Upscale Ft. Lauderdale & Jungle Queen Cruise
Why is Ft. Lauderdale so beautiful? I will tell you why – because its picture perfect. A nice posh city with a beautiful boardwalk and some really picturesque beaches. There are many things to be done in Ft. Lauderdale.
1. Beaches – There are so many nice beaches that its difficult to keep track 🙂 Dania, Hollywood and Deerfield beach. We stayed on Pompano beach and the day we got there was sort of cloudy. High winds and “high waves” and storm warning on weather channel for those on sails, boats and/or fishing. After we checked in our hotel, we saw from our window an astonishing sight. One by one, the surfers started pouring in – I guess it was party time for the “wave riders” I have never seen such a warm welcome to bad weather 🙂 It was exciting !!! Otherwsie, the beach is a beautiful “quiet” beach, were spent the next day swimming and lolling about in sunny weather. Nice quick trip to some bars in the evening and finishing off at our own hotel bar at night !!
2. Riverwalk Downtown along New River (Las Olas Boulevard) and Jungle Queen Criuse – The riverfront is very nice and upscale. Ft Lauderdal has over “300 miles of navigable waterways” And we took a WONDERFUL boat cruise called the “Jungle Queen Cruise” from “Bahia Mar Yacht Basin”. It was a dinner cruise (Shrimp & Ribs). We set sail amid nice music on board. This time we were lucky and had a really nice guy on the microphone – he played a nice trick on us – I won’t tell you, you got to experience it yourself:) Anyway, we sailed down the river and got to see fabulous riverfront homes – Really Expensive ones 🙂 where people had boathouses as their attached garages, waterways as their driveways and Boats as their cars parked in front of their houses. Talk about style 🙂 I know places in California where people have the same style with small aeroplanes – thats how they go to work everyday. Those planes look like small charter planes.
Back to Ft. Lauderdale :), this cruise was wonderful. Plus many people in those homes came out and waved at us, which was nice considering the boats sail by their place every day. There are many bridges over the river, and the boat hoots when it is close to the bridge and waits while the bridge operator puts traffic on red and then basically “opens” the bridge – where the bridge opens like two halves of a door. Once our boat would cross, he would lower the two ends and the bridge would be whole again. This way, we wandered down the river sightseeing, towards the “Tropical Isle” and having a really good time.
The two add on’s to the trip that I liked was that the dinner was not on the boat but on a small tropical island, while the boat is docked. And those people really take care of you – they will ply you with food while you are seated till you can eat no more 🙂 And then, to top it all, you can enjoy a great and really hillarious variety reveu – there was this guy was was incredibly funny while he sang songs like YMCA and We are family. The juggler was terrific. There are nice sovenier stores and a small “topical zoo” in the area. After the dinner and show, we all trooped back to the boat.
By the time you are back on the boat, there are romantic couple that start swaying and dancing on the deck to the beautiful music that’s been put on. The ride back is nice and romantic. Overall, it was a wonderful cruise. A good way to end your day.
3. Las Olas Boulevard – The trendy Las Olas Boulevard – is where you can shop and wander after a day on the beach. Fine dining with a capital F. There is a nice restaurant which is right on the Bahia Mar Yacht Center, where I have heard you can sit to watch the Annual Ft Lauderdal International Boat Show and Race. The food there was great.
Ft. Lauderdale is a very upscale and nice place to visit. We split our trip between Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and Key West. I think a good way to spend your vacation 🙂 I will write about Key West someday soon!
Tags: Beach, Beaches, Cruise, Lake Areas, North America, Tour Guides, Travel, USA
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