Miami International Boat Show

We drove from Aztec RV Resort about 40 miles south to Miami on Friday to go to the Miami International Boat Show. The drive took almost an hour because of traffic, even at 9:30AM. We parked at Marlin’s Park (baseball stadium) for $5 and then rode a shuttle bus to the boat show.

The boat show was huge, with sailboats at Bayside (near the Port of Miami), and powerboats at the main site, Miami Marine Stadium Park & Basin, near Virginia Key. We only went to the main site where there were over 1,200 of powerboats displayed inside and outside moored at docks.

 

We enjoyed seeing the actual car and boat used in the TV series Miami Vice, on display commemorating the 30^th anniversary of the show.

 

Here are some photos of inside one of the large tents where up to 36-foot long boats were displayed. Our 12-year old Chaparral seemed really old compared to all the new models.

 

 

The “Pilar” is a replica of Earnest Hemingway’s famous boat. It is normally displayed at a museum in Cuba and this was the first time it has been displayed in the U.S. We were told that Hemingway’s boat the “Pilar” influenced several of his books.

 

We learned that Cigarette is actually a manufacturer's name for their “cigarette” boats. I was truly fascinated with this 50-foot long "go fast" boat, with two 1550 horsepower engines, that could go 130mph and only cost a mere $1.2 million.

 

Many of the boats were center-console used for off-shore sport fishing. Almost all of these boats have two outboard engines (in case you had an engine problem you can get home with the other). Over the past several years, the boat manufacturers and dealers have been adding more outboards to the boats.

 

 

We both thoroughly enjoyed the boat show and although we can now check it off our bucket list, we wouldn’t mind going back again.

Steve & Julie Cornelius