Well, folks, it’s been nine hours straight of touring charter yachts for me here today at the Fort Lauderdale boat show, and because the crowds were lighter than usual for “preview day,” I was able to get on just about every charter yacht here–including all the new ones that have the industry abuzz.

I must say, every single reputable charter broker I asked told me that their favorite charter yacht in this year’s show is the brand-new, 161-foot Trinity motoryacht called Destination Fox Harb’r Too. And I’ll tell you, having toured it for the better part of an hour, that I agree wholeheartedly.

Trinity, for many years, had a reputation for building lovely motoryachts that were, shall we say, a bit on the serious side. They had very dark, heavy-looking woodwork that exuded elegance, but left some people feeling overwhelmed by the decor. This new launch could not be farther from that previous mold. With a fantastic, light-feeling interior by designer Patrick Knowles, Destination Fox Harb’r Too absolutely is poised to be one of the premier yachts entering the charter market in the Caribbean this season.

The word I would use to describe the yacht’s interior is “texture.” There are only three kinds of wood onboard: mahogany, ebony, and lacewood. That last one, I’d never seen before today, and it’s aptly named. The grain of the wood looks like lace. It’s stunning.

And, instead of heavy, glossy marbles and onyxes, this yacht has all natural stones–travertine and granite, to be precise–inlayed with satin nickel trim that is at once understated and elegant. Even the wallpapers, which have textures ranging from basketweave to something approaching snakeskin, are present without being overpowering. You only truly notice them when you look closely, and then you feel like you’ve discovered a hidden treasure.

The owner, I’m told, is a sailor at heart, which would explain the latticework doors in the master suite closet as well as the mahogany top on the sundeck’s white bar. These are classic nautical touches that please the eye, but don’t leave you thinking you’re trapped in a boating museum with colorful flags hanging from the rafters. Again, it’s understated elegance. Nautical without ad nauseam. Absolutely fabulous.

Destination Fox Harb’r Too is part of the charter fleet at Northrop & Johnson. She takes 11 guests with ten crew at a lowest weekly base rate of $250,000. Any reputable charter broker can tell you more, or help you book a week onboard.

And P.S.: I’ll have some non-brochure snapshots from my tour (that you won’t see anywhere else) uploaded here on CharterWave early next week, after I get back to the home office from the boat show. I fly out tomorrow. See you all back here on Monday.

Sorry to have been gone from the CharterWave Editor’s Blog for the past two days, but as previously reported, I have been down at Jumby Bay Island just off the coast of Antigua–where the cell phone and Internet service is currently nonexistent because of work being done to entirely rebuild the island’s former resort. I have finally arrived at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, where I have more than 20 charter yachts on my to-see list for tomorrow. I’ll hopefully have plenty to report for you here by day’s end on Thursday.

Jumby Bay, by the way, is a lovely private island and promises to be a beautiful resort when fully rebuilt, but much to my dismay, it’s not going to become anything of a charter destination. As lovely as the restaurants and spa appear to be at this phase of the island’s main hotel reconstruction, they’re only going to remain available to guests of the island, not to charter yachts that anchor right offshore.

On the other hand, there is some potential there for surf-and-turf charters in which you book a yacht for a week and then stay a week at Jumby Bay. I’ll write some more about that next week, along with posting photos from some of the more spectacular (up to $20,000-per-night) homes that are available as all-inclusive parts of the resort rental program.

And so it begins: The fall boat show season. In the next six weeks or so, I expect to get onboard somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 charter yachts for tours, crew interviews, broker interviews, and news reports that I can share with you here on CharterWave. The fun starts next week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where I’ll be blogging from the massive boat show that descends on that city every Halloween.

I’m taking a detour on my way down to Florida and stopping in Antigua to check out the new Jumby Bay resort, which marketing people have been trying to get me to visit since construction began. I’m told the marina and facilities are developing into a nice destination for charter yacht visits, but as always, I want to see the place with my own two eyes before I recommend it to you here. My plane leaves the New York area on Sunday morning.

Thus, stay tuned for my haphazardly timed blog posts in between resort and boat tours all next week. My best guess is that I’ll be able to post in the evenings, after full days of doing research in both places.