Ft. Lauderdale

2/11-2/15

Popular Motorized Scooters!

     The Ft. Lauderdale beach is right across the street and it is crowded with people.  There is a sidewalk that runs on the beach side, filled with walkers, runners, bikers and these little motorized scooters.  The scooters are so popular!  You can rent one at any starting point, with an app that you download on your phone.  It seems that you can take them from one destination to another designated drop off area!  We did not try it, but so many kids were riding them!

Dessert at the Mai-Kai Restaurant

     We went to dinner on Valentine's Day to the Man-Kai Restaurant.  They have a Polynesian show with men and women dancers twirling with fire.  We actually went to this same restaurant and show over 40 years ago and it brought back so many memories of that first trip to Ft. Lauderdale.  It was fun, nothing had changed!
 
     Update on anchor light:  We had to throw the towel in and call a marine electrician.  He had to rewire it from the flybridge lights to the anchor light.  The PVC pipe that housed the wires was filled with gunk, so he had to drill it out to get the wires to go through.  It was a much bigger project than anticipated and it took a total of about 7 hours!  It is finally fixed and now we can anchor out whenever we want.

A Tow on the River in Ft. Lauderdale

     Another problem happened:  We got our dinghy off the boat.  To do that, we have to hook it up to a davit with strong wires and swing it over the front of our boat to place it in the water.  It takes a little time, but is not hard to do.  We took it down the river to a place called RiverWalk, a vibrant place on  the river full of restaurants and shops. We ate lunch at an outside  cafe  along the river walk.  On our return, the 25 HP engine overheated and quit working.  We really hadn't used it much since our last trip to the Bahamas last spring.  We ended up having to call Boat US for a TOW!  I am sure we looked kind of funny, our small dinghy being towed down the river next to all the big boats!

     The next day, we took an Uber to the historic Stranahan House, which was built in 1901.  It is the oldest home in the county and served as a trading post with the Seminole Indians.  We learned a lot of history about Ft. Lauderdale.  This was surprisingly more interesting than we thought it might be.