SouthBeach and Lauderdale
12 April 2013 | Florida
Toby Hynes
Having completed our crossing, we holed up at Harbor Town Marina for about four days. The crew got off to flights and cars to drive home except Norm, whose wife Lee, met wife Joanne, Toby and Norm…close family enjoying a few days together. This was a fun location and, frankly, we found more to do here than we thought possible.
A quick visit over to Derektors Shipyard had us enjoying lunch at Bass Pro Shop with Captain Bob Moulton, DJ and James. A side trip followed to visit Comanche, a 90 foot Feadship we had the joy to use, thanks to a caring employer, during a few summers in Cape Cod. It brought back many fond memories of Osterville summers. I love boats. Although Joanne and I can only handle about a 38 foot boat and own a 42 foot boat, I love big boats.
Fort Lauderdale, the first surprise was a hit. Las Olas Boulevard is more than a bridge that opens on the quarter hour. It is a street filled with restaurants and shops. We had rented a car, parked by the bridge on the New River, and a hungry Joanne landed us at a great little Greek Restaurant and some wonderful Mousaka. We walked the numerous blocks after dinner to work off the food and enjoy the area. The next day, we were off to South Beach. Preceded by a great Dania Beach Breakfast spot called Gampa’s, we passed on lunch so had an appetite. We walked Lincoln Avenue, entered one dress shop where Lee fell in love with a $500 dress. She opted to pass…but we could all feel the pain. Then we enjoyed appetizers and a few cocktails at one of the many street side restaurants. We had a “boaters reservation” at Bianca’s in the Delano Hotel on Collins. That is code for a 7:30 reservation where, on South Beach, you are the ONLY one in the restaurant for a half an hour. Then the people start dribbling in. It was a wonderful meal, great environment rumored to have been designed by Madonna (of Course). Large white drapes, weird chairs, fabulous sushi bar and unusual chandeliers were all worth seeing. We toured the pool after our first drink. Two somewhat buxom blonds, no surprise, sitting in the two chairs and stools placed ever so delicately in the shallow water of the pool. Then a trip up A1A to the boat past the Foutainblu Hotel completed the evening.
The next day we waited out the string of thunderstorms and then headed up the Inter-coastal to Bahia Mar, Lee got in a swim in the pool, and we took the dingy up the inter-coastal to Coconuts, a water side restaurant. Good and fun food to signal an end to our first leg of the trip north.