On February 17, 2020, Tom & I got a ride from Newport Beach, California, with Bill King, our friend & Maritimo salesman from Compass Point Yachts, Inc down to Ensenada, Mexico.
We made this trip in order to bring our new Maritimo 51 motor yacht off the huge transport ship on which it had crossed the Pacific Ocean. Made in Brisbane, Australia, this would be the first time we’d see our boat completed! We’d had a quick look at it back in October, when we traveled to Australia to meet the Maritimo team at their factory. Back then, the vessel was just a fiberglass shell. It was hard to believe that a few months later we’d be picking up a finished boat.
It was hard to believe that we were finally going to see our boat after looking for the right one for years!
When we saw the boat at the impressive Maritimo facility, it was a fiberglass shell. Pretty cool to see the wiring & plumbing snaking through, and the bones of the boat exposed. We were gobsmacked to know it would go from this to a complete boat in a few months!
Out of the water, our boat looks huge! It’s hard to believe that it only draws 4 1/2 feet so we can get into relatively shallow water with it. It was neat to see the bow & stern thrusters, which are new to us and really make maneuvering the boat easy!
We thought our boat was big. But it was one of the smallest on the transport ship! A Facebook friend happened to be on the transport ship, escorting another vessel, and sent us photos of our boat being loaded, onboard, and throughout the journey. The process is quite fascinating: here’s a little video (not ours) of how the yachts are loaded and unloaded on the transport vessel:
4 months after we saw the boat at the factory, it was ready to be loaded onto the transport ship for its voyage across the Pacific! You can see, to the left of our boat, another boat already on board the huge ship. The entire deck of the transport lowers into the sea and the yachts are floated aboard!
See the little boat indicated? That’s our Tangaroa. Look how large the vessels are on the flooded deck of the transport ship! Once vessels are all loaded, the deck lifts up, the water runs out, and the yachts ride high and dry in cradles firmly securing them to the transport’s deck.
After a long journey across the Pacific, Tangaroa arrived in Ensenada, Mexico. February 17th was exciting as we first saw, and picked up, our new home!
It took Maritimo about a year from the time we ordered it, to the time we received it, to bring our dream to life!
A dream come true, we’re proud of the both of you for following your dreams
Thanks, Mate! Hope it won’t be too long before we get to see you two again…maybe on the water!
This is marvelous, I’m so happy for you two and can’t wait to see the blog updates with your travels/adventures. Also, secretly hoping we can see it in real life sometime soon!
Sending love to the both of you!
Tayler
Good to hear from you, Tayler! We sure hope that when we cruise up the North American coast we’ll be able to see you, too! Hope all of you are doing well. Send Tom an email and update us with what’s going on with you guys! Love right back at ya!