Exploring the waterways in Ft. Lauderdale
24 April 2013
sunny and warm
A leisurely breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and fruit, catching up on the news via the WSJ and USA today via our Kindle ( I subscribe to both when we are on the boat and it downloads automatically if we are in range of wi-fi) and doing a little bit more of my cross-stitch.
We headed to Pier 66 to fill the 3 gerry cans with diesel. It was $4.35 per gallon. They did not sell gas, so after fill up we dinked across the ICW and got the gas for the dinghy – that was $5.35 per gallon Once done we took the cans back to the boat, had our smoothie and then headed off to explore the waterway south of the 17th st. bridge.
Going to Miami we cannot continue down the ICW since there is a bridge – the Julia Tuttle, which is fixed at 56’ – we couldn’t get under. So since we wouldn’t be taking our sailboat down that way we explored by dinghy – and what a find. Just south of the inlet on the east side of the ICW is the entrance to John U. Lloyd State park. There is a launch ramp and a dock to tie up, and if you continue under the bridge it takes you to a waterway where boats anchor onto shore and walk over the dunes to the ocean. It was beautiful!
We walked the beach for awhile and found some very colorful shells and half a sand dollar (I’m always looking for those) they have restrooms and picnic tables – we will probably head back there tomorrow and spend some time on the beach and in the ocean.
Back in the dinghy and we headed back exploring the docks where the cruise ships dock, saw an enormous motor yacht – Pegasus – that was taking on fuel – there were two fuel tankers there and a third one arriving – hate to have that bill! Heading back I guess we got a little to close to the piers ‘cause all of a sudden a police boat was coming at us full speed, blew their siren and announced we were too close and needed to move back into the ICW channel – thank you homeland security.
Decided to go back to Southport Raw bar for another round of those delicious raw clams! We passed Scott and Freddi from Chardonnay and they said to meet them on their boat at 1830. We explored little more and found some more canals – but decided to wait until tomorrow. So back to the boat and get ready for cocktail hour