Sat., April 11 — In the Lap of Luxury

Finding us at Pier 66 isn’t as easy as we thought.  Cleo and Jim took a taxi from Coral Gables and the driver dropped them at Dock F.  We are on Dock B and it’s a long distance between the two, but we eventually found them and made our way back to Dot.Calm.  Cleo and Jim brought lunch and Cliff and I “arranged” for perfect, cool breezes on the top deck where we could enjoy it while looking out over the fleet of yachts that surround us. Later we went for a dinghy ride to get a close up look at some of the fabulous boats and also to tour some canals where the neighborhoods seem to be for regular folks and not the rich and famous who must be the ones who are buying and/or building the mansions along the ICW. One of the biggest yachts in the marina is Seven Seas. It is owned by Steven Spielberg and is 282 feet long and cost $200,000,000 to build. (He bought it used for something less than that….but probably not a lot less.)  The yacht can sleep 12 and has a staff of 26! You can have a taste of this splendor for only $1.3 million a week. That does not include fuel, food, liquor or staff tips. The “rule of thumb” we’ve heard is that you double the rental fee to figure out what the trip will really cost you. Yikes! We will leave this enclave of luxury yachts and head to Coral Gables tomorrow and will have a chance to ooh and ash over more homes and more boats along the way.