Yesterday had to be one of the ten best days of our adventure. Knowing we didn't have far to travel we had a liesurely departure from Lake Santa Barbara and joined the ICW southbound. This portion of the ICW is the Hillsboro River which took us through condo row and huge mega yacht marinas. One thing I have noticed about these yachts is that very few of them are flying American flags. The Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and the Marshall Islands. etc. flags prevail. I wish I could get away with that! Today I found out that the new governor of CT has proposed legislation that will make boating more expensive by way of new taxes.....
Four bridges later we reached the mouth of the New River at mile marker 1065. This is where the voyage became most interesting. We had to go up the New River about six miles to a marina. The river is very narrow and snakes through an area of beautiful homes, yachts and numerous parks before going through the city of Ft Lauderdale. We then came upon an industrial area and boatyard after boatyard jammed full of boats of all sizes and boats tied off on each side of the river which made some of the turns a chalange. There are five very low bridges along this route but we lucked out by getting behind a rather large tour boat (The Jungle Queen) and followed it through the opened bridges. There were times when I didn't think the cruise boat would fit through some of the openings. There were three other boats that also played follow the leader. The all in all the trip up the river was spectacular. We made our way to the Lauderdale Yacht Center and tied off at the end of a 'T' dock. I think we have the distinction of being the smallest and least expensive boat in the marina.
We finished up some boat chores before our Friend Debbie, who lives here in FLL, came for a visit. We had happy hour on the flybridge and supper in the saloon. Debbie insisted they we drive her home, drop her off and take her car back to the marina so that we could go shopping for provisions today.
Today we took advantage of the car and visited the SAILORS.com store that is crammed full of new and used boat parts and the Blue Water book and chart store. We needed new charts for the trip north and this place had nautical books, gift items and charts and flags for just about every corner of the world. Sue dropped me off at the marina and continued on for more shopping.
Our plan is to stay here at this marina for two weeks. We may go back to CT for a few days and then it's time to make those numbers along the ICW decrease as we head north - probably the second week in March.
Y'all stay vertical,
Capt John and First Mate Sue
www.lauderdalemarinecenter.com
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