Saturday started EARLY - with a Breakfast Buffet in the Westin Ballroom starting at 6:00 am in order to be able to begin the boat and bus tours by 7:15.

Attendees were split into two groups - The "Helmsmen" started the tour by boat and ended by bus while the other half started by bus and ended by boat.

Most of the on-line regulars selected beginning on the water portion as pre-planned.

We took a short bus ride to the embarkation of the boat and got underway. The Captain did an excellent job of getting us close to many of the lighthouses and describing the lighthouses and other interesting points along the shores. The lighthouses we viewed by water included:

1. Ponham Rocks (looks a lot like Rose Island)
2. Conemicut (a sparkplug style)
3. Nyatt Point
4. Warwick Point
5. Hog Island
6. Goat Island (Newport Harbor)
7. Ida Lewis (Lime Rock)
... and a couple of others I'll have to add when I can find my notes.

The group that started by bus got to the Newport Yacht Club first and had lunch so that when we arrived for lunch, they were ready to depart on their water portion of the tour.

After lunch, we boaded buses, made a quick stop to view Ida Lewis from the land side, then stopped to visit Castle Hill. From Castle Hill, we took a brief detour to drive past some of the mansions of Newport before crossing over the Newport bridge to Jamestown and a visit to Beavertail.

From Beavertail we took another bridge arcoss the Western Naragansett Bay and down the shore to Point Judith Lighthouse.

Finally a ride back to the hotel to prepare for the evening "Down East" dinner - lobster, chicken, and the fixin's.

Tomorrow morning is the "Brunch With Bill" event which will include an Opportunity Drawing for some very valuable Harbour Lights items including an original Hatteras and a Coquille River. The tickets are $20 each with each attendee being allowed to purchase one ticket. (Except that tomorrow morning those tickets not purchased by attendees may be purchased by other attendees.)

I hope to have a chat and live video feed during the bruch tomorrow.