Planning for "Plan B"...

only 30 days left on our lease...but we'll be outta here in 12 days!!

Lisa and I spent the weekend looking at sailboats. There is a 44' Hunter Deck Salon in the bay area that's been for sale for a while. It's a used boat but with only 75 hours on the engine. We had been on a sister boat at the boat show a few years ago and really liked the look and the interior layout. The boat is no longer in production as it was replaced by the Hunter 45 DS. I went to the hunter website and asked for some info on the 45...a couple hours later I was getting a phone call from a dealer in Miami. One thing led to another and I had made plans for us to meet the gentleman in Palm Beach to look at the boat, a new 2008 Hunter 45 DS.

It was a very hot day with little breeze. Bob had started the air conditioning on the boat which was required. It was quite comfortable inside, the living space was awesome, with a very nice aft owners stateroom w/ensuite head and stand-up shower, the galley was ample, nav station had most of the required instruments (but lacked GPS) and the forward cabin had a pullman berth w/head in the fore peak. Cockpit was well layed out with twin wheels, bimini (for shade) and a nice table. We spent well over an hour and a half crawling through the boat. The price was within our range and it was a brand new boat. (but it was a 2008 and the 2010's are already out)...We went back to his office and they had a 41 DS also brand new and "on the hard" (i.e. it was in a cradle but we could still get on the boat)...Bob gave us lots to think about!

We then started to drive north up highway 1, past Jupiter, to Jensen beach and some coastal towns we had not really heard of. Bob had told us of a brand new Marina in Stuart, with cheap rates, great location amenities, etc. We found the new marina and a new Hunter dealership and some new boats to crawl through!!! The boat that caught our eye and was stunning was the 45' center cockpit. It has the same hull as the 45 DS but the layout is very different. The aft cabin was spacious...as in huge and tall!! and well ventilated. We talked to the sales guy and walked away impressed. We did choke on the price...as we left a huge thunderstorm rolled through and rained all 45 minutes back to Boca!! -- when we got home we immediately were on the internet.

On Sunday, we went to see some Moorings used boats from their charter fleet. They also had a leopard 46 and 40. brand new!! The 46 was way to big, while the 40 seemed manageable. The price is also a bit outside our range, but the the roominess was impressive and creates a lot of outdoor living space!! The best part...Saturday the 5th we're going for a test sail!! As we left the Moorings, we decided to head back up to Stuart to see the 45' center cockpit again. Our sales guy John, was not there but Rusty his boss was. We spent another hour with Rusty, kicking the proverbial tires and talking sailing. He was a good sale's guy and asked for the order with a presumptive close, but we didn't bite. He did give us more to think about...

All of this is a prelude to whatever Plan B turns out to be.