Why did you choose the Iguana?
Julie: We love boating, we used to have a boat when we lived in Pennsylvania, but now we live on the beach and we don’t have direct access to a dock. The closest dock is pretty far away from us. The hassle of having to pack up everything and drive to a dock to get to a boat just wasn’t that appealing to us. We were really looking for something that we could keep at our house in our backyard and be able to use it and take out whenever we wanted. That was not really an option until we found the Iguana.
How do you use the Iguana?
Dan: The nice thing is when we do want to use it, it only takes three or four minutes to be in the water. We use it to go to other boating areas and meet up with other boaters.
Julie: We go to sandbars with lots of boats gathering. We just pack lunch, pack a couple drinks in a cooler and take it out. It’s very easy. It just takes a few minutes to get out there. We do a lot of snorkeling and swimming. We just tie it to a mooring ball and swim around. It is really fun.
Do you see differences with the boat you used to have?
Dan: The nice thing is that it is a real boat. Some people worry that a boat that comes onto land won’t be that great. Any kind of amphibious boat usually takes away from being a good boat. And in this case, it has all the features and functions. We can do anything that a boat can do. We really feel comfortable doing anything. We’re actually planning to go on longer trips with the boat over the summer, to go to the Bahamas, places like that.
Julie: We had our other boat at a dock. It was all about packing up coolers, putting it in the back of the car, driving to the dock and getting through the gate. Getting the boat off the dock. it was a very big process. Now we might just take the boat out for two hours, it’s not a very big process. You just throw some things in a cooler and go so that’s really nice.
How was the purchasing process with Prestige Marine?
Julie: Brett and Kevin were really good throughout the entire process. They answered my phone calls and all our questions. We visited them to see the boat in person, we were pretty amazed and just went home from there. We tested it on Valentine’s Day. That was Dan’s Valentine’s Day surprise. Kevin was the first person that we reached out to. And he was very welcoming. He answered all of my questions. He didn’t dismiss anything. We were really busy sometimes, but he was very patient and made himself available whenever we needed him. Brett is very knowledgeable about the Iguana and was able to teach us how to maneuver and use it. When we are out on the boat and we have a question, I just text Kevin, and he tries to get me an answer as soon as possible within a few minutes. They’ve been really helpful.
How did the delivery go?
Julie: They brought it on a truck to our house and it was really neat. Everyone in our neighborhood was lined up on the street and looking at what was going on. They unloaded it and we took photos of it in front of our house. And then we took it right out and that was our first actual training session on the water with the boat.
How many training sessions did you have?
Dan: We practiced on land and then in the ocean. At the dealership, they showed us where everything was. They came twice here, took us out and helped us maneuver around. When they delivered the boat, they also spent a lot of time training us as well. On land, it’s very intuitive. We practiced one or two times; it is very easy to get around with it.
How often do you use it?
Julie: We go out whenever we can when it’s nice out and when Dan doesn’t have to work. It’s a fun boat. We really enjoy it. We’re glad that we found it. It’s also beautiful. Everyone always stops us and says how nice looking of a boat it is. It’s functional for a boat and it’s functional for what we need. We didn’t need a cabin or anything like that. We just wanted something that we could take around for a few hours and go snorkeling and scuba dive, and that’s perfect for us. It’s exactly what we wanted.
Dan: We just hop on right there in the garden and go down right across the sand to the ocean. It is straight down to the ocean; it is only maybe 100 feet away and you’re in the water.
