About midway across Biscayne Bay, between Miami Beach and the City of Miami, the marked navigation channel widens considerably. About a minute before I reached that point in the brand new Luhrs 35C, I picked up the VHF mike and called the photographer.

When you talk to an entrepreneur like Peter Meagher, founder of AmbientNav, a supplier of premium marine video monitors, you realize what kind of passion it takes to create something from scratch, make it work and make it work in the marketplace. An electrical engineer by education, he took a disciplined approach to solving some of the tough challenges in producing sunlight-viewable, waterproof marine monitors.

Some of us just want to know what's going on – and we want to know everything that's going on. We're the kind of skipper that Casey Cox (one of us captains, by the way) had in mind when he invented Krill Systems monitoring technology.

Evinrude, which has made outboard motors for one hundred years, was showing off some history in the convention center, which is the heart of the Miami International Boat Show. Here you see the engines of old, proudly displayed next to today's mammoth monsters, machines that stand as tall as a man and boast 300 HP or more. They may be more powerful and reliable now, but they sure seemed more friendly back then.

Yesterday, I had the chance to test the new Broadband Sounder from Lowrance. The unit was installed on a new Twin Vee 29-foot center console and as the test wore on I was more and more impressed with the boat itself (I also liked the Sounder).

By coincidence, one of the company's senior executives, Preston Yarborough, operations manager for Twin Vee, was our captain for the test. The Ft. Pierce-based boatbuilder has a whole product line of unique catamarans built mainly for serious fishermen.

I spent the better part of the day at Strictly Sail today, the sailboat venue of the Miami International Boat Show, and as I was wandering through the docks I realized that virtually all of the boats on the north end of the marina were monohulls from builders like Hunter, Catalina, Island Packet, Tartan, and that nearly all of the boats on the other side of the marina were catamarans.

New technology these days almost always involves two major contributors -- the hardware people, and the software programmers. I saw a great example of this cooperative synergy today while out on Biscayne Bay with the folks from Navico's Lowrance product line. We got a chance to test the new Broadband Sounder technology that Lowrance has just brought to market and it makes for a pretty picture, indeed.

One of the universal experiences of recreational boaters is the sense of romance and adventure -- to one extent or another -- that we've all had about our time on the water.  Most of us still harbor fantasies of one kind or another; perhaps becoming a captain, buying a passagemaker and circumnavigating.  And many of us have fantasized about exploring the undersea environment; with SCUBA gear or just with our swim fins and mask and snorkel.  Who knows?  There could be pirate treasure or something precious in that old sunken wreck we pass by.  Mel Fisher had some of th