tadhana: fort lauderdale, FL.

the next leg of the trip was a bit surreal as we passed jupiter island into palm beach towards fort lauderdale. two things: 1) mansions; and 2) bridges. i think we had to cross 14 or so bridges, most of which we could actually go underneath without requesting or waiting for a scheduled opening. those we had to wait for usually opened on the quarter and three-quarter hour. we dropped EVERYTHING - the antennae, all three of them, the mast, and the bimini! our air draft is probably something like 14.5 feet with everything dropped. it is about 18.5 feet with everything up. we had to wait 25 minutes for the NE 14th street bridge but the aldsorf municipal park was right before the bridge so we ducked in there and tied temporarily to the wall and let consuelo out for a bit. later, as we crossed the bridge, i saw an iguana sunning itself on the wooden beams. i failed to take a photo of it but at the next bridge, i looked very carefully, hoping that i would see one there as well and was rewarded for the effort.

this area is known as the concrete canyons - basically a deep ditch with homes and condos on each side. and the homes! good lord... where do these people get their money is what i would like to know. in any case, the area is also known as the washing machine - wake hits the wall on one side of the channel, bounces off, travels across and hits the wall on the opposite side, bounces off... you get the picture. there really wasn't too much traffic and we did not have to deal with much wake which was a good thing but to be honest, now that we've done this leg once, i'm okay with going on the outside and missing the whole thing altogether.

unfortunately, we only bypassed palm beach - the anchorage looked "interesting" and probably merits a visit on our way back north. but as we passed the inlet there, the water was a beautiful clear green, probably from fresh sea water coming in. it was a taste of what was to come.

i also noticed a lot of coconuts floating in the water, fallen from the trees lining the homes. it was almost tempting to snag a couple of them.

our original plan was to anchor in lake sylvia but once we got there, we could see that it would not be comfortable for us. shore access for consuelo was not convenient and the anchorage itself was FULL of anchored boats so we backtracked and picked up a mooring ball at the las olas municipal marina. this worked out so much better. we were joined by three from our fleet. easy shore access for the doggies, use of the marina facilities, a short walk to the beach and the craziness that is fort liquordale. we were in the big time now surrounded by huge mansions all decked out for christmas, marinas full of mega-yachts, etc. it was quite the experience for country bumpkins like us.