When the long-time gambling ship Sea Escape shut down August 10, they said they would shortly announce another port where they would set up operations. The company said they couldn't compete with all the gambling opportunites in South Florida.
They never got the chance to see if they could make the gambling ship work somewhere else. As they were preparing to move to ship, officially Island Adventure, to the Bahamas while they worked out their plan, it was arrested by US marshals in response to a lawsuit filed by crew members who hadn't been paid.
The judge gave the owners until September 26, 2008 to raise the money for the crew members, and other creditors which later piled on. (In total $2.3 million was said to be owed.) In addition to raising the money in the usual ways, the judge also allowed the owners to contract to sell or charter Island Adventure.
They couldn't find anyone interested, and today the judge ordered the ship sold at auction on October 16. And that seems to be the end of Sea Escape - a South Florida tradition.
