S/V Geru: Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale is known for its spring break partying. From what we found, it seems to live up to this reputation year round.

We spent the first few days at Lake Sylvia. It was nice because it was quiet, with the exception of the weekend parties (see photo). However, we found that it was difficult to find somewhere to land the dinghy as the area is surrounded by private properties. One option was to take the dinghy down two different canals and to cross the ICW in order to tie up at a restaurant. We only did that once - picture crossing a busy waterway with large power boats motoring through in a small inflatable rubber dinghy! It was akin to crossing a busy highway on a bicycle - quite a hair-raising experience, not to mention a wet one, as we got soaked by the wakes from the large boats.

On Tuesday, we moved from Lake Sylvia to Cooley's Landing Marina in order to be able to get to shore more easily and to allow us to do laundry and fill up with water before we left for the Bahamas. Cooley's Landing Marina is in the downtown area of Fort Lauderdale, which is actually a good distance from the beach and main cruise ship harbour, but it is right in an entertainmant district. Just down from the marina is an area called the Riverfront (along the New River) which is filled with restaurants and bars.

One evening we decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants at the Riverfront. It was still early, so after dinner we hung out watching life go by and were surprised to see a fair number of Navy personnel (in uniforms) coming into the restaurant. It turns out that this was Fleet Week in Fort Lauderdale, where several Navy ships were in town with lots of events arranged for the crews to thank them for their duty to their country. We ended up talking to some of the female officers from the USS Iwo Jima and had a great evening with them. We also ran into a gentleman there in a Canadian Navy uniform - it turns out he was a Navy chaplain who happened to be with the American fleet on a chaplain-exchange program!

On another day, we headed over to the ocean side to see what the famous Fort Lauderdale beach was like - the beach where "spring break happens". When we arrived, we were surprised at how low to the water some helicopers were flying near the beach. Shortly after that we heard, then saw why - there was a cigarette boat race going on right in front of the beach! It was so loud from the boat engines that we had to raise our voices to talk to each other. The helicopers were following the leaders, but they were so close to them that it looked like they were getting spray from the boats. The boats themselves looked crazy, too, both from the speed and from the fact that they were flying out of the water as they were jumping off of waves (it was rough out on the ocean). Other than the cigarette boats, the beach was pretty much what we had expected - lots of people out strutting their stuff and sunbathing.

Later that evening we headed out to the Las Olas wine and food show. Las Olas is a shopping street which isn't far from Cooley's. The wine and food show was held right on the street and was open to anyone to walk through (you needed to buy wrist bands to sample the food & wine). It was really neat to be at an outdoor wine and food show on a balmy evening! Afterwards, we didn't really feel like going home so we ended up at a night club at the Riverfront - what an interesting place. It had an Arabian theme with lots of seating and posh beds (!) to lounge on. People were smoking bongs while multiple DJs played hip hop music in several connected rooms. The crowd was quite young. Definitely an experience.

Two nights later we found the bar strip just two blocks away from the marina with clubs frequented by the "older" generation. Each side of the street has a sidewalk which is lined with outdoor tables where you can be served drinks (open alcohol on the street seemed ok in Fort Lauderdale). There were people in the bars, but many were out on the street, so we grabbed a table and watched people walk by. We noticed that a large number of the women appeared to have breast implants, many of them so large as to be extreme. Must be the beach culture.

On Sunday, we left Cooley's to go back to Lake Sylvia in order to be closer to the ocean inlet for the start of our trip to the Bahamas. As expected, there were lots of local boats anchored in the lake for a day of partying. One group consisted of at least eight power boats rafted up together, essentially creating a floating island.