Well, as you know we’ve been to both the Annapolis Show (largest Sailboat Show in the US), the Seattle Boat Shows and the Anacortes Boat Show. So we were very excited about the Miami Show. Unlike Annapolis, where they split the Power and Sailing into two weekends, Miami does both on the same weekend but different locations. With that said, we planned to attend the power show one day and the “Strictly Sail” the next. The tickets were $15 per person per day, so we bought 4 tickets.
We arrived on Sunday, Feb 15th and planned to do the power boats. We arrived at the Sea Isle Marina and asked where to go for the power boat show and a coordinator told us to get on the bus. Seemed odd, but we took it anyway. We were then dropped off at Collins Avenue (hmmm, the power boat show is at Sea Isle??). Turns out there is a third show, called the “Yacht Brokerage Show”, which is free and that’s where we have been dropped off at. They had 40 ramps of which different companies were exhibiting.
Now, this may sound exciting, but not so fast! Turns out to view the boats above you have to register at each ramp with every company and this was a manual type and enter process. (Why they don’t use an automated registration swipe card, I don’t know). After eight ramps, we gave up and chose to go back to the Miami Power Boat show, which we purchased tickets for. More on that later. But first, we did tour some boats at the Yacht Brokerage Show that we were interested in and made some good notes.
First up was the Meridian. We have been interested in the 49ft for awhile and they had the 44ft Sedan on display. What we like about the Meridian is they are set up for a live aboard. While we won’t be buying a new boat, we are getting ideas from the new ones for storage, amenities, etc.
The galley was roomy and the fridge was larger than most. Plenty of storage, which is priceless on a boat. Then the upper deck was also very roomy and great for entertaining, summer or winter. The counter behind me was a great entertainment center featuring a bbq grill, sink and then there were vents for cooling and heating.
Overall, the Meridian Sedan Bridge is one of our favorite yachts.
Then we toured the SeaRay 540 to get some ideas. While the SeaRays are what Scott and I call “weekenders….something you would go out for a weekend, but not live on”, this one did have some very cool things. Then again for $1.9 million dollars, it should! Here is its’ salon, galley and master head:
Induction flattop burners and sink with a cover, makes for more counter space. Very important.
Notice all of the cupboard space in the head!
Notice how big the shower is and how tall it is. That’s one of Scott’s priorities. We also like the railing on the shelf, to help keep things in their place.
We figured since their 540 was so nice, how would the 590 look? Check this bad boy out!!
Under the sofa was all storage and all along the wall on the left is also storage. Flat screen tv comes up along the left wall. Galley is nice and open to the salon.
Most boats don’t have great closets. This cedar closet was very well designed. Wide, deep and side storage.
Plenty of room to walk around the master stateroom, but not sure why the bed is in the corner at an angle. Seemed like a waste of space. However, the wood wall behind it was very cool!
This sitting area was also in the master stateroom and while some may like this area to get away, we wouldn’t use it.
Here’s a view from the galley looking into the salon. Tons of counter space AND storage in the galley. Then notice the seating area (white cushions)….there is more storage under all of them (see below.) Very creative!
The upper deck could easily entertain 10+ people. Very roomy. Notice on the bow of the boat, the cool canopy…..that’s a must!
This next boat, I forgot to note what model it is. But it had some cool inventive things, including hidden under the staircase the washer/dryer! The master stateroom had a great desk area, that could be used for an office or a makeup stand.
We’re not sure what the deal was with the floor below the toilet?? Seems like that would be uncomfortable for a guy to stand on.
So, now back to our story about the Miami Power Boat exhibit. We take the bus back to Sea Isle Marina and once again ask which way to the show. They point us towards the water. Duh! That’s where we started 2 hours ago. We walk out to the docks and they literally had only a handful of boats there :(. Now we know why everyone kept saying it was “very very small”. They had about 20 open bow fishing boats and about 3 motor yachts on display. To see the motor yachts, we had to register once again. Ugh. So much for those two $15 boat show tickets. The photo below is what it looked like!!
So instead of waiting til the next day to visit “Strictly Sail” show, we took yet another bus to that marina. This marina was much busier. It had a band, bars and a few exhibitors. Here we got to revisit our favorite catamarans and find some new discoveries.
First up was the Leopard 44. Leopard is one of our favorite cats. We would love to be able to afford a new one, but without winning the lottery, that won’t happen. Though it’s only 44′, it is extremely roomy and very open. Great for entertaining.
They did have their Leopard 48 on display and just a few feet longer really opens up this vessel.
After we toured the Leopards, we spent some time on the Lagoon 52. While this isn’t a cat we would buy personally, we would charter it. They are very roomy and ideal for large parties.
Then we toured the Saba 50 by Fountaine Pajot. What a gorgeous catamaran this year and definitely out of our price range. They had amazing amenities, things we could always add.
The show only had a few other catamarans on display and some of them were new to us. Smaller boutique brands. These cats were very high end, with some big luxury items. One cat’s head was all glass but if you touched it, it went opaque or you could change the mood lighting in the design on the glass. We also took photos of different storage ideas that would work great on a liveaboard.
This master head had lots of storage, which is so rare. It also had plenty of counter space too.
This galley had larger sinks. We will never understand why manufacturers use such tiny sinks on boats. Why not have one big one? The extra slim island gives you more counter space and storage underneith.
This master stateroom had a head on one side and then a vanity room on the other. That way two people could get ready at the same time.
Right next to this washer / dryer combo were these cubby holes. These would be great for quick storage, especially for things like towels, socks. etc.
Okay, I didn’t take this photo because I thought it had some good ideas…..I took it, because I’m still wondering how the person sleeping on the upper bunk gets up there?? Good luck with that!
While this might look like a photo of a washer/dryer, it was actually hidden behind a wall in the shower!! That space is often dead space anyway, so how creative!
Tall shower heads will be a must for Scott. We love how they maxed out the height on this one. But it’s adjustable, so short people like me, can move it back down!
Nice wide hallway. Obviously this is a luxury cat and the wood detail was amazing.
This master stateroom had a nice roomy office in it. Then they also had full size closets on either side of the desk. Wow.
What?! Say it ain’t so. A big long sink?? Love it! And then they used butcher block over it for a cutting board. Genius!
This is the shower that changes color or can go opaque. Cool, but necessary?
What we don’t understand about the shower, is why the glass doesn’t go farther up? If you are 6’2″ like Scott, water will still find it way out of the shower. Odd.
But their galley had tons and tons of storage. Everywhere you looked there was another drawer. Loved it.
Again, more storage in the floor boards. Not super deep, but any storage is priceless. So take advantage of every nook!
Overall, the Strictly Sail portion wasn’t too bad, considering the disappointment in the power boat show. We got to see a good amount of boats and enjoy some sunshine along the way. Would we go again, nope. Been there, done that. We would love to go back to Annapolis and this time visit their power boat show. We’ve been told it’s amazing!
by Kristen Miller. She and her husband are in their mid 20’s and buy a small sail boat and sail to the Caribbean via the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). They live a very primitive lifestyle. For example, during hurricane season, they rode out the season in the Dominican Republic in Luperon. Because they only had a couple hundred dollars to live off of for six weeks (before they could tap into their savings), they didn’t do much except exercise & clean the boat. I give them kudos to that, as I know we couldn’t do that. We would probably spend the days drinking and soaking up the sun.
is an autobiographical memoir beginning in 1999 when he came across an article about living in the Caribbean for $15,000 per year. Now he had to convince his wife. And so began his adventure and soon his second book,
came out in 2014. Finally in April 2015, his third book 
told a story about a sailor, John Silverwood they met one day. John & his wife Jean had two kids and they became friends while anchored one week. Soon that family had to set sail for Figi and then Australia. About one hundred & seventy miles into their trip, disaster struck. They were hit by a rogue wave, lost their boat and had to be rescued. John was severely injured and lost his leg in the ordeal. He also wrote a book about the event, called 
. While I try to only read happy go lucky in the sun type books, I was intrigued by this one, as it could save our lives some day. I haven’t read this one yet, but probably will wait until after our two sailing trips in Antigua. (that will be another blog, but we are so excited).
by Kelly Girl Waterhouse. Once again, this couple is from the PNW, specifically from Everett, WA. While the book doesn’t include their travels from Everett to Mexico (it begins in Mexico), it does detail the world circumnavigation, which is fascinating. Be sure to read it all the way to the last page and last sentence because it doesn’t end the way it looks like it will. This is a couple I will continue to follow!
by Becky Coffield. Again, another Pacific Northwest couple, this time from Portland, OR who buy a small sailboat, learn to sail and they sail from Oregon to Alaska back down south to Bora Bora. It takes place in the late 1970’s. Back then they didn’t have all of the fancy gizmos and electronics we have today or cell phones. That makes this story that much more amazing. It’s a definite read!!
