It’s been a busy time for the last week and a half while we’ve been in Ft. Lauderdale. Jennifer was with us for a week. We went to the beach almost every day, but she was only able to swim once. The other days it was too windy and the waves were too high, so we just walked on the beach. Red flags were out which means there were dangerous currents.
Jennifer wanted to go out to lunch, so just before I drove her to Palm Beach, where Pete met us and took her the rest of the way to Merritt Island, we ate at the Briney Riverfront Pub, just across the river from our marina slip. While walking back to the car, I got a good photo of the “Chad Ball” (below) next to the courthouse. This huge ball was made from the leftovers of the infamous Florida election “hanging chads” in the presidential election of 2004. This is Broward County where most of the recounting was taking place.
We planned on leaving the New River Marina on Tuesday, but had to stay an extra day to get some warranty work done on the boat. Tuesday morning, I went grocery shopping and found some “buy one get one free bargains”, so did more stocking up. We still have quite a bit to buy, but will wait until just before we leave for the Bahamas to do the rest. Our freezer is full and I wish we had a bigger one as meat in particular is difficult to get in the Bahamas. In addition, while groceries are available they are much more expensive than here in the States. Therefore, we are trying to have up to six months of food stored.
Today it’s been raining off and on, so between showers we left New River and motored down the river to Lake Sylvia, aka Sylvan Lake (photo above), which is close to Las Olas Marina where we’ve stayed before. It’s a small lake but the only place in Ft. Lauderdale where boats can actually anchor. Until recently, the marine police would kick boats out after three days. However a very recent law was just passed in Florida and now they can’t limit the amount of time you anchor in Florida waters. This state, even though it gets massive amounts of money from boaters, seems to be the least welcoming. It’s also the only state we’ve visited with ocean or Gulf access which severely limits dogs on their beaches. In fact, on Ft. Lauderdale Beach you can’t even walk a dog on the SIDEWALK next to the beach. We have taken Daisy ashore daily while at sea and have rarely found any dog waste left behind, even in remote areas.
There is no close shore access at this anchorage, as it is surrounded by private homes in a gated community. However, we can dinghy to at least one restaurant on a canal, pay $10, and if we eat there we get a refund. For $15 a day, we can bring the dinghy to Las Olas Marina and also have access to their laundry room, TV room, and restroom/shower area. The third option is a public boat ramp which is free. The problem there is we aren’t sure if we can tie up the dinghy, so tonight we both went to the public ram, I got off with Daisy to walk her, and Mark waited on the dinghy.
