Outer Reef
Outer Reef will have two new boats at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, their 610 and 700 motoryachts. While not new models, these tried-and-true yachts exemplify Outer Reef ’s build quality and design aesthetic. The 610 is a great owner/
a low-profile, salty, bluewater cruiser. As Dag Pike pointed out in his review of the boat last year, “...real cruising boaters won’t be let down by her abilities. Here you find a beautiful marriage of traditional and modern, a well-proportioned style that will have persistent appeal and will not date quickly.”
for anglers, putting them on more fish, faster. The transducers are designed to work with Simrad Go series displays and started shipping in a bundle with those displays this October.
Simrad’s newest radar is sure to make some waves. This new dome advances their already award-winning radars with pulse compression technology. The new Halo24 offers a whopping 60 rpm at hi-speed rotation with a reach out to two miles—an industry first. With multiple modes the Halo24 can offer highquality short-, mid-, and long-range detection capability, up to 48 nautical miles. The Halo24 is designed to process multiple ranges simultaneously for advanced, instantaneous Dual Range performance. This new dome also features Simrad VelocityTrack Doppler technology that provides instant visual feedback on the motion of radar targets in relation to the boat—color-coding approaching vessels for high visibility while deemphasizing diverging targets. If you are in the market for high-end radar, make sure you stop by to talk with the folks at Simrad.
This is the kind of anchorage my husband Don and I dream of, with our anchor set at 27 feet in clean white sand and our stern at the edge of a coral wall that drops off hundreds of feet. Perfect for two cruising scuba enthusiasts; it is just what we hoped to find in Cuba. It’s just like our favorite secret spot in The Bahamas. The water is crystal clear, the air is 88 degrees, the water is 88 degrees, and we can’t wait to get in. But in Cuba, we are never quite sure if we are about to break the law.
Consider that just a few hours from the Florida coast these two island nations entice us to explore their cruising grounds. Both have marvelously clear waters and warm, friendly people, yet our experience traveling around the two countries is as different as night and day.
We were thoroughly enchanted by both, so why would we go back to The Bahamas in a heartbeat, yet hesitate to say we would ever cruise again in Cuba?
In just a few words, cruising The Bahamas is relaxing, lovely, engaging, welcoming, easy.
Cruising in Cuba? Intriguing, vibrant, decrepit, anachronistic, funky-hip, mesmerizing … and not so easy.
The difference in the experience of cruising these two island nations is rooted in the country’s distinct colonial histories and, for us, in their governments’ different relationships with the United States.