Blue Book of Boats

Some of us have more Sense than Cents,others have more Cents than Sense.
For our visitors looking for bikini holiday photos of celebrities, sorry to disappoint you, but you can look at the previous blogs for photos of Penelope Cruz, Cindy Crawford…. For this posting, we are featuring our Canadian celebrity politician, Jack Layton vacationing on a rental yacht – a canoe (definition of yacht being a pleasure watercraft).

Canadians are a little more conservative when it comes to water adventures. We do not have the deep pockets that our southerly neighbours have, no megabucks, no megayachts. Here in the photo above, our celebrity politician Jack Layton’s idea of water adventure is paddling the Nahanni River (in Canada’s Northwest Territories) with his wife Olivia Chow. (No jetski or any noisy watercrafts, just a quiet row with good friends enjoying the majestic wilderness).

The Nahanni River is the icon of Canadian wilderness rivers. It is situated in a mountainous landscape and flows through Canada’s deepest river canyons, past hot springs and geological features so unique that the Nahanni River was declared the first World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1978.

Each of Nahanni canoeing and rafting expeditions include Virginia Falls, the canyons and the small and isolated First Nation community of Nahanni Butte. The trips depart from Fort Simpson and all include opportunities for hiking.

Penelope Cruz goes yachting on her yacht “Distar Princess” a 65 foot motor yacht easily handled by 2 people. This is a much more intimate type of cruising compared to 30-cabins megayachts commonly used as party yachts.

In fact, while Penelope Cruz owns this yacht, the yacht is available for charter at Euro 23,000 a week. At this rate, it comes with a captain and a crew of 2. The Distar Princess has a maximum cruising speed of 30 knots. It has 4 cabins and can sleep 6 people comfortably, or 12 people in a pinch.

So when you see Penelope Cruz aboard Distar Princess, she may in fact just be a working gal , sea-trialling her charter yacht.

Cindy Crawford and her husband as guests of George Clooney aboard a charter luxury motor yacht. This yacht is rumoured to be the R.M. Elegant, which has 30 cabins. See photo below.

RM Elegant – One of the World’s Top 100 Megayachts. Available for charter at approx. US$900,000 a week. So, how much does your yacht charter costs?

When Oprah Winfrey went yachting as a guest on the yacht Nova Spirit, she was not into a “bikini” type of holiday. Instead, she was visitng ALERT BAY, a first nations village in British Columbia. The talk show host went to the small community on the yacht Nova Spirit owned by BC billionaire Jim Pattison. She walked through the area without security or body guards, posing for photos with fans. Namgis First Nations Chief Bill Cranmer gave the celebrity the town tour and invited her to a potlach organized by his band.

Alert Bay is located on Cormorant Island, along the BC Inside Passage. This crescent-shaped island is situated just off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, approximately 180 miles by water from the city of Vancouver. Located on the beautiful Inside Passage of British Columbia, Alert Bay can be reached by taking a 40-minute ferry ride from Port McNeill.

Alert Bay has a population of approx.1700 people, with 1,000 First Nations residents and 700 white people. The town is very picturesque and full of history. Residents are proud of the First Nations heritage and are very friendly to visitors.

There are many reasons to visit Alert Bay. Its beautiful scenery, abundant wildlife, native culture, history, saltwater fishing….. Alert Bay is known as the “home of the killer whale” and has the tallest totem pole in BC. It also has an excellent First Nations museum containing potlach paraphernalia that were confiscated during the early 1900 in an attempt by the white settlers and the missionaries to assimilate the native Indians as they call “remove the Indian out of them”. Some of the items on display are letters by Indian chiefs protesting the confiscation.

For more information on the yacht Nova Spirit, visit http://www.bluebookofboats.com/BoatModels/NovaSpirit.htm
or Alert Bay
http://bluebookofboats.com/Cruisingdestinations/AlertBay.htm