Ft. Lauderdale

We left Miami Beach this morning, headed for Ft. Lauderdale which we thought was going to be 25 nautical miles away. Unfortunately we had to backtrack to the channel where we came into Biscayne Bay on Friday and then continue west to pick up the ICW and then head north. We started up a channel to get to the ICW and obviously missed the info that we couldn’t go that way because there were more than 2 cruise ships tied up along the channel. The officer in the patrol boat who stopped us was very kind in explaining why we couldn’t go that way and then gave us directions to the channel we needed to use.

Three cruise ships lined up on the left side of the channel

Container ships on the right side of the channel we had to use. Miami skyline in background

These container ships are gigantic! This one was loaded with the trailers you see on our highways, each one 53’ long.

This building looked like it was tilting to the right. There is such interesting architecture here!

Another container ship at Port Everglades, just before Ft. Lauderdale. On the rivers we saw barges – here, it’s container ships.

We assumed this is a control tower for ships coming into Port Everglades.

This is a fast ferry from Ft. Lauderdale to Grand Bahama Island. It takes 2 1/2 hours for a 107 mile trip. That’s 43 mph – fast!

The ICW is wide in some places, narrow in others. Speed limits vary from idle no wake speeds to 35 mph ( we should be so lucky to go that fast – our optimal speed is 16-20 mph.) It’s deep around shipping channels and can be very shallow if you get outside the channel markers.

This was a party boat, obviously outside the channel. If you look carefully, you will see that they are standing in the water! That’s shallow! It reminded us of watching people do that in Lake Kalamazoo in Saugatuck a few years ago.

We arrived at the Bahia Mar Marina about 12:30, 4 1/2 hours to go 29 nautical miles (33 statute miles). I forgot to mention we had 5 drawbridges to contend with too! This part of the trip is slow going!

Welcome

M/V Prime Meridian on the Great Loop

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