Wednesday December 3: Close Encounters of the Large Kind - Ft. Lauderdale

So the 60 miles from Lake Worth south to Ft. Lauderdale (on a sunny, Sunday afternoon) were quite interesting. EVERYONE with a boat was on the water!

Remember this is one of the lands of the rich, right? Very large yachts with fairy tale looking bridges (this bridge even had spiral staircases up to the towers!).




 This was the largest one we saw tied up at a private dock in front of a huge home. Pretty big with three decks above water and one below.

Then we spotted the on on the left that has 4 decks above water and one below.

The guy washing windows circled in red on the 3rd deck should give some perspective on the size of this one!

And the ones that weren't at marinas, homes or on the waterway were on a ship waiting to be sent?? I'm assuming across the ocean to Europe?

Who knows. But the huge yachts are definitely still living in this area!

Of course these yachts are nothing compared to the cruise ships (3 of them) that were leaving Port Everglades just as we arrived at the intersection of the Intercoastal and Port Everglades (which leads to the Atlantic).

The security boat told us we were in the way of the 3rd ship which was going to back into the space in which we sat. So where should we go????

The instructions were to go behind the cruise ship on the left (it was moving forward so no problem there) and BEHIND the cruise ship on the right that was BACKING UP. Really? Go between the two cruise ships - as the one is backing up toward me? Does this guy know how slow we go??

But we followed instructions (along with half a dozen other boats) and cut between the two - watching the ship as we slid by it's side.

Man - it sure looks huge when you're not all that far from it! No problems though - we were just glad to be able to continue on.



It was getting close to 5 pm and we had 30 minutes to the marina yet.

Close to 5:30 and definitely dusk by the time we arrived.

Long 9 hour day - we were both wiped out ......

That was Sunday. Monday and Tuesday it rained and blew (East winds 15 - 25 mph so at least it was a warm wind :-) ) - just generally nasty out.

We hunkered down in the boat with short runs to the grocery store when there was a lull in the rains.

The "good" grocery store is 2 1/2 miles away and it's a nice ride through residential neighborhoods. Good exercise (I have to keep telling myself that!).

Today was finally  a nice day - still plenty of wind - so we rode to the beach for breakfast. The boardwalk here is really nice - lots of folks out walking and riding and using the beach.

It's a short 1/2 mile ride across the intercoastal to the beach.

Easy to do and the bridge isn't too steep :-)

Steve spotted this telephone booth - London style - on his ride to the park earlier today.

Guess we don't have to go to England now ...... one more country off the list :-)