OtherGoose: March 3

March 3, 2015

So we are still sitting under the bridge in Ft. Lauderdale. We were going to leave around noon today but the tide was coming out and would have made it difficult to sit at the bridge before it opened because I am right there. And there was a lot of mega-yacht moving going on so we [I] decided it would be better to wait until 6 am. Good tide, no traffic.

We called a cab to go to Sailorman and West Marine and the Napa store for gear lube. We waited for almost an hour for the cab, who kept texting us to tell us he was waiting “outside” and would we come out. We were standing in the parking lot at the entrance to the marina [there is only one!] and he was definitely not there. I kept texting [which is not easy on a flip phone] back that we were still waiting and finally we gave up and caught the bus. That put us behind considerably because we had to walk about 6 blocks from where the bus stopped. We were back here by 1 pm but I was wiped out and we had stuff to do. Gail gave us a free “Flyte” - a group of semi-volunteers who are all linked by phone, and you text the when you want a ride somewhere. It costs $20.00 to join and minimal fees when you us the service but we couldn’t make it work on our phone or the Tablet. Thanks Gail, it was good try.

We passed a 1970 Cougar hardtop, beautiful, only $15,000.00

Not impressed with Sailorman much. It’s a discount, consignment store. Their courtesy flags were $23.00. They didn’t have any of the things we were looking for. Went to West Marine and their courtesy flags were $19.00 and didn’t look anything like the one Sailorman had for the Turks and Caicos. I decided to wait and by one when we get there. It won’t be any more expensive and I’ll at least get the right one. And I’d rather spend locally. West Marine didn’t have what w needed either. We stopped at a motorcycle shop to check out headsets but he couldn’t help us either. Everything needs a damned smart phone

Around 3:30 we decided to go for a walk and see what we had missed downtown. There is a ‘Riverwalk” sidewalk that goes for miles along the river front on both sides and we set out to go downriver. The big boats that were in the slips beside C-Soul were all leaving at the same time so we watched them leave. It’s amazing what bow thrusters can do!

The train runs right through downtown along the main street. It was interesting sitting in the restaurant last night and watching it go past the window.

It’s a very beautiful walk along the river. There are elaborate buildings and sidewalks, There are memorial bricks all along the walk.

We stopped at Briny’s Irish Pub for some ice cream and ended up with a burger. Oh well, we can at the chicken tomorrow when w an ea anchor. And luckily, we did not go further or eave today because we ran onto Alethea!!! Nate and Jen [Wyatt stayed home] came over to see us and we almost passed on the boardwalk! They look very different without coats and mitts and toques! So we stopped and talked for awhile and then they headed back to their boat.

So Barb, my sister, googled “Chevy Toy” [the boat in a previous blog] and here’s what she found:

“It was built in 2004, is 157' long, has 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, and is a charter yacht that rents for $130,000/ week plus expenses. So, if we siblings all went together and rented it so we could be near you for a week, it would only cost us $26,000 per couple, plus expenses. What do you think? I don't want to get the brothers too excited about doing it until I know you'd like our company.”

So, there’s the info in case any of you are interested!!

So we are off tomorrow asa we wake up and before 7 am because the three bridges we have to go under are closed between 7:30 and 9:00 am

Here are our tourist pics...