bumper cars at an amusement park. Sometimes they all piled up along the side or in a corner; other times they’d be dashing all about. I didn’t quite understand why they would be doing that.
I shouted down to Clay, excited to see him entirely by chance. He looked up and shouted his greeting back up to me. It had been a long time since we had met in person and I didn’t want to waste the opportunity, so I landed the balloon on the walkway out front of the Port Royale building, jumped out, and gave him a hug.
Eventually I figured it out. The boats were playing a game called “Tugby,” where two teams of boats would try to push a container of coal down the field and into their opponent’s goal. It was like playing rugby on water. So if you like rugby and have a tug boat, you too could play Tugby. After watching a while, I turned northward and drifted over a golf course in Santa Cruz. I remembered there once had been what I was told was “Second Life’s most popular golf course” in Holly Kai, I believe, but I didn’t see it this time around. The Santa Cruz golf course was the only one I had spotted so far and it was considerably smaller than the size of the Holly Kai one. I guess in this case, size wasn’t everything—except that it had more staying power!
Above: While passing South Beach Marina & Yacht Club, Dahlia noticed her friend, Clay Ellison inside the building. She called out to him and then landed the balloon outside to greet him. She learned that he had a shop there that sold his impressive and colourful line of Cigaretto speed boats. She also learned he had just been named “One of SL’s Sexiest Men.”
Eventually I made my way to the northernmost sims, including Smugglers Retreat, which had tremendously large, multi-decked and expensive yachts lining the edges of the sim. It looked like the place that the rich and famous might park their boats. In the center of the sim floated an enterI continued north, passing the tainment venue perfect for relaxmodest looking Port Arthur ing and dancing, with a stage for Resort and its rentable villas, then music groups to play on. I circled soon after passed the more posh Smugglers Retreat, then headed South Beach Marina & Yacht Club south on my return trip back to at Port Royale. Hollywood Airport. The Great Balloon Adventure ~ Blake Sea & Island Communities
While passing on the opposite side of South Beach Marina and Yacht Club at Pot Royale from the way I had flown on my way north, I looked down into the club building and to my surprise, saw my friend Clay Ellison. Clay was the property owner of a set of residential islands in Morea, a sim in the far southeastern Caribbean islands that had since been reclaimed by the rising sea. It was the start and finish location for my voyage in The Great Sailing Adventure.
As it turned out, two rows of the stylish motorboats docked outside of the building were his creations. Clay sold his line of Cigaretto speed boats from that location, as well as others. Together, we caught up on each other’s news, including the fact that Clay was about to rush off to a photoshoot for a magazine where he was named “One of SL’s Sexiest Men.” I was excited for him and gave him my enthusiastic congratulations. Clay took the news in his everpresent fashion: “Its an honor, but I just don’t see it,” he would say. Some days later, I told his wife, Dolci Woodget, what he had said, and Dolci replied about his modesty: “That’s what makes him even sexier.” I couldn’t argue with that. Clay needed to rush off to his photoshoot, so we said our goodbyes and I climbed back into the 65