Lantana to Ft. Lauderdale (or, A tour of new mansion on the waterway)

January 10, 2007


*Jan. 13--*Happy Birthday Roger!!* (Hans' dad)

I finally got a connection long enough to load pictures!*

We left Lantana, Florida this morning at 7:45 AM, ready for our day of 14 bridges, the majority of which are restricted in their opening times. We calculated our speed and the distance between the bridges so we could avoid circling around just north of bridges waiting for the next opening. We got most of the timings right, with an exception 7.5 mph push from Boris to make the last bridge and we dropped our anchor at 2:30 PM in Middle River, on the north end of Ft. Lauderdale. Snow Day (and two other cruising boats arrived) shortly thereafter. We hope to stay here until the next weather window when we can cross to the Bahamas, probably in one week, although we’re unsure if there are anchoring restrictions here. I guess we’ll find out when the police boat pulls up alongside!

Our trip today took us through a highly developed section of the ICW. Below are some photos displaying the architectural styles along the way. Not exactly our cup of tea for a house, but probably pretty comfortable inside. Kristen approves of most of the pool/tiki bar/lounge chair area/tropical garden landscaping. Some of the houses were so big that they we couldn’t tell if they were hotels or single-family compounds. Matthew, on Snow Day, was trying to guess how long it would take to walk from one end of the house to the other.








It's not just the houses, the condos are massive too!

Before we leave we still have a few projects that we’d like to finish and also a little shopping to do. On Friday we’re planning on going to Bluewater Charts to stock up on guide books and charts of the Caribbean that we think we’ll need in the next year or so. We’re both very excited for that shopping expedition, Bluewater Charts will be excited to see us no doubt, however our checkbook will groan!


The Goodyear Blimp!




Kristen and Hans hamming for the camera while steering. Hans in his favorite hat and Kristen in her new John Deere t-shirt.