Dateline Cape Town, South Africa: The Floating Fruits of Co-Founding Microsoft; Paul Allen's Yacht Almost Upstages Hotel

When my television crew and I checked into South Africa's Cape Grace hotel on the Cape Town waterfront recently, the exterior of the hotel was dominated by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's mega-yacht moored just outside.  You could almost exit the front door of the hotel and run right into the hull of the Tatoosh, a 303-foot-long behemoth that ranks as the 24th-largest yacht in world.  It was parked parallel to the hotel, almost another wing of the luxury hostelry.  And it was so huge, that even from the hotel's rooftop, my wide angle lens could barely capture the entire craft.

Allen himself wasn't in attendance; local gossip has it that he rarely sails aboard but will often fly to meet the German-built yacht at ports of call around the world.  Prior to arriving in Cape Town for a spell, the Tatoosh was moored off the Kenyan city of Mobassa (September), St. Jean Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera (August), and Athens, Greece (July). 

If you're curious as to how I know the various locations of Allen's yacht, it's not because the billionaire has ever invited me aboard.  I know the yacht's whereabouts thanks to a website that offers a nautical verson of of the sport of trainspotting.  Fans of big yachts all over the world prowl their local harbors and post sightings of yachts on Yachtspotter.com.  I'm told it drives owners of big boats who prefer privacy nuts; they're not thrilled that anyone in the world can find their yachts with simply a couple of clicks of the mouse.

The Tatoosh may not be in the top ten of the world's largest floating palaces, but you wouldn't know it to look at it.  On the rear deck are two small helicopters--yup, there are two helipads up top.  Two tenders cling to the side of the yacht: a 42-foot motorboat and a 32-foot sailboat.  (There was another powerboat on an upper deck in Cape Town, as you can see in the above photo; that's not standard equipment.)  There's a swimming pool on the second of the four decks, and the yacht also boasts a dive decompression chamber, an infirmary, gym, and movie theater. And of course a sauna and Jacuzzi. 

The yacht was built in 2000 and generally winters in the Caribbean and then spends the rest of the year roaming European and African spots favored by the wealthy.  If you'd like to hitch a ride aboard the Tatoosh, I'm told that when Allen is in Cape Town, he's known to hang at the Cape Grace's whiskey bar called Bascule that features more than 460 different whiskies from around the world. Buy him a rare pour and maybe he'll invite you aboard.