Marina Mania
10/16/2006 3:09:17 PM by Amy Martinez
Photos by bahamasimagebank.com
DEMAND RISES IN THE BAHAMAS AS A RESULT OF SOUTH FLORIDA BOAT-SLIP SHORTAGE
South Florida boaters have long escaped to the Bahamas for its laid-back lifestyle - remember the slogan, ``It’s Better in the Bahamas’’?
But now some boaters are fleeing to the 700-island archipelago out of economic necessity. As condominium towers continue to rise where marinas used to be, local boaters are scrambling to find dock space, an increasingly expensive luxury that can cost as much as the boat itself.
Some believe the Bahamas could soon rival South Florida as a boating destination with new marinas promising lower prices, swank amenities — everything from landing strips for private planes to 18-hole golf courses — and lots of available slips.
``Florida is sold out,’’ says Eddie Lauth, a developer who plans to build two marinas about 240 miles southeast of Miami on the island of Eleuthera. ``The Bahamas is getting a great second look because it’s not crowded. It’s pristine, and it’s drop-dead gorgeous.’’
Consider Stephann Cotton, who owns a public relations firm in Stuart. He keeps a 48-foot sport-fishing boat on Harbour Island off Eleuthera and flies over on weekends in a private plane with his wife and two children, ages 10 and 13. ``Florida is great,’’ he says. ``But certainly, it’s more crowded.’’
Developers such as Lauth, who is managing general partner at EIC Resorts of State College, Pa., are lining up for the overflow of boaters from South Florida.
Thor Ibsen, chief operating officer at Montana Holdings, a Nassau-based real estate investment and development firm, says his group broke ground in May on Rum Cay Resort Marina, a $700 million project that includes 80 slips for boats 45 feet to 200 feet. ``Florida seems to be running out of space,’’ Ibsen says, ``and we are benefiting.’’
BY THE NUMBERS
Miami-Dade and Broward counties are estimated to have about 8,100 wet slips. The number of slips in the Bahamas - now about 3,100 - is expected to swell to more than 5,700 if real estate developers carry through on current plans to build or expand nearly 20 marinas.
The new marinas come as baby boomers find themselves with more time and money for boating. Worldwide, 688 boats measuring 80 feet or more - big enough to qualify as yachts - were being built last year. That’s a 36 percent increase from 2002, according to ShowBoats International magazine.
``It’s the old saying, `All dressed up and nowhere to go,’ ‘“ says Preben Olesen, whose New Hope Holdings plans to spend $10 million expanding two marinas in Freeport. Olesen recently began selling slips to boaters seeking the security that comes with owning rather than renting dockage space.
``There are 5.4 miles of yachts being built, and more than 60 percent of them are going to the North American market,’’ adds son Steven Olesen, New Hope’s vice president of international sales. ``There’s not a lot of available space for them in South Florida.’’
Nearly 20,000 recreational boats measuring at least 26 feet in length were registered in Broward and Miami-Dade last year, up 16 percent from 2002, according to an analysis by Norton Consulting, a North Palm Beach real estate advisory firm.
At the same time, the number of slips in Broward and Miami-Dade is believed to have remained stagnant or even dropped.
AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN
Bahamian tourism officials are aggressively going after South Florida’s boaters. Earl Miller, who promotes the Bahamas as a boating and fishing destination, says he’s trying to persuade commercial airlines to reduce ticket prices for South Floridians who keep their boats in the Bahamas and fly back and forth. To spur year-round visits, Miller also wants marinas in the Bahamas to lower rental rates during their slowest months, usually in late fall and winter.
``If I have my boat somewhere, I’m going to go check on it,’’ he says. ``Plus, a marina without boats is very unattractive. A marina full of boats is a beautiful sight.’’ The Marine Industries Association of South Florida, which represents about 800 boating businesses, sees development in the Bahamas as a double-edged sword. Although it provides new destinations for boaters, it calls into question South Florida’s economic competitiveness, says Frank Herhold, its executive director.
``The Bahamas has always been a popular playground. Now, it can also serve as a home base for boaters,’’ he says. Herhold would like to see government officials in South Florida acknowledge the need for more slips with tax breaks and other incentives for new marinas. He notes that boating is one of South Florida’s biggest business sectors, generating about $2.7 billion in sales each year and accounting for more than 160,000 jobs.
Businesses have been counting on an influx of bigger boats to offset a leveling off in demand for smaller boats, especially in Fort Lauderdale, known as the world’s yachting capital. But South Florida’s slip shortage, coupled with a more aggressive push by the Bahamas, could prevent them from taking full advantage of the surge in demand for big boats.
``It’s chipping away at our economic base,’’ Herhold says. For every $100,000 that a yacht is worth, he says, $10,000 a year is spent locally on maintenance and storage — an indication of what could be at stake if South Florida falls behind.
At Old Bahama Bay, a luxury resort on the western tip of Grand Bahama Island, daily marina rentals are based on a boat’s linear footage - as much as $443 for a 150-footer, including water and electricity. But rates vary depending on the time of year and day of the week.
HIGHER PRICES
Daily rentals tend to be higher in South Florida. At Fort Lauderdale’s Bahia Mar, for example, a 150-footer pays more than $600 a day. Old Bahama Bay caters to Florida boaters visiting on weekends. But with fuel prices going up, Peter Watson, who oversees the marina, thinks he can persuade owners to leave their boats there on weekdays.
Watson notes that round-trip air fare on a commercial plane from Fort Lauderdale to nearby Freeport costs about $280, while a typical 60-foot sport-fishing boat burns roughly $1,500 in diesel fuel going back and forth. Soon, the marina will begin selling slips, with per-foot prices at about $8,000 - still a deal compared with South Florida, where boaters pay $10,000 a foot or more to own.
Ned Hickel of Miami Beach cruises to the Bahamas in his sport-fishing boat several times a year. Recently, he began looking for a slip to buy and found that prices, while less than in South Florida, were hardly cheap. He’s now considering buying a waterfront lot and building a house and dock — a good investment, he calls it.
``They’re starting to get Miami-style prices down there,’’ says Hickel. ``The developers and get-rich guys have gobbled everything up.’’ Yet, the Bahamas isn’t for everyone. Roy and Carol Rouse live and work in Austin, Texas, and spend one to two weeks a month on their boat, a 46-footer named Moon Shadow. About four monthsago, Boca Developers forced them out of their slip at Maule Lake marina in North Miami Beach to make room for two new condominium towers.
The Rouses took their boat to Nassau and, despite lower dockage costs, returned to South Florida two months later. ``We thought about staying in the Bahamas,’’ says Roy Rouse, who manages residential rental properties in Austin. ``But cellphone service is just not there. Internet service is the same way. After a while, it becomes kind of a pain to go to an Internet cafe two or three times a day.’’