We spent two and a half weeks in Fort Lauderdale. It was great to be back in civilization after being in such deserted places for so long. We both enjoyed the life and energy which Fort Lauderdale has. We thought we'd left the heat behind in George Town, but it was quite hot in Fort Lauderdale as well. We ended up buying an air conditioner to make it bearable on board, and we spent time exploring the malls and stores during the day to keep cool.
Given the number of hurricanes that swept past the Bahamas during our stay in Fort Lauderdale, we were very glad we had chosen to head back to the US. We felt safer knowing that there would be more resources available here if a hurricane were to hit. Mega yachts passed by the small marina we were staying at in a seemingly endless parade to head farther upriver to (relative) safety when hurricane Hanna was approaching. Fortunately, we experienced no serious weather.
We were once again staying at Cooley's Landing Marina in the downtown area of Fort Lauderdale. We like the bars and restaurants in this area. By comparison, the more famous tourist area by the beach seems quite run down. We enjoyed a few nights out on the patios watching people strut by in eye-catching outfits. Again we were astounded by the amount of obvious plastic surgery! One night we went to "America's Backyard", a place we imagined to be a quintessential spring break attraction, which, even at this time of year in the off-season, drew quite a crowd. The entire place was outdoors with a roofed balcony along one side. The main bar sat in the centre of the open area. It looked like a free-form raised swimming pool. The counter surrounding the bar was tiled like the bottom of a pool would be, and there were pool ladders to help patrons climb up onto the counter to dance up there! We had fun watching the gregarious crowd and doing a bit of dancing ourselves - albeit not on the counters... On another occasion, when looking for a good place to eat, we came across a somewhat unusual restaurant recommended by Gourmet magazine. The place was called Lips, and the dinner included a show as well. The "unusual" part? The waitresses as well as the stars of the evening show were all drag queens! The audience turned out to be a mixture of ordinary folks, men and women, couples, groups and even families. The food was great and the entertainment hilarious.
One afternoon, we had an interesting animal encounter. We were sitting in the boat and suddenly heard some scratching on the cabintop. We'd heard a similar sound in the past when birds walked around on our boat. As we looked up at the forward hatch (which was closed but is essentially see-through), we saw two large clawed feet and a long tail - this time, it wasn't a bird, but an iguana! We both rushed out on deck to watch the iguana wander around our boat. It got scared when it saw us, and it jumped overboard into the water! (Did you know iguanas can swim? - we didn't!)
Our "little" visitor
Three storms on the way!
The projected path for Hanna - just brushing Fort Lauderdale
