I bought a 85' motoryacht. My wife and I took delivery in Ft. Lauderdale in mid-2009. I hired a captain to help me transition to the new, larger boat and for unfamiliar waters.
We cruised Bahamas to Puerto Rico and stayed in the Virgin Islands for 6 weeks -- that was a mistake we should have kept going to Panama.
We returned to FL where I dropped the captain off. Had some warranty work done and shipped the boat to British Columbia. We cruised the inside passage to northern BC, then brought it south to CA in the fall. 2010 we cruised from San Francisco to the Sea of Cortez where we were for several months. Definitely my favorite area of all of the above.
We are taking some time off from cruising as I a started a new company and am busy getting it off the ground.
It was a great experience. Some people would declare you need a trawler or a Norhavn to do serious cruising... nothing further from the truth. Mine was a planing hull and Italian no less! While cruising we spent minimal time in marinas and were mostly at anchor. We did experienced some serious seas... which always seemed to happen when we did slow overnight runs.
Admittedly, we were in a luxury boat with lots of toys, electronics, and active stabilization. All of which are completely unnecessary.
In the Sea of Cortez you can rent sailing cats from Moorings. (I rarely saw sails deployed on these, so it was entirely motoring!) They look relatively new and good shape (unlike those in the Virgin Islands). If you have the inclination to do some cruising, that is a way I would highly recommend.
