February 7, 2005: Florida Trip Day 3
	February 5, 2005: Florida Trip Day 1
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Riverwalk Tour

It's Sunday morning of Frank and Joe's first full day here. We've had some breakfast in the condo, and I think the first thing we should do is orient Frank and Joe to the area by taking a walk along the river up to the Performing Arts Center, so that's the plan.

Above is an aerial view of downtown Fort Lauderdale, and I've marked our general route in yellow. This may help you orient yourself; being so precise is just the Sagittarian in me. We started out from the condo by walking north one block to Las Olas, and then turning west. Showing visitors Las Olas Blvd. is always impressive, I think, particularly in season when all the restaurants are full and the shops are open. Now, in February, we are definitely in "season," and there was a lot going on as we walked along Las Olas.

Just past the now empty Hyde Park Market (there is supposed to be a new high-rise here, but they seem to be taking their sweet time about it), we turn south for half a block to where the actual Riverwalk begins. I made my first movie at this point, with Frank and Joe walking along the river. The Hyde Park Market is the building in the background. You can watch this movie with the player at right.

Just across the street from where my movie was made is the new Water Garden condominium. It has a very interesting sculpture fountain out front that offered a good photo opportunity for Fred. The first bridge we come to is the 3rd Avenue bridge and, as luck would have it, it was being raised just as we came by. I took a couple of movie. First, here is a movie of the bridge going up that you can watch with the left-hand player, below, and then I have a movie of the reason why, that you can watch with the right-hand player, below:

Ahead of us now you can see the Andrews Avenue Bridge, which has also been raised to allow a boat to pass under. During the week, the bridges raise and lower on schedule, but on the weekends, when there is less traffic impact, they are raised and lowered on demand, which usually works out to every fifteen or twenty minutes or so. Natives know that on weekends they do well to use the Kinney Tunnel under the river behind us on US1. We are going to head over to the other side of the river to have some lunch at Shirttail Charlie's, so we walked on to the Andrews Bridge to cross over. On the south side of the bridge there is a platform that offers a good view of much of the downtown portion of the river, and so I took a picture of Joe, Frank, and Fred.

To get to Shirttail Charlie's, there is no good path to follow; you just have to walk a couple of blocks west on the south side of the river to get there. And, usually, to get back to the other side of the river, you have to return to the Andrews Avenue Bridge. Shirttail Charlie's is a complex that has a dockside restaurant, a dry storage, a small marina, a boat service operation and a ship's chandlery (store). When Grant and I had a small boat here, this is where we kept it. For some reason, there is also a swimming pool right next to the ship's store (probably for the boaters who use the dry dock). When we got to the restaurant, just about every table was taken, so we had to wait for a table out on the dock by the river. While we were waiting, I made a movie of the activity at the marina that you can watch with the player at right.

Here is a view of the marina at Shirttail Charlie's; this view looks past the dock and downriver. The railroad bridge is almost always up; it only comes down a few times a day (more times at night) to allow freight and passenger trains to cross the river. The Waterbus (Fort Lauderdale's river taxi system) had just stopped here (Shirttail Charlie's being one of its stops "in season"), and while we were waiting I made a movie of it leaving the dock for its next stop- the Performing Arts Center. You can watch this movie with the player below:

After a short wait, we got a table dockside and we sat down to order some lunch. While our order was being filled, I took a movie of our group at lunch at Shirttail Charlie's that you can watch with the player at right.

I also got a picture of Joe looking out at the river traffic.

When we were done with lunch, we boarded the Shirttail Charlie's Shuttleboat. It docks at the restaurant and ferries customers back and forth across the river. When we boarded, I made a movie of the shuttle leaving the dock for its trip across the New River. You can watch this movie with the left-hand player, below. Here are the guys on the shuttleboat as it made its way across the river to dock on the other side. I made a movie of the boat's progress, and you can watch it with the right-hand player, below:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Just on the other side of the river, Fred chanced across a couple of interesting plants. To view the full-size pictures of these flowers, just click on the thumbnails at left. We could hear some music from Shirttail Charlie's, and when we got across the river there was quite a crowd of people picnicking and listening to a band performing. Subsequently, we learned that on the first Sunday of every month there is the same kind of afternoon performance here alongside the riverwalk. Fred made a movie of part of the band's performance so you can listen in, and you can use the player at right to watch it. There were lots of vendors along the walkway as we headed back east along the river, and at one of them, it seems, Joe found a hat that would suit him for use on his trip here.

We continued east along the riverwalk, passing Riverfront Center and then stopping at the large fountain in Huizenga Park, right across from the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum. This is the same user-controlled fountain that is lit up in different colors at night. We followed the riverwalk all the way back to the condo, stopping at the Water Garden fountain/sculpture for another picture.

A Beach Walk to Everglades Inlet

Walking to the Inlet

On Sunday afternoon, there is a lot of activity at Everglades Inlet as the cruise ships go in and out. Sometimes, the overnight and two-day cruise ships come back in, but mostly the week-long Caribbean cruises are leaving. On the north side of the inlet, right at the beach, you can climb up on the large rocks that form the border of the inlet, and this gives you an excellent vantage point from which to watch the ships. Both Fred and I thought this would be an excellent way to spend the afternoon, so we took the car over to the southernmost parking area, then walked out to the water's edge and down the beach to the inlet.

Leaving the car in the parking area, we walked down to the beach and then headed south (dotted line). Joe walked ahead, while Frank took his time walking through the surf with his shoes off. I was walking ahead of Fred and Frank who were talking quite a bit and enjoying the afternoon. Looking ahead, you can see Joe in his white t-shirt and new white hat, and we could also see one of the small daily cruise ships just about to enter the inlet. There were a lot of seagulls around, and many of them were just standing on the sand as we passed, all facing the same way- into the wind.

On the Rocks at Everglades Inlet

It didn't take us very long to get down to the actual inlet. Once there, we immediately climbed up on the rocks that jut out into the ocean and form the end of the seawall of the inlet itself. Probably the best thing to do first is to watch Fred's movie that will show you a 360-degree panorama taken from his perch up on the rocks. Use the player below. The only thing I'd add is that when you see the beach, you aren't actually looking "down" (as in south) but "up" as in north.

It is always a lot of fun just to walk down here and sit on the rocks, even when there aren't any ships to watch. Here are Joe, myself, and Frank standing on the rocks with the Atlantic in the background. This view looks north along the seashore towards Fort Lauderdale itself, and this view shows the condominiums and houses that line the north side of the inlet proper. There are no buildings on the south side of the inlet; that area is taken up by Dania Beach Park. Although the park is only a couple of hundred feet away across the channel, to actually get there is about a ten-mile drive all the way inland by the airport and then south to Dania and than back out to the beach. I've done it on my bike and it is quite a ways.

Frank did some exploring around the rocks before he and Joe found some good seats from which they could watch the cruise ships. I, too, got my own perch so I could take unobstructed pictures and movies. We were all set. I took a few more good pictures of the guys on the rocks; all the ones you've seen thus far were Fred's, and thus he isn't in any of them. He is in my pictures, of course, and I've put thumbnails for these pictures below. I hope you'll take a minute to look at the full-size pictures- at least so you can see some with Fred in them- by clicking on the thumbnails:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Departure of the Celebrity Cruise Line ship 'Millennium'

We didn't have to wait very long for the first cruise ship to leave Lake Mabel through Everglades Inlet, and the first ship to depart was Celebrity Cruise Lines 'Millennium." The Millennium is about ten years old and, although it seems huge to us, is probably only in the second tier as far as size is concerned. When Grant and I took our cruise in 1991, our ship was only half to two-thirds the size of this one, and the ships being built today are half again as large as this one. The ship is certainly a handsome one, seen here as it heads out of the channel.

To really get an idea of what any of these ships are like, a movie is really just the thing. Both Fred and I took movies of the departing Millennium. Because Fred's camera is newer and has more pixels, his movies are better, but you can watch Fred's movie using the left-hand player below, and you can watch mine using the player on the right, below. Contrast the movies with a still picture of Frank and Joe waving at the ship and I think you'll see the difference movies make.

It took a few minutes for the ship to pass our position and get far enough away that Fred and I could take pictures getting our group AND the entire ship in the picture at the same time, and I have selected the two best of these pictures to show you. To see these full-size pictures, just click on the thumbnails below:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Departure of the Princess Cruise Line ship 'Star Princess'

The next ship to leave was the 'Star Princess," one of the many cruise ships of Princess Cruises. You probably remember Princess Cruises from the TV Show "The Love Boat," which was popular in the early 1980s. That ship was actually the 'Pacific Princess,' and was a good deal smaller than this one. And this ship was somewhat larger than the Millenium that just departed.

Our first view of the 'Star Princess' came when it was still pretty far into the channel, at which point Fred took a really good movie of the ship moving through the channel that you can watch with the player at right. In this movie, you can hear two kinds of horns. The deep-throated horn is coming from the ship; the higher, squeaky horns are being blown by people in the high-rises that line the channel. This is something of a tradition with the people that live there, to salute the cruise ships when they depart on Sundays and Wednesdays. And as well they might, since the cruise lines bring a great deal of money into the Fort Lauderdale economy.

I waited just a bit to take my own pictures and movies of the Star Princess. My first picture was taken as the ship exits the channel; way beyond the ship down the coast you can see the oceanfront high-rises in Hollywood, Florida. My own movie of the departing Star Princess, that you can watch with the player at left, was also taken at this point.

As the ship passed our vantage point, Fred took a number of detail shots of it, all of which were quite good. Take a look at them by clicking on the three thumbnails below:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

When the ship got out far enough, I was able to take a picture of the guys watching the ship head out, and Fred was able to get a very good picture of both cruise ships, with the Millenium by this time quite far out and the Star Princess following it into the Atlantic Ocean. I suspect that both ships were headed for Caribbean cruises.

Departure of the Costa Cruise Line ship 'Mediterranea'

The last ship to depart this afternoon was the 'Mediterranea,' one of the ships of the Costa Cruise Lines. There are not many Costa ships that go in an out of Fort Lauderdale, but, as coincidence would have it, the one cruise that I have been on, the one with Grant in 1991, was on a Costa ship- the smaller Costa Riviera. The Mediterranea is a good deal bigger than the Riviera, but that is the same trend I mentioned earlier.

Fred got a picture of the Mediterranea's bow as she sliced through the chop at the entrance to the inlet, and also took a good movie of all of us waving to the Mediterranea; watch this movie with the player at right. As the ship went by, I got a good view of the deck detail; as I recall, the Riviera had only three or four decks above the hull.

Our last view from the rocks at Everglades Inlet was of all three cruise ships- the Millenium farthest out, then the Star Princess and finally the Mediterranea.

Walking Home

We followed a different route going back to the car, walking just a short way up the sand and then through a public beach access to the street running along the beach. This led us through some interesting neighborhoods with lots of flora for Fred and Frank and Joe to discuss. We came out on A1A and headed north to the parking lot.

Just before the parking lot is Marriott's Harbor Beach hotel, and we stopped outside to admire their porpoise sculpture and also to take advantage of their beautiful impatiens beds to take a group picture. Frank, I guess, was just all tuckered out.

The rest of the evening was pretty normal, including drinks back at the condo, dinner at Peter Pan and an evening walk along Las Olas.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	February 7, 2005: Florida Trip Day 3
	February 5, 2005: Florida Trip Day 1
	Return to Main Index for Florida Pictures