Last summer our son and I had done a scuba diving trip with his Boy Scout troop to Sea Base. He really enjoyed it and got several recommendations from the staff to come back as staff in a few years when he turned 18. It sounds like they don't get many Eagle Scouts with real boating experience that also know how to sail and dive as applicants. They told him if he would complete his Advanced Open Water & Rescue Diver certifications they would pay for the Dive Master training. To help him along with this goal of going back as an instructor we signed him up for the next dive certification with the same folks he did his initial certification with when we were in Marathon during our Great Loop trip as a Christmas gift. Sounds like a good spring break trip right? Well it was. He completed his Advanced Open Water certification early in the week. We did a couple extra dives to learn to spearfish. He speared a number of lion fish and even caught a few lobsters. We were able to take them to a few of the nearby restaurants to cook them up and they were delicious. I will admit this was my first Florida lobster and it did taste salter and a bit chewer then the Maine lobsters I was used to. Frankly I still prefer the Maine lobsters but fresh anything that you caught is still good and oddly fulfilling. I didn't know what to expect with the Lion fish but it was really good!
The weather forecast predicted high winds that were supposed to come in messing up the sea state. This ended our dive plans and eliminated the potential for going out on a charter boat for some fishing. In the extra days off we went to the beach, visited Key West where we checked out Trumans Little White House, and had a pool day. During this time I got a e-mail from a broker in Fort Lauderdale advertising a price drop on a FP she was trying to sell. So after a couple of e-mails we planned to go check out the FP 45 as well as two other boats they had listed. Luckily for us we were able to line this up with the worst forecasted weather day that we were afraid might limit our options in the Keys.
We were able to get on a 2023 45FP, a 54ft 2023 Royal Cape, and a 2019 Xquisite X5 all listed for sale by Just Catamarans. We still liked the FP but it didn't really excite us. The build quality was ok (not over built), it felt livable but not really as big as we might like, and it would require us to spend some money to get it ready for world causing (extra solar, lithium batteries, water maker, etc). This was our first time being on a Royal Cape and it was everything the FP was not. While being a very impressive boat it felt really big and like it would make a great charter boat. It did have lots of solar, a huge battery bank, impressive wiring closets that looked easy to access and work on. With some effort we might be able to sail it as a couple but it might be a bit more then we wanted to take on.. Not to mention it did not feel very personable it felt like it could easily host 20-30 folks for sunset sails. We really didn't need that much space.
When we got on the Xquisite it felt just right. It met all our requirements and confirmed our feelings from the previous fall at the boat show. Its well built with beefy backing plates behind all the deck hardware, was designed for Bluewater cruising meaning we would not have to do a lot of upgrades after the fact like additional solar, water maker, dive compressor, anchor upgrades, it had solid stainless steel railings in place of lifelines, and many other features that appeared well thought out. It just felt like a comfortable boat to be on. The only thing it was missing was a walk around bed vs one you have to butt scoot down while trying not to wake your significant other up getting into or out of. I also hate having to crawl up on it to make the darn thing in the morning or putting clean sheets on. Our last two monohauls were like this and I said I was done with that design after we got the tug that featured a walk around queen size bed in the master stateroom. I had grown to really appreciate the bed in the Tug making it easy to get in and out of bed at night to check the boat at anchor or in weather. The other hold back I had from when we saw the Xquiste at the show was the styling. It looks a bit spaceshippy. Amy had liked this boat best at the Annapolis Boat Show with Privilege being a close second. I was of the opposite opinion. Maybe it will grow on us?
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