"Ft. Lauderdale - Come By Land- Leave By Water" Fort Lauderdale by grandmaR

Our friend's dock

The first time we went down, we docked at a friend's place. They lent us a car, and we got to visit a lot of boating stores and resale shops. But there were too many bridges in Ft. Lauderdale, and it was too much of a hassle.

On the way back, we went up between Ft. Lauderdale and Lake Worth outside in the Atlantic at night (top picture). This avoided the bridges. From then on, we kept out at sea and didn't come in to Ft. Lauderdale on our boat. However more recently, we've come to Ft. Lauderdale or left from there on cruise ships.

Ft. Lauderdale from the water during the day

The following year (2001 fall) we decided to avoid the whole area by going outside from Ft. Pierce to Miami...

excerpt from the narrative of that trip:
" I came up into the cockpit and we sat there together until about 10 when I saw Bob yawn. I asked him if he couldn't sleep and he said no, but then a little later, he agreed that he was tired.

He first went into the aft cabin, but couldn't sleep there, so went up and slept in the bunk in the main saloon. We were still motor sailing with main and staysail.

All was well for awhile. Nothing frightening on the radar. Then I started hearing announcements. The USNavy was conducting hazardous surface and underwater exercises from Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale- see Port Everglades page) to some place I didn't know. The CG had a zone around all passenger ships in Port Everglades and Government Cut (the Miami port), and pleasure craft were restricted. I didn't hear either announcement well, and we were approaching Ft. Lauderdale.

I saw a big ship and I saw the red, white and green lights. I moved out from shore a bit, but didn't want to go too far out because of the Navy stuff. Then I saw just the white and green (starboard side), so I figured they were going in the inlet. Then they shut off the green light and appeared to stop. A little bit later they turned on the deck lights. I guess they anchored or picked up a mooring.

At the same time, there was a tug and tow was coming north, but he was on the other side of the ship, so I figured I didn't have to worry.

The Navy made another announcement and said to contact them on channel 88, so I tried that and didn't get an answer, and then I tried 16, and didn't get an answer there either. I was now south of Ft. Lauderdale. The Navy gave the announcement again, (I switched to the new radio) and this time when I went to call, I overshot channel 88 and discovered that there was an 88A. Called on that channel, and the Navy answered and told me that if we were in less than 100 feet of water, there was no problem.

• Pros:A boating center of Florida's East Coast
• Cons:Too many rude sportsfishing boats
• In a nutshell:TOO MANY BRIDGES