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April 7, 2015  Day 137 South for Winter

New River Downtown City Marina
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Miami!

We left Miami on Thursday, April 2 and cruised 28 miles to Ft. Lauderdale. We had a very good cruising day – sunny, calm, and not too much boating traffic.  We also timed the bridges well so they were no problem.

We entered the New River in Ft. Lauderdale just after 12:00 and were soon tied up on the wall of the City Marina (more appropriately called City Docks!).  This is in the heart of downtown. Our view has been condos, high rise buildings, hotels, walking paths, parks, and bridges.  Oh and don’t forget the boats!  We have virtually been watching a boat parade since we arrived. Boats of all sizes (small runabouts to mega yachts) and all types (personal boats to tour boats and water taxis) pass us all day long and some continue after dark.  This is the place to be, and of course it was over Easter weekend and that added to the volume. There are also many people just out walking or riding Segways.

We took a walk after dinner on Friday and saw some of the area near us. Most of the shopping, museums, restaurants and parks are on the north side of the river. We are docked on the south side.  Free water taxis run back and forth though!

The New River in Ft. Lauderdale -
felt like we were heading up a one way canal!

On Saturday, Joyce’s childhood friend, Sally drove down from Boca Raton to visit. We had a delightful reunion after having not seen each other for over 50 years. Thank goodness for finding each other on Facebook!  We chatted quite a while on the sundeck of Carried Away.  Then we walked to a nearby restaurant, The Downtowner. It was so nice to sit outside and watch more boats go by as we ate dinner.  We decided to hop on one of the water taxis and see more of the River Walk area.   There are parks, museums, theaters, and restaurants on the north side and west of where we are docked. It is a wonderful place!  We went back to our boat and visited a little longer, took more pictures, and then said goodbye.  If we come back here next year, we will pick up where we left off!

On Easter Sunday, we went back to the same restaurant for brunch and were not disappointed with the choices of food. Again we ate outside and enjoyed the view of the water.



Our view from our dockside across the New River

We had planned to depart on Monday but Carried Away had other ideas.  Backing up to Friday night….we discovered a major leak in our forward hold.  Bill was able to fix the culprit, a broken pipe, but not before many of his power tools were destroyed.  He had to rent a car on Saturday to get materials to make the repairs.  Then he had to run over to Home Depot on Easter Sunday to replace a tool that had been destroyed.

We also had a new air conditioner delivered on Friday.  Bill installed it himself to save the $$$ labor costs.  He worked all weekend and finally completed it this afternoon. He was beyond exhausted and has many sore muscles. The unit is housed under a cabinet on the fly bridge but the wiring and hoses had to be funneled down through a raceway in the salon wall and then down into the engine room. What a job!  But, we are thrilled to have the new salon air conditioner.  

Other issues: our water hose broke this morning and was spraying water all over the side of the boat and the walkways. Fortunately, someone discovered it and turned it off for us before we got up.



Mega yachts over 100 ft. have to
be towed up this narrow river 

Joyce took the rental car back Monday and also did provisioning at Publix. By 7:30 this evening we had the boat cleaned and everything put away.  We had a light dinner and then studied all the bridges we have to encounter tomorrow as we head north to an anchorage in Lake Worth. We did not get to do the sightseeing we had planned on so it is not out of the question that we might come back here next winter!

 



Joyce and Sally