Category: Living in Florida

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2003 Westship 103′ Sportfish Tour

Scott and I had the rare opportunity to tour a Westship 103′ Sportfish a few weeks ago. Yes, you heard me right! This yacht is 103′ long and there are only two in the world including this one! We have never been on a sportfish before and this tour totally shocked us. This yacht is absolutely stunning and beautiful!

Exterior Tour

Since we have never been deep sea fishing or spent time on a sportfish, we won’t attempt to use the right lingo in the description or tour. This yacht is for sale by OneWater Yacht Group and there is a full detailed description on the listing here.

Right now, the yacht is docked at the owner’s house just north of Fort Lauderdale. Imagine owning a home on the water with space for a 103′ yacht? What I loved immediately are the steps to access the yacht.

On the stern, you have a large entertainment area plus two very large freezers. Where do they get ice to keep their fish cold you ask? This yacht comes with an ice-maker and an ice crusher!

On the lower deck, you will find all of the space for deep sea fishing, including a custom fishing chair in the center. There is also a live well on the lower level.

The walk arounds are nice and wide, which I love. However, most owners who own a yacht of this size have crew that handle their lines.

On the bow, they are storing a 17′ tender using a heavy duty crane.

Interior Space

You enter the interior, by pressing a button to open the slider doors. The doors open with air pressure and automatically close behind you.

Heading up to the captain’s bridge, you will find a huge helm station with gorgeous captain chairs. The leather of these chairs is as soft as baby skin!

The bridge is also a spot more entertaining. Imagine going fishing, then hanging out up in the bridge watching your favorite football team!

Head back down stairs and you find a beautiful salon and wet bar. This yacht is almost twenty years old, but it doesn’t show it. The soft goods are timeless and this yacht smells great!

If you prefer to dine inside, the dining room has space for six to eight guests. Remember, this is a fishing boat! What fishing boat has a dining room like this? Well, the Westship Sportfish obviously does.

The galley is located next to the dining room and this galley is larger than the one in our apartment!

Sleeping Quarters

Next we head down to the sleeping quarters. Here you will find four staterooms. Two are mirrored with twin beds and forward you will find a VIP stateroom with an island berth.

The master stateroom on this Westship Sportfish has more storage than our apartment too!

Engine Room

There are crew quarters and if you watch the video (see below), Scott will take you on a tour. You access the engine room through the crew quarters. This yacht is powered by twin MAN MTU 16V2000M91 diesel engines with 2000HP. Scott is over 6′ tall and he was able to stand in the engine room!

We hope you liked this tour. For more details, be sure to watch the full YouTube video tour.

As always, thank you for following our blog! Be sure to subscribe to our vlog on YouTube and follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Next week we head to FLIBS (Fort Lauderdale Int’l Boat show) for our first time ever, so tune in next week.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

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1996 Hatteras 52′ Tour

Scott and I toured a 1996 Hatteras 52′ Yacht this week that is for sale by Denison Yachting. This yacht is a fantastic liveaboard and it comes with a liveaboard slip. It is moored in the Loggerhead Marina in Hollywood, FL which is about 40 minutes south of us.

Since this yacht is 26 years old, I was expecting it to be run down and stinky. To my surprise, this yacht is in fantastic condition and has no smell at all! Wow, that has to be a first for us. It was nice to tour a Hatteras and see how it should look like. Remember last summer, when we flew to Fort Lauderdale and toured a Hatteras? I still can’t believe that yacht was for sale!

Tour this Hatteras 52′

Normally in my blog, I write about our latest YouTube episode. This time, I decided to keep it short and have you watch the tour on YouTube. Pictures just don’t do it justice. What I loved about this yacht, is that the owner made it very homey. It has couches that you would find in your home, he created an office space and the salon even has a fireplace. That’s exactly what we’re looking for.

You are probably wondering if we are interested in it for ourselves? It’s almost in our budget and comes with a liveaboard slip, so why are we not jumping at the bit you ask? Well, tune in to our channel in the coming weeks, as we will talk about boating in Florida. Insurance, financing and the costs of slips are much different than Seattle and that’s because we are in Hurricane territory. We won’t be buying a boat until at least next Spring after we do our research and figure out what we can afford. Plus our lease isn’t up until April and our plan is not to have a condo and a boat.

If you are interested in this yacht, contact Paul Denton at Denison Yachting. You can find his information and the listing here.

As always, thank you for following our journey. Please be sure to subscribe to our channel and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Tune in next week, as we head to the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

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Exploring Key West & Duck Key

Last month, Scott and I headed back to The Keys and stayed at Duck Key for our friend Jared’s 40th birthday. We met Jared and his family in Seattle when we owned The Wine Alley and became good friends. Our group rented houses in Duck Key near Marathon in The Keys. The trip to Duck Key took us about two and half hours, as we did not run into any traffic this time.

Since our VRBO wasn’t ready when we arrived, we decided to take our friends to Robbie’s for lunch. If you haven’t been to Robbie’s before, it’s a must see, as it is very eclectic and they have great food.

Scott and I were at Robbie’s in February 2015 when we owned The Wine Alley. There are dollar bills pinned everywhere, so back in 2015 we pinned one up. I searched and searched for our bill, but I couldn’t find it. Let us know if you find it some day!

We just got new stickers, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add ours.

In addition, Robbie’s is known for feeding the Tarpon. Be sure to watch our YouTube episode – this scene is hilarious. You do have to watch out for the pelican when you are handling fish.

Staying in Duck Key

Duck Key is an island on the east side of US 1 and is built much like Fort Lauderdale, with numerous canals.

The townhome that Scott and I rented was part of a large HOA on the island. We had an end unit with a southern view that was fantastic! Surprisingly, the rates were fairly affordable considering it was Labor Day Weekend.

Our backyard was also home to plenty of friendly iguanas.

That evening, our group of thirty headed to the Lazy Days restaurant for dinner. Here we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Having had a sunset view for the past twenty years, we really do miss seeing this every night.

Exploring Key West

The last time Scott and I were in Key West (February 2015), we got a surprising warning on my phone. The weather channel had just issued a freeze warning – their first ever! Great, all we brought with us was shorts, flipflops and tank tops. We barely spent any time in Key West, because we were so cold.

Our group parked in the garage next to the Opal Key resort (where we will be staying in December) and explored the city by foot.

Key West is a very walkable city with lots to see. You can also take a trolly through the city if you didn’t want to walk. If you love museums, shopping, restaurants, bars and live music, this is your place. There is plenty to choose from.

The other cool part about this city is that they have kept all of the historical buildings (and trees) in great condition.

When we return in December, we are planning on doing this ghost tour! If you have done this tour, let us know your thoughts. Also, if there is something we should definitely check out in Key West, let us know that too.

End of US 1

Turns out our group wasn’t that interested in the museums, so we decided to check out a few bars and restaurants. First stop was the Green Parrot.

After enjoying some amazing cocktails at the Green Parrot, it was time for lunch and we headed to the infamous Sloppy Joe’s Restaurant. They have music and yep, the original Slobby Joe is on the menu!

Key West Sights

Everywhere we walked, we came across one cool sight after another. Key West is not short on things to see. Check out his Banyan Tree below!

Key West even has a clothing optional bar and no, we did not visit this one!

We spent about five hours in Key West and then headed back to Duck Key to relax before dinner. The drive from Key West to Duck Key is just over an hour, depending on traffic.

Snorkeling in Duck Key

Our group originally had reserved a 22′ Hurricane bowrider boat, but the rental company screwed up and was overbooked. Time for plan B, and luckily I found Sole’ Watersports at Hawks Cay across from our VRBO. They offer daily snorkeling trips to the reef at Coffins Patch and Grassy Key Sandbar, located about five miles southeast of Duck Key.

The boat was a tourist style pontoon boat and it had a cover for protection from the sun.

The ride was smooth, but by the time we arrived to the reef bad weather was on its’ way. Our group still jumped in to snorkel. Though we saw plenty of fish, the 3′ swells did make it a bit uncomfortable, especially for the kids. In addition, our visibility was pretty limited due to the chop in the water.

Grassy Key Sandbar

We spent about an hour snorkeling and then we headed to Grassy Key Sandbar. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I have only been to a couple of sandbars. Let’s just say, it ended up being an epic day. The kids played, the adults imbibed and we soaked up some much needed sun.

The excursion left at 9am and we returned back to Duck Key around 1pm. We grabbed a quick lunch at Hawks Cay before getting ready for Jared’s 40th birthday party.

Visiting Duck Key

This was such a fun weekend and one we will not forget. We miss our friends and it was awesome seeing everyone. We wrapped up the three day weekend with a wonderful bbq dinner and celebration. Duck Key, we will certainly be back again!

As always, thank you for following our blog. Be sure to subscribe to our Boating Vlog on YouTube (see video below). You can also follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Next week, we’ll take you on a tour of a 1996 Hatteras 52′, so tune in.

Cheers, Scott & Ally

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Reflecting after Hurricane Ian

This has certainly been a heart breaking week in the wake of Hurricane Ian. When Scott and I moved to Florida, we knew that one of the biggest threats would be hurricanes. It wasn’t a matter of “if,” but rather “when” one hits. I have the NOAA hurricane app on my phone and I watch it regularly. On Friday, September 23rd Hurricane Ian was still only a tropical depression.

Preparing for Hurricane Ian

The following morning, Scott and I walked to the beach to watch the sunrise at 5:45am. It was a gorgeous morning and it was hard to believe that such a destructive storm was just a few hundred miles away. As you can see by the image above, we were not sure where it would hit.

We live on the 12th floor and our unit is surrounded by cement buildings. Scott and I were confident, that if a hurricane did hit us, we would actually be pretty safe here. Chances were we would lose power and be stuck on the 12th floor for a few days.

In Seattle, we worried about earthquakes and we had an “earthquake kit”. So when hurricane season arrived, we collected the items we thought we needed. This included plenty of drinking water, breakfast bars, canned protein, nuts, batteries, flashlights, straws that purify water, fans, crackers, jerky and fruit. Hurricane season is not over until mid November, so we still have about seven weeks to go. If we don’t end up using it, we’ll donate the food to the local food bank.

Watching the storm become Hurricane Ian

I drove to work on Monday, September 26th and it was raining a bit, but nothing too major. The weather forecasters did warn us of tropical storms approaching.

By Tuesday, September 27th we knew the west coast of Florida would get hit. My co-workers in Tampa were scrambling to evacuate or secure their homes, as they were going to get a direct hit. In the meantime, Fort Lauderdale started to get doused with torrential rains, thunder and lightening. It was pretty spectacular and frightening at the same time.

Not knowing how large Hurricane Ian would be, our offices decided to close on Wednesday, September 28th, the day it would make landfall. I woke up that morning wondering what we would experience. We had a lot of rain and winds were about 25mph. Living in Seattle, we were used to big wind storms – that was one of our biggest weather threats.

Somber realization

I kept the Weather Channel on throughout the day and as I watched the storm progress, my heart sank for everyone getting a direct hit. No longer was the hurricane heading directly to Tampa , but rather Naples and Fort Myers were now the direct target. My college roommate lives in Naples and I texted her right away. She texted back, with a photo of water streaming down her street and it was still rising. A few hours later, I checked in with her again and sadly, she had a foot of water on her entire first floor. Within just a few hours Fort Myers, Sanibel Island and Naples were destroyed by the storm surge. In many cases, the storm surge from Hurricane Ian was over 12 feet! Everything in its path was destroyed.

photo credit: Bloomberg

What’s hard to fathom is that half of our state is living life as they normally would, grocery shopping, boating, playing at the beach; while the other side is homeless, no power, no food and in many places they have no access to get out. It will take years to recover from this deadly storm and without actually seeing it in person, we have no concept of what they are going through. It is another reminder to never take what you have for granted. If you grumble every day you go to work, be grateful you have a job. If you grumble about traffic, be grateful you have roads and a car to drive in. This storm could have hit us too and while we would have been okay, our community would not have been.

This is truly a biblical event that we will never forget. I pray that hurricane season is over and that these communities can begin the recovery process soon.

Supporting the community after Hurricane Ian

There are many ways people can help in the wake of Hurricane Ian. I work for OneWater Yacht Group and I was extremely proud to learn that our parent company OneWater Marine was providing RVs for those employees who lost their homes. In addition, they launched a relief fund www. hurricanereliefnow.com.

Two other amazing organizations are the Red Cross & Florida Disaster Fund. They both could use your cash donations. While many of us want to drive supplies to the affected areas, we have found out that the area is still inaccessible.

As these communities begin to rebuild, give them your support. When they are ready for us, visit their hotels, restaurants and shops. They will need it.

Thank you for following our blog and journey.

Scott and Ally