Well we were stuck on this side of the Western side of the Cascades waiting for the passes to open. Let’s explore, So off to Anacortes we went and almost derailed the trip across the USA for a different kind of Adventure. We were driving around Anacortes and we saw more big boats in dry dock than we had ever seen before. Staci and I started saying oh that’s our boat no wait that’s it.
Well we were at a place where we were right next to some nice looking yachts and we were saying that these actually were what we were seeing out in the bay’s of the San Juan Islands. A plastic holder that holds the sales info was sitting on the fence. Staci said “I wonder how much they are? For kicks I jumped out and grabbed one. I am amazed at the amount of pleasant surprises we keep encountering on this voyage. This was another one. We started matching up the Boats/yachts we could see to the prices and we could afford them. Well we thought and discussed, Discussed some more. Still waiting on Northern Cascades passes to clear, We have nothing but time, let’s go in and see if this is a possibility for now or later. So we decided the next day we would go look at some big boats/yachts.
Side note (now that I have photos) notice the Walkway at the back of the Yacht/boats This allows you look at a lot of boats in a very short amount of Time. This is what allowed us to really narrow our Boat Choice to just 48′ to 60′ This size was big enough for our needs and we could pilot the Boat ourselves.
One of the first Yachts we looked at and realized we could afford it and there was enough room to live on it. We actually ended up doing this yacht hunt for 3 days and saw virtually every boat for sale no matter what the cost or Size in Anacortes, WA. Staci still thinks the 210 foot old coast guard ship might have been a bargain. I wish we had a photo of that Gem. The other one I wish we had a photo is of the first Boat that we saw while exploring in Anacortes. It was a wreck, but a big 50 foot wreck and we both said at the same time hey there is a yacht we can afford. We still laugh about it. It did lead us to all the others. So every time we drove by it on our searches for our yacht we would smile. Our 1st yacht.
This 50 ft was a contender, (we looked at a similar, but not this one in the photo) but not a true pilothouse, so we ruled it out. We learned all kinds of lingo and our Favorite yachts tended to be Pilothouse versions. This gave you another room to hang out and when you can’t get off the boat we thought that important. Turned out we really wanted a mid-ship cabin as well which led to us realizing we needed to go up closer to the 60 foot range. This size turned out to be perfect for us to live on.
Our choice and winner was a 54′ yacht similar to this in style and look. She was a beauty and we were really getting super excited this could happen right now. So why aren’t we sailing the San Juan islands right now.
Wellllll Turns out that the minute you go over 50′ The costs skyrocket on where you are going to dock your boat, If you could find a dock. There was a 2 to 3 year waiting list for yachts that size. You can not moor in State Parks (45 foot or less) and there is a whole lot of other things that over 50′ causes problems with. That then would explain now why they are so damm affordable. These yachts are well over a couple of million dollars brand new, yet quite a few available and affordable ten years later. No one can afford to maintain or keep them anywhere. It really was a crushing development for us. I mean some of the 45 foot boats not half as nice this, were going for 3 to 4 times as much this one and now we know why. So we really were torn up about this. The 45′ footers just did not fit us or if they did, were well out of our price range, way out. Know why they are so desired now. We know we will be back to look at this lifestyle again in the future. Thus for now we said we will continue our voyage across the USA in our 40′ Big Country Land Yacht.
We would like to thank Scott and Amy of Bananabelt Yachts, they were absolutely fantastic in showing us and talking to us about everything you need to know about yachts. They definitely are the ones to go to find a yacht if you are looking. They will never know how so close we were to pulling the trigger for the San Juan Island lifestyle.