on YouTube of Part 1

March 1, 2019June 14, 2019

How did our sea trial go?

Sea Trial, Survey, Mechanical Inspection & Haul Out

Last Weds, February 20th, Scott and I had the sea trial, survey and mechanical inspection scheduled for the Bayliner 4087 we made an offer on. Seattle has been experiencing record breaking snow levels and conditions this month and once again it threatened to snow on Wednesday! Based on the weather forecast, I was nervous. You know me, when it comes to weather, I’m a nut. The last thing I wanted to do was haul out in the snow! Here’s a picture that our boat yard shared the week before!

We hired Chuck Solarek, of CSW Surveyors and I highly recommend him! Chuck came in with loaded guns. Not only is he SAMS accredited (Society of Marine Surveyors Society), but he has twenty-four years experience as a naval submarine engineer. He had so much equipment with him, that I thought he had other members on his team. In the end, his survey and mechanical inspection was so detailed and thorough, we couldn’t have asked for more.

Let sea trials begin

Scott and I asked my brother-in-law Kurt to join us for the sea trial. He is a retired Washington State Ferry engineer and a life long boater himself. You will recall, he helped us out many times with Kokomo – especially during our trip to the San Juans Islands.

Also along on the trip, was our broker Steve Thoreson, from Union Marine and the captain, who was hired by Elliott Bay Yacht Sales. (certainly different than when Ed the owner of Kokomo took us out!

We all met at the marina around 9:15am and by then Chuck had been on the boat for a bit doing his inspection.

We left Elliott Bay Marina around 9:30am and headed towards Shilshole Marina and Seaview Boat Yard. Low and behold, the weather was perfect! We had calm seas and a slight mist, but that was it!

On our trip to Seaview, we motored at about 11 knots, which was a very pleasant pace. Unlike Kokomo, we could talk and hear each other. However, at this pace, it would take us eight hours to get to the San Juan Islands, versus three on Kokomo. Scott took the helm at the bridge on the way up and I sat down below in the salon. During that time, Along the way, Kurt and Chuck were checking different systems.

Arriving at Seaview Boatyard

If you remember from the last time we hauled out, I was scared to death to climb out of the boat while it was in the slings. Well, this time it was just as bad, if not worse! I still can’t believe this is how they do this!! So unsafe. Each passenger, walks out to the bow, steps over the railing (that’s great if you are tall), reaches for the WET ladder that is about a foot or two away and starts to climb out. Don’t mind that you are 15′ in the air!

I was so worried my foot was going to slip or my hand would lose a grip. My heart was racing when I landed on the pier. I then told everyone, they were picking me up on the dock when we were done! LOL

Hauling out the boat

We had one hour to have Chuck inspect the hull, drives, propellers and trim tabs. Since I won a free power wash at the Seattle Boat Show, I had them power wash the bottom, so we could get a clearer picture of what it looked like.

Remember what Kokomo looked like when we hauled out? Not only did it need to be painted, but all of the zincs were shot! (see below)

Well, shockingly this boat was in perfect shape! (still seems odd to me, since they say the last time they hauled out was in 2014!) So strange, but that’s great news!

Poor Chuck was soaked from inspecting the hull while they pressure washed it!

Time to head back for home & sea trials

An hour and $425 later, it was time to put the boat back in the water.

Remember, I wasn’t going back the same way I came! Watching the guys, they don’t look thrilled either.

We left Seaview boatyard around 11:15am and headed out to Elliott Bay. Once out in the bay, Chuck had Scott run the engines, while he checked them. Remember, these are twin Cummins diesel engines. From our cruising speed of 11 knots/1000 RPMs, Chuck had us increase the RPMs to 1500, then to 2000 and then to wide open at 2500 RPMs. You would never run a semi-displacement boat at that speed, as it’s not only not good for the engines, but you would get terrible fuel consumption. For the best fuel consumption, between 1000-1200 RPMs is ideal.

What we did learn about diesel engines is three primary things:

Never ever run out of gas (remember our story from September?)
When cruising with diesel engines, it is important to run at 80% of your max RPM during your last 20 minutes of cruising. That’s important to remember if you plan on only cruising the bay.
When docking, leave the engines running at idle for about 5 minutes to allow them to cool off. Unlike gas engines, diesel engines cool off while running versus after they shut down.

Once back at the dock, the last thing to check was the infamous tender – did it run? Steve dropped it (sort of) into the water, then Scott climbed into it haphazardly and was able to start it. The running lights work, but maybe not the CD Player. LOL

Survey results?

Well it wouldn’t be a boating journey story if there wasn’t a snag right? Remember when we trying to close on Kokomo and the owner kept going out of town, so it took a month? Let’s hope that’s not the case this time.

Long story short, the survey and inspection came back pretty good. We do have to some work, nothing too major and Lake Union Sea Ray Service Department can do all of the work. Scott and I have accepted the survey and now we wait to go to escrow next week – we hope! Our lender requires our boat be documented with the Coast Guard. We are waiting for the documentation reports to make sure it’s not a stolen boat before we can go to escrow. Guess what? The Coast Guard is a bit back logged due to the government shutdown.

Then we are scheduled to close on Weds, March 6th – but Scott will be in Miami, FL. This title company doesn’t like to use “power of attorney” signatures, so he either needs to find a notary in Miami or be present. So our hope is that we move it to Thursday, March 7th if the Coast Guard docs come back in time – the night we fly out to the Caribbean on our tall ship cruise. If that doesn’t happen, it will have to be postponed until we return, mid-March.

Then what?

Once we take possession, our broker Steve will spend time with both us teaching us how to dock it and back it out of the slip. Everyone says it will be much much easier than our old boat, so let’s hope so. Since we will be taking it to Lake Union Sea Ray for service, we’ll go thru the Ballard Locks with Steve that same day and get some time under our belts (he can dock it at the shop though) 😉

So stay tuned! Our next update will most likely be our trip to the Caribbean and not about the boat! We have some work to do on it, both mechanically and aesthetically and we’ll share all of that with you too, once we are official.

As always, thank you for following our blog! Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube @BoatingJourney #boatingjourney

Watch our full sea trial and survey on Episode 29 on our YouTube channel here:

Cheers, Scott and Ally

February 20, 2019June 14, 2019

Sea Trial & Survey Tomorrow!

Getting ready for Sea Trials, Survey & Inspection!

Tomorrow (Wednesday, February 20th ) is an exciting day for us! We made an offer on a 2002 Bayliner 4087 CPMY (cockpit motor yacht) with an aft cabin and it was accepted! Tomorrow we go to sea trials, survey & mechanical inspection. But let’s go back to how this all came about.

The boat is currently moored at Elliott Bay Marina, which is where we moored our first boat Kokomo. About a month ago, Scott found this listing and suggested we look it while we were wandering around the marina.

Paul of Elliott Bay Yacht Sales, was nice enough to show us the boat that afternoon. Honestly, we expected that we wouldn’t really like it (sounds terrible I know). But we’ve looked at many boats over the past few months and they all have either stunk or were dirty or were way over-priced. On top of that, big tall boats are a bit intimidating to us.

Scott and I jumped on board and were immediately surprised by the tricked out dinghy! I talked about that in our last blog. As we opened the door to the salon, I was not expecting much. But low and behold I was pleasantly surprised by everything. First and most important, it doesn’t stink!! This is huge for us. The galley is large with lots of storage. It has a large fridge, three burner stove AND an oven! Thinking back on how I was preparing meals for six of us in the San Juan Islands on Kokomo now, is frightening. You can actually mingle in the salon and have someone cooking in the galley. LOL The staterooms are plenty roomy too, along with the heads. Once everything is finalized, we’ll give you a full tour!

We made the plunge

Working the boat show, I just couldn’t stop thinking about that boat and neither could Scott. So we made the plunge and made an offer! Our offer was accepted about a week and half ago and we immediately scheduled the sea trials and survey. We are hauling out at Sea View Boat Yard at 10am tomorrow to have the hull inspected and we’ll be along for the trip. This will be our second boat, second sea trial and second haul out. I have to wonder if it will be totally different or much of the same?

As you know, I’m a weather nut and the forecast during the sea trial is snow with a small craft advisory! So this will certainly be a trip to remember. I feel confident it will be smooth, since we’ll have our broker, Steve Thoreson from Union Marine (where I work) with us. Steve is a certified yacht broker with over 25 years experience with yachts and he’ll also be teaching us how to operate and dock the boat too!

Be sure to stay tuned and we’ll give you a full update on the findings and where we go from here! Until next time! Cheers, Scott and Ally

Thank you for following our blog! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney #PNWBoater

February 4, 2019March 7, 2019

2019 Seattle Boat Show

A Tour of the 2019 Seattle Boat Show

This year’s boat show was a completely different experience for Scott and I. As you all know, I joined Lake Union Sea Ray in September and my company is the largest boat dealer on the west coast. Our portfolio includes Sea Ray, Bayliner, Heyday, Boston Whaler, Lowe, Monte Carlo Yachts, Nautique and MasterCraft. Our 34,000 square foot exhibit was the largest in boat show history by any single dealer featuring over 90 boats. The setup for this show takes five days and as the Marketing Manager, I was definitely busy! The Seattle Boat Show is a nine day event at the Century Link Field Event Center and at South Lake Union.

What’s really impressive is the amount of work that goes into setting up a boat show!

Walking the show

Each year, Scott and I walk the show with a plan – we’re either looking for a boat, researching a marina or buying supplies. This year we only had a limited time to walk it, since I was working the entire time. I did take my badge off, so I wasn’t a dealer walking through other dealer’s display. Not owning a boat right now, we really don’t have a need for any supplies. But we did look at a boat a week ago and if we buy it, we’ll need a few things.

At Century Link Event Center, they have two floors of exhibits. Whether you are looking for a new toilet, anchor, electronics, charter companies or boats, you’ll find it at the Seattle Boat Show. One of my favorite vendors is NautiGirl Apparel – I buy a couple of shirts every year.

What? We looked at a boat last week?

Yes, you heard that right. We’re going back this week to take a second look with Steve Thoreson, our broker from Lake Union Sea Ray. If we feel good about it, we’ll make an offer! But more about that, next time.

Scott and I did check out a few mattress vendors and dinghys. The boat we are looking at, has a heavy duty davit system and the dinghy is stored horizontally. With a 5’ beam, that extends our LOA and slip size requirements. We thought about getting a new system to store it vertically, allowing us in a smaller slip, but it’s not really feasible. I did learn that inflatable dinghies come in two different types of materials – synthetic rubber (Hypalon or neoprene) or plastic polymers (PVC or urethane). Synthetic rubber will last much longer as it is more UV resistant than plastic polymers, but they are twice the price. One dinghy we liked from Waypoint Marine Group was the Highfield Classic 340 Hypalon, regularly $5490.

Dinghy Shopping

I also priced out dinghy motors at the Seattle Boat Show. Our old dinghy only had a 4 hp motor and you can go up to 9.9hp without having to register the boat. Turns out that a motor with an electric starter isn’t that much more than a manual starter. Either way, we’re still looking at spending at least $2000 on a motor. Why all this dinghy shopping? Because the boat we’re looking at comes with this tricked out dinghy that with the motor weighs over 700lbs! We’re a little worried about the aft weight and we’ll see how it cruises during the sea trial.

The funny thing is that this dinghy not only has a tower, but it comes with GPS, VHF and a stereo with a CD Player! Imagine what our marina neighbors will think as we cruise around! Guess we’ll wait until we cross that bridge.

South Lake Union Boats Afloat Display

After checking out a few boats at Century Link, we headed down to South Lake Union. Of course I’m a bit biased as I think we had the best display on the lake! We had six of our larger Sea Rays on the water, including our L590 Fly, 510 Sundancer, 460 Sundancer, 400 Sundancer and the 330 Sundancer.

Sea Ray L590 Yacht

One yacht that stood out, was a Sea Spirit trawler. This was a beautiful classically built boat. Every detail was thought out. The cruising range on this boat is 3800 miles! If we won the lottery, I would consider buying this beauty.

The coolest thing on this Sea Spirit was the flag feature – they have a flag for all of the major countries! If you aren’t familiar with flag etiquette, here’s a great link from our friends at S/V Totem.

It can be yours for only $17,000 per month

Okay, let’s be real. If you need to know what your monthly payment is with financing on a $3m yacht, you probably shouldn’t be spending that kind of money. We thought it was hilarious that this 75′ yacht had a price sign showing its monthly payment of only $17,000 per month! While it was nice, it was not warm and cozy to us.

Coolest feature on a Trawler!

We also checked out Sea Bear a Swift Trawler. While we are not big fans of trawlers, Sea Bear was nicely designed. In fact, it even had a dumb waiter for drinks up to the bridge!

The weather this year, was fantastic for most of the boat show! Imagine doing an on the water boat display in January in Seattle! We were so lucky to have sunny days for most of the show.

Catamarans

It was seven years ago, when Scott and I first toured a catamaran at the Seattle Boat Show. It was a 35′ Lagoon and we were hooked. Since then, we have checked out other catamarans at the Miami and the Annapolis Boat Shows. There just are not that many cats in the PNW – probably because they require such a wide slip.

This year, they had three cats at the show. The first one we toured was the Lagoon. After being on so many cats over the years, this is not our favorite anymore. The cabin/cockpit seems to shallow and small for us.

The next cat we toured was the Nautitech Open 40 which was set up as an “owner’s version”. An “owner’s version” has a full stateroom and head on one side, versus two staterooms. That’s called a “charter version”. It was fairly roomy, but again, I probably would remove the couch feature. This was our favorite cat in the show.

We finished walking the show, just as it was closing on the lake. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous over Seattle.

Stay tuned this week to see what happens with the boat we are looking at. We could be embarking on yet another boating adventure!

Thanks for following our blog! Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Below is our YouTube video of the full tour!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

January 21, 2019January 21, 2019

Tourists in Seattle

We might as well be tourists while living in Seattle

Seattle has so much to offer and last weekend we decided to be tourists in our own city. After checking out the waterfront, we headed to the Space Needle to see its remodel. The Space Needle underwent a major renovation last summer, removing the restaurant and replacing it with a rotating glass floor observation deck.

While waiting to get to the top, the lobby ramp tells the entire story of the Space Needle.

Since it’s not tourist season yet, we were able to get up to the observation tower in just a few minutes. You start at the very top and then move down to the floor below (where the restaurant used to be). Now they serve wine and beer, along with snacks and small bites (hot dogs, nachos, etc).

Amazing 360 degree views

It was absolutely beautiful last Sunday, so our views were amazing! Imagine if you were a tourist in Seattle seeing this for the first time!

After a few minutes, we both got the courage to stand on the actual glass floor. The glass bottom observation deck also rotates very slowly.

If you haven’t taken a tour yet of the newly remodeled Space Needle, I highly recommend it. It was pretty awesome and a fun thing to do. Next week, the Seattle Boat Show starts on January 25th – so stay tuned for the full tour and update on our boat search. As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. @BoatingJourney #boatingjourney

Cheers! Scott and Ally

January 14, 2019January 21, 2019

Buh Bye Viaduct

It’s time to say goodbye to Seattle’s Viaduct

On Friday, the last car drove across Seattle’s Viaduct as they get ready to close it after 66 years. The viaduct is a two level highway (99) that ran along Seattle’s waterfront – it has gorgeous views of Elliott Bay and DT Seattle, but it is also very old and wouldn’t last in a major earthquake.

A tunnel will replace the viaduct, which is set to open around mid-February after eight years of construction. There is a lot of history and politics behind the tunnel, as not everyone agreed with replacing the viaduct with a toll tunnel that offers less lanes. Read more about there here.

Exploring Seattle’s Waterfront

The weather was gorgeous this weekend, with record temps reaching almost 60 degrees. So Scott and I decided to head down to Seattle’s waterfront to get some exercise, soak up some sun near the water and see what the viaduct looks like now.

The first thing we noticed, was how QUIET the waterfront is now that there are not thousands of cars driving on the viaduct. The scenery was beautiful as we walked from pier to pier. One thing we miss the most about not owning the boat anymore, is spending time on Elliott Bay.

Wings over Washington

There are two attractions on Pier 57, Wings of Washington and the Great Wheel.

I’m terrified of heights, so I have no desire to ever go on the Great Wheel. But we did decide to check out Wings of Washington. It was very cool, but not for the faint of heart. You are strapped in and then the seats go up into the air and you experience an aerial adventure over Washington State. It lasts about 10 minutes, which is about all I could handle!

From there, we walked up to Pike Place Market to see what the viaduct looked like from above.

It really is surreal to have no cars flying by. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. One thing Scott and I love about living in DT Seattle, is being a tourist for the day. We truly live in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Tomorrow we’re planning on spending the day on Lake Union, so stay tuned! Thank you for following us. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter too @BoatingJourney

Cheers! Scott and Ally

January 7, 2019January 7, 2019

Welcome to 2019

Happy New Year & Welcome to 2019!

Hard to believe that we are already one week into 2019! We hope you all had a wonderful New Year. In looking back at all of the things we did last year, Scott and I are looking forward to more fun to come in 2019.

We rang in the New Year with family and friends at our apartment, with yet another great firework’s show on the rooftop. Unlike the July 4th celebration, it wasn’t as crowded, but it was icy and cold! The morning started out with angry skies and soon, the entire city was engulfed in fog.

Every year, we celebrate the new year with our fondue party and casino night. It has always been a small gathering, so moving into a small apartment didn’t have much affect on our party.

Rooftop Fireworks

Scott and I purposely selected this apartment building for the views from the rooftop. Last summer we enjoyed watching the boats on Lake Union every night over a glass of wine. The July 4th fireworks are set off from a barge in the middle of the lake.

We were shocked to see, how many boats were on the lake for NYE!

The Space Needle is southwest from our building, but we still have a great view from our rooftop.

For those of you who don’t know, the Space Needle had a major remodel this year and so they planned a huge fireworks show. Having never seen the show in person before, we were not sure what to expect. The show certainly did not disappoint! It could have been longer, but it was still pretty cool!

What’s in store for 2019?

This should be a very busy year for Scott and I. We’re starting the year with the Seattle Boat Show – this will be my 21st year attending and my first year working! This is a crazy time for boat dealers, as we work long hours everyday leading up to the show and after.

Then we head to the Caribbean on March 7th for our first ever cruise. This is not your typical cruise, as it only has 170 people and we’re sailing on a tall ship.

no boat what's next — Star Flyer of Star Clippers

Our annual trip to the Anacortes Boat Show is in May – again, I’ll be working. This will be the theme for the rest of our summer as I attend our monthly boating rendezvous events. Are we shopping for a boat? Yes, but it has to be exactly what we are looking for and that, we are still trying to figure out. So stay tuned! Thank you for following our blog. Our next big update will be a tour of the Seattle Boat Show.

Happy New Year! Scott and Ally

Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney

December 24, 2018June 14, 2019

What a year it has been!

2018 was a year to remember!

They say time flies as you get older and 2018 flew by for us. Sadly, we started the year, by saying goodbye to Mac on January 18th – the same day my dad died in 2002. We have been through some tragic times and I have to say that this was one of the most difficult things Scott and I have dealt with. Mac really made an impact on so many people.

This was just the start of the changes we would experience in 2018. Next, we began the hunt for an apartment in the city and purging our belongings. It’s one thing to “talk about your plans”, but it’s another thing when it actually happens! As we were selling our house, we were also hauling out our boat for the first time. What an experience that was!

City Folk

Scott and I have been talking for years about downsizing and living on a boat. Finally, 2018 was a our year to make the move! And what a crazy time this was for us. I was interviewing, we were working on the boat and the house and preparing to move, all at the same time! When it finally all came to fruition, it was a bit surreal, but we were ecstatic. We love our new digs!

With all of our activities living in the city and traveling this summer, Scott and I didn’t get a chance to go on as many boating trips as we would have liked. Living in the city, we took advantage of the sights nearby. Soon after we moved in, we took our annual trip to the Anacortes Boat Show with our good friends Nick and Michelle. This is smaller, intimate boat show and a fun getaway.

2018 Boating Season

Scott and I did start boating season on a trip to Poulsbo in June with our good friends Ben & Maria and what a start it was! We had historical record tides and 22 knot winds. Yet, we made it through Agate Pass and at the marina (yet a bit banged up.)

One of the perks of living in our new apartment, is the view of Lake Union – especially on July 4th! Though we owned a boat, we had no desire to join the mayhem of the lake party. Honestly, I can’t imagine being around that many boats at one time! LOL

Where else did we travel to?

As summer was underway, Scott and I planned a couple more trips. Next was Gig Harbor and this time we stayed at Arabella’s Landing. This is such a nice and easy trip from Seattle and there’s so much to do in Gig Harbor!

We squeezed in another trip to Kingston this summer and traveled with some of our great friends, Randy, Cory, Stacy, Ben and Maria! Kingston offers concerts on the lawn at the marina, so it’s always a great time!

Once we returned from Kingston, we put Kokomo up for sale. We had only planned on owning the boat for one summer, as we prep for moving onto our live-aboard. Over Labor Day Weekend, we went through the locks one more time and enjoyed Lake Washington before we said goodbye to Kokomo.

Going under the Montlake Bridge

Of course, this was right after we broke down in our marina! LOL That’s a funny story in itself. Why? Well, because I had just joined Lake Union Sea Ray and I called them to go diagnose the issue. Find out what happened here.

Good Bye to Kokomo, Friends and Elliott Bay Marina

Within a few weeks of listing Kokomo, we got an offer from a really nice couple. Now was time to say goodbye to not only the boat, but all of our friends at Elliott Bay Marina. It’s funny how close you all can become in just a matter of a year. We know we’ll be back soon, but it was still a pretty emotional day for us.

Olympic Mountains

As the year comes to end, Scott and I are thankful for all of the great memories we had on Kokomo. We are continuing to look for our liveaboard and more importantly, a slip that will hold a 50’+ boat. In the meantime, I am loving my new job at Union Marine and gearing up for the Seattle Boat Show in January. Then we are headed to the Caribbean on a 7 day cruise through the Leeward Islands on the tall ship Star Flyer with our good friends Ben and Maria in March! We can’t wait.

Just this week, we learned that our blog has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 20 Boat Blogs on the web. How cool is that!

https://blog.feedspot.com/boat_blogs/

Keep following us for new updates in the New Year! Thank you for all of your support this year and we look forward to sharing our journey with you. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cheers, Scott and Ally