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Ocean Reef Club off Key Largo was the setting for the rendezvous.  20 Burgers of a variety of sizes attended from all over the US.  It was a great time to meet fellow boaters who are proud to own what many feel is “the Rolls Royce of yachts”.  The weekend was kicked off with a cocktail party aboard the owner of the Burger Company’s private mega-yacht, Ingot.  Seminars were held during the day & each evening was a dinner party for all the attendees.  The final night capped off the weekend with the “yacht hop”, a chance to tour most of the yachts.  Burger no longer builds 81′ yachts such as Tally-Ho.  Now they are all over 100′ so, once again, we were one of the smaller boats in the harbor.  It was an eye opening & informative weekend.

After leaving Spanish Wells we spent 2 dreamy nights anchored offshore.  The first was off Current Island, Eleuthera & the 2nd was off Rose Island, close to Nassau.  The tender had to come down to be able to enjoy the deserted beaches and, of course, allow Dugan & Dylan the opportunity to relieve themselves.  Long walks on the beaches, beautiful sunsets & dinners on the flybridge made for a great time after the hustle & bustle of Harbour Island.   We pulled into the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in Nassau & soon were joined by Trip’s sister Beth & her husband Jim who spent the long weekend with us.  Atlantis is an amazing resort.  It has a location other than this one & that is in Dubai.  The marina, casino, water park, etc. are truly incredible.  Next door is the “One & Only Ocean Club”, owned by Atlantis & previously a private estate.  We toured the magnificent gardens & had dinner one night in their 5 star restaurant, sitting right on the ocean.  Tally-Ho, which often had been the biggest yacht in the harbor, certainly didn’t have that claim to fame here.  In fact, quite the opposite as mega-yachts crowd the marina.  Probably the best photo op in the entire complex is the Casino’s king chair which people line up to sit in.  After the craziness of the complex we enjoyed a great day anchored off Rose Island with snorkeling, sunning, beach walks, etc.  Back onboard the next day we had a nice bon voyage brunch for Beth & Jim & we & our crew said goodbye.  Next it was on to Chubb Cay again & Bimini as we made our way west back to the USA.  Bimini is certainly not a tourist destination unless fishing is a priority.  At least it gets you 50 miles from Florida.

We sadly left Key West & spent the first night in Islamorada & then on to Coconut Grove for a night with friends before crossing the Gulfstream.  It was intesting passing the “stilt houses” in Biscayne Bay on our way to the marina.  The next day we cruised on passing Bimini with relatively calm seas to the Berry Islands & spent the night at Chub Cay.  In this area lobster are very plentiful so we celebrated our first evening with a lobster dinner, grilled to perfection by Captain Steve.  The next day we passed more dolphin and tortoises on our way to Spanish Wells, part of Eleuthera.  Here we were joined by Stephen & Jonathan, 2 friends from Key West.  Together we all cruised with a special Pilot we brought aboard to take us through “The Devils Backbone” on to Harbour Island, one of our favorite places, where we spent 10 days at Valentine’s Marina, in the heart of the action in HI.  We all got around by golf cart & enjoyed some great restaurants & fun night spots.  Conch is the seafood of choice & we enjoyed it as chowder, ceviche, fritters, etc.  HI is famous for it’s pink sand beaches & we spent numerous days enjoying it & the “people watching”.  Zulu Dancers, horseback riding, dog walkers, etc. make the beach very interesting.  Dylan & Dugan loved their time shredding coconuts in the sand and basking in the sunshine.  Fortunately our time in HI also overlapped with our fun friends Carol & Bart from Lake Forest and Saugatuck along with 4 of their friends (George, Suzie, John and Crinnie). We had alot of good laughs…  Our friend Daniel from Sao Paulo, Brazil flew in to spend our last few days in HI with us. More beach, great food and “Goombay Smashes”…  At the end of his weekend stay we cruised with our same Pilot “Bandit” and his homemade “Bahama Johnnycakes” back to Spanish Wells where Daniel took a water taxi back to the North Eleuthera airport & flew home.  He was our first guest brave enough to dive off the flybridge of Tally-Ho. On to some “Out Islands” and Nassau…