3444 Marinatown Lane N.W.  *  North Fort Myers FL  33903
1-800-262-7939 * 239-656-1339 * Email: info@swfyachts.com

E-YARDARM March 2007

Introducing our Passport to Cruising Alaska!

You are invited to join Southwest Florida Yachts for the cruising experience of a lifetime in beautiful Alaska.

You will cruise aboard the 65 foot  Malahide trawler, “Ursa Major.” The boat will cruise from Sitka to Petersburg (July 9-15) and back  to Sitka (July 17-23) in Southeast Alaska. 

There are two double cabins available on each trip - one couple or two singles per cabin with  a lower double and upper single berth in each.  The two cabins will share a large head with shower.

You may join us for one or both weeks!  (Boarding will be on July 9^th in Sitka or July 17^th in Petersburg.) 

You’ll marvel at the natural beauty of Southeast Alaska at the height of the whale and bear season.  You’ll dine on gourmet food from “Ursa’s” galley, including homemade bread, soups and desserts each day! 

Cost - $3500 per person per week for the yacht and crew, including all meals.   “Ursa Major” has a full-time Captain, Crew and Cook on board.  You can sit back and enjoy the scenery or navigate alongside the Captain in the pilothouse.

Southeast Alaska is serviced by Alaska Airlines from Seattle.  Give Barb Hansen a call if you are interested in this cruising adventure.  Vic and Barb have cruised aboard the “Ursa” and have seen, first hand, the awesome beauty of Alaska – up close and personal.  As the owner of “Ursa Major” says, “friends don’t let friends see Alaska from a Cruise Ship!”  Consider Vic and Barb your friends!   They promise that if you love cruising and you love trawlers and you love nature and you love good food and making new friends, you’ll love this cruise! 

Give us a call for our Alaska cruise flyer.  We hope you will plan to see Alaska this summer aboard the “Ursa Major!”

March Cruising World article spotlights Southwest Florida!

Cruising World

Editor, Pierce Hoover recently sailed with us aboard our Catalina 34 . In his article, “Passing Through,” Pierce introduces his young son, Nash to the adventure and joy of cruising Southwest Florida. Why not plan a family cruise aboard a sail or power yacht and take some family time in paradise. Sanibel, Captiva, Cayo Costa, Gasparilla and all of our beautiful barrier islands await you with everything from dolphins shows to dinghy adventures. Pick up a copy of the March Cruising World today!

Adventures in Retirement
By Barb Hansen

Thanks to medical science we are living longer. Thanks to ibuprofen, we’re also functioning longer.

Retirees, especially, are beneficiaries. With time and a bottle of friendly caplets on their side they can do things earlier generations of retirees could not. Instead of sitting in a rocker and watching re-runs of Golden Girls, retirees today are sitting in a catbird seat and self-directing their lives into new and exciting adventures.

I know this because in my job as proprietor of a yacht school and chartering enterprise I have been privileged to talk to some of these adventurers and I am watching the first wave of boomers plan and take action for the best years of their lives.

Bruce and Margaret Ellen have chartered with us many times. When Bruce retired they cruised from Myrtle Beach on the East Coast to Fort Myers then back again. In two years they put 270 hours and 3,000 miles on their boat.

I put Richard and Suzy Koths of Michigan in this category. Though some years away from retirement, the Koths own a 42-foot motoryacht which they put into our charter fleet. It helps pay for the boat, upgrades and upkeep. When they retire, they’ll already have their winter home in Florida adjacent to one of the great cruising destinations in the world.

Many people who attend our liveaboard yacht school are finishing up their careers and soon will have the time to do what they really want to do. Cruising is a big part of their retirement plan. More than once I have heard talk about cruising “The Great Loop.” Sometimes called the Great Circle Route, this is the continuous waterway that takes cruisers up the Atlantic Seaboard, across the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi, and along the Gulf of Mexico. They even have their own association.

Cruising the Great Loop seems somehow appropriate for our goal-setting culture. Buried in our careers we seek to build a nest egg and to provide for the future. Once security is in our sights, we look to fulfill another basic instinct -- adventure. An ambitious plan like cruising the Great Circle Route does that.

Cruising also is a civilized way to fulfill the deep-seated desire we all have to return to the basics. I call this satisfying our “call of the wild” instinct. Instead of a closet full of clothes and shoes, we bring onboard a duffel bag’s worth of basics and boat shoes. Cruisers know that so long as their clothes suit the weather their outfit is probably perfect for every occasion.

Once upon a time Dinah Shore sang about seeing the USA in your Chevrolet. Today, she could be singing about seeing the USA in your cruising boat. Cruising is a great way to see the USA without having to pull your wheeled vehicle into a gas station every few hours and an interstate motel every night. When you’re cruising, you don’t have to pack and unpack every night. With cruising, your castle is also your mode of transport. It’s fun. It’s scenic. It’s very economical. It’s romantic.

Today’s new generation of retirees are redefining “sailing into the sunset.”

For more information on charters, classes, charter yacht ownership, or brokerage yachts for sale, please call us at 1-800-262-7939 or 239-656-1339.
E-mail: info@swfyachts.com

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