More changes for the Miami boat show

This will really hurt the hotels there, but Indian creek bridge was a nightmare for move in and move out. The traffic on Collins was the other nightmare of trying to get from one location to another during the show.

In recent years, attendance on Collins has been low, especially when they started charging an entry fee. Add the latter and Collins has been darn near dead. Moving the show to the mainland will improve attendance, but Miami doesn't have the international draw it once enjoyed. The majority of Miami attendees will be interested in the offerings from Virginia Key.

The Yacht Show was always the draw for us. We purchased our current boat there. But, the location on MB was the key. We stayed on the beach and walked to the show, then back to the beach. We treated the whole weekend as a vacation. Sorry to see it leave MB.

We’d take an afternoon t0 go to the convention center for a look at gadgets, but our real interest was seeing the boats. when we first attended the Boat Show, we stayed at the Marriott at Sea Isle when it hosted the in-the-water portion of the show. That location was great, but once we discovered the then Brokerage Show on Collins, we never again focused on the Boat Show. And after it moved to Virginia Key, we lost interest entirely.

Sorry to say, but without the MB draw, I’ll probably stop going altogether. Ft.L just offers more.