Camped Out in Fort Lauderdale

Day #119

Although it was never our intention, we are hanging out in Fort Lauderdale for a spell. Not only do we have a fair dockage rate in a pretty neat location, but the weather is being a bit uncooperative for our journey further south. The El Nino that we are in the midst of is causing the winds in this part of the world to really kick up this winter. Folks in Florida, including the Keys, as well as the Bahamas are all complaining about high winds. And for us, we have some open water to traverse between here and the Keys, so we are keeping an eye on it and waiting for the most opportune time to head south.

In the meantime, we thought we'd catch you up on a few pictures that we left out of an earlier post, and as well, share some additional pics of some of the scenery that we are experiencing right here at our slip.

First...we had a new sign made for us to display our name on the upper deck. While our signage on our stern meets all Coast Guard requirements, the position of our dinghy makes it nearly impossible for folks to spot our name while on the water...so...

This is the sign being made...

And here it is on our upper rail.

For the last year or so, Sandy has been campaigning for a new table for the salon. The original table is a really nice teak and holly table, but it is rather large for the space available.  Rob has been dragging his feet because it would mean replacing something that is original equipment, and he just wasn't sure it was needed. Finally, wisdom prevailed and we decided to have a new table custom built for us. The folks at Stuart Yacht Builders made this new teak table top for us and we are thrilled with it. It really opens up the salon, and allows for greater ease of movement in this relatively small space.

 



And now for some fun pics of boats...more aptly, pics of yachts and super yachts...all taken from our cockpit here at the dock.

As these 2 crossed, we could practically reach out and touch the closer one.

 

Traffic jam in the making...

The Superyacht Antithesis being towed by. We've seen many of these, this just being an example of a typical 135 footer. This part of the river is too narrow for these bigger boats to maneuver under their own power, so we see them with a tow boat in front, and another on the stern.

And here we sit, parked between 2 smaller yachts...65 and 85 feet respectively...it's almost comical!