A risk worth taking.

Once upon a time there was a tropical island that beckoned to a young man named Joe. It was not an island like "Bali Hai" in "South Pacific". It was an investment island that Joe read about in a travel magazine. In fact it was not a real island at all. It did not even exist except as an idea.

You see, a group of business men had gotten together and created the idea of buying a once elegant cruise ship that had been "moth balled". They planned to refurbish it and restore its original grandeur.

All of the men had been successful in the area of tourist travel and several had experienced cruising in the days when cruise ships looked like real ships and were elegant like the Queen Mary and not like the current cruise ships that are built like a tub in order to hold the maximum number of people. Several of these men had even experienced the ship in question, The Diamond Sea and knew first hand of its beauty.

So it was that this group of men, who called themselves the "Diamond Sea Venture Group", had advertised a brief article in the magazine telling of their intentions and of an investment seminar to be held in Palm Beach on a certain week end.

Joe had been on several cruises on the modern ships and could also remember going on a cruise with his parents, back in the 70's, on a traditional ship like the Diamond Sea. He remembered how elegant the furnishings were and how the people dressed formally for dinner and how the food was as good as any fine restaurant. In fact that experience reminded him of the glittering old movies that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared in during the 30's.

So Joe called the advertised number and signed up for the all expense paid seminar and on the appointed day he drove from his home in Tampa to West Palm Beach. Being single and being a bit overstressed in his own business, he jumped at the chance to get a few days vacation virtually free, and he was attracted to the investment venture itself.

When he arrived at the resort hotel he registered at the temporary office designated for his seminar and then went to the front desk to check into his room. A very attractive young lady greeted Joe and he told her his name and the seminar he was signed up for. She made him feel very welcome and he noticed that she had a slight accent. He tried to place it from his experience in the navy but could not quite make it out, perhaps Scandinavian. He got his key, thanked her, and went to his room.

He put up his things and

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