POTW: Friends in Florida

Living Flag

Feb 23, 2022

Bruce Honig of Hollywood, Florida sent our Photo of the Week this time. Bruce writes:

We are boaters in Florida, and have been for the last 50 years. Most of journeys are local which is the Miami Beach area. But over the years we have taken our boat to Key West, FL., Jacksonville, FL., Indiantown, FL. and the Bahamas.

We chartered a boat in BC. We visited the Broughton Islands. We left from Alert Bay (near Pt. McNeil, BC) on Vancouver Island.

I love aluminum boats, but they are not popular in Miami Beach, because most people here claim that you can’t have an aluminum boat in salt water.

NOT TRUE! At the Miami Boat Show where there are close to 1,000 boats on display, at best there might be just 1 aluminum boat.

I called the Princecraft factory and the Lund factory and asked them which boat show features the most aluminum boats on display. They told me there are hundreds of aluminum boats on display at the Toronto boat show, and the Seattle boat show. So every year I would go to the Toronto Boat show one year (I have been five times) and then the Seattle boat show the following year.

I ended up getting a Princecraft aluminum boat made in Quebec, which we had for 13 years. We currently have a Starcraft aluminum boat for 6 years.

This shot is from Living Flag Day in Victoria. On the big grassy field that they choose to do the event, the event planners layout with string and rope the outlines of the Canadian flag. Certain areas are for the white shirts and other areas are for the red shirts.

About 2,500 people take part of the event. From the air with a drone or helicopter you can see the living maple leaf flag of Canada.

As far as we know we were the only Americans partaking in the event, and we got to meet dozens of nice Canadian people.


Neptunus 650F Review

Neptunus 650F 400

By Andy Adams

Over the years Canadian Yachting has had the pleasure of doing several boat review articles on new Neptunus models and we are familiar with the qualities that Neptunus is famous for. They have all been exceptional yachts, but this is the one I would most want to own myself. It’s a personal choice and a matter of taste as to whether you would prefer to have a sedan express model or a flybridge but in my opinion, the flybridge layout offers some wonderful attributes.

We met with Neptunus Managing Director Jan Willem De Jong this past fall to take the new Neptunus 650F out in Lake Ontario. 

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Destinations

The Other Virgin Islands

Sunset off St John

By Mark Stevens

I was first seduced by the United States Virgin Islands during a ferry ride from St. Thomas to Tortola to begin one of our earliest British Virgin Islands charters nearly twenty years ago.

A perfect sunset off St. John with St. Thomas views for backdrop.

Clearing Pillsbury Sound, surrounded by voluptuous emerald mountains as the ferry sliced through royal blue waters, I was struck by the unspoiled ambiance of St. John, the island gliding past our starboard beam and the irresistible charm of a village called Cruz Bay visible from our quarter stern.

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