Boca Raton to Fort Lauderdale – 14 nautical miles sailed, 8 bridges, 8 kilometres walked
It was dark when we left the Boca anchorage, just 6:15 am, but we wanted to get to Fort Lauderdale early to claim one of the three remaining mooring balls in the Las Olas mooring field. Besides a small mechanical problem with the opening of the first bridge, which delayed us a few minutes, the trip was effortless and perfectly timed for each scheduled bridge opening, with tidal currents giving a push when we needed it to reach the next one in time.
Arriving in Fort Lauderdale felt special; like we’d made it; the end point of the first phase of our trip; an accomplishment. We celebrated by getting the hell off the boat and taking a long, slow walk up Las Olas Boulevard. We’d visited here previously on a private jet, in 2016 with the kids, and yes there is a story behind that one. As we walked down the same street today, just the two of us, we fanned through memories of that trip, and spotted restaurants we had visited, the hotel we stayed at, and the incredible Riverwalk along the canals, which we are sure to do again this time. I remember at one point during that trip thinking how incredible it would be to sail our own boat here, some day in the distant future. That distant future had arrived.
We were at the start of the Riverwalk when Ana noticed a darkening expression on my face as I realized she may be thinking of taking it.
“Whoah there,” she said. “We don’t have to do it now, you look like you might be getting hangry.”
“I’m not dying of hunger yet,” I replied. “But I am definitely suffering.”
After a quick stop at a curiosities shop where I was tempted to buy a set of sexy mermen, we continued to the Voodoo Bayou restaurant and enjoyed a decent lunch, after which I stood beside various shop entrances while Ana browsed the deals. I car-watched and people-watched and noticed a lot of Bentleys, Ferraris, Porsches in the first category and Pilates-tuned bodies and botched lip jobs in the second. This is an interesting place.
Fully fueled, we retraced our steps back up Las Olas Boulevard and continued onto the bridge across the ICW. Of course, as soon as we arrived, the damn bridge went up and we had to wait for at least ten minutes for the annoying sailboats to pass. It's almost as annoying as waiting for traffic to pass when you’re on your boat on the ICW. I’m glad we experienced it from both sides.
The beach side of Fort Lauderdale is a party place. Low class bars with twenty-somethings heading for blackout by 6pm, sticky floors, margarita specials, tequila shots, buckets of beer. The beach is beautiful, but the ripping north winds today were kicking up a lot of sand and surf so we strolled down the street side instead. We stopped at the Beach Café for a strong coffee and a frosty Modelo, served by a jokester Filipino lady, then serenaded by a nearby soda pop vendor who sang continuously, stopping only momentarily to chat with another vendor friend up on the third floor who was shouting down to him through a megaphone. I first thought it was that singer from Stone Temple Pilots (who’d moved onto his next career), and I’d just experienced a celebrity sighting, then I remembered that guy perished a few years ago, so I guess he was just a regular Florida weirdo.
We’ve had many challenges and issues on this trip, but managing a busy social calendar has not been one of them…until today. Friends from our yacht club Darryl and Nathalie are in Fort Lauderdale and wanted us over for dinner. We’d also making dinner plans with Stillman and family, our buddy Tony arrives Sunday, and our buddy boat Waddington will be catching up with us tomorrow. It’s a nice problem to have.
Tonight ended up being a good night for Darryl and Nathalie so Darryl picked us up at 5, brought us back to their exceedingly comfy condo and there we had drinks, an amazing dinner, and shared lots of great stories. They are such a cool couple so we are hoping to see them more in the coming weeks. It was a perfect end to an excellent day.
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