The Day with the Water Taxi in Fort Lauderdale

 The first thing we did this morning was head to the office and ask them to please get rid of the vomit smell in our room. I don’t know what they did, but when we got back later in the day you couldn’t smell it anymore!

Our next order of business was to meet John and head down to the beach to find a place for breakfast. We found a cute little restaurant that looked like a straw beach shack and enjoyed a lovely breakfast overlooking the beach.

This is our view from the breakfast table!

After breakfast we took a short walk on the Broadwalk and enjoyed the warm weather. There were lots of shops and interesting things to see as you walked along.

Our plan today was to take the water taxi tour on the Intercoastal Waterway. I had read that it was a good way to see Fort Lauderdale.

You can buy tickets ahead (we did at our hotel), but it is just as easy to get them on the boat. Just be warned that they want cash. I did see someone try to pay with a card and they asked him for cash instead. After you get on the boat and it starts sailing the “first mate” comes around to either check your tickets or sell you a ticket. I’m not sure what would happen if you didn’t have cash when they came around. Tickets were $26 each and that is good for the whole day. You can get off and on as much as you like. The website said the tickets for seniors were only $21, but the girl at the hotel said she could only sell them for full price.

There are about 5 stops in Hollywood which are labelled with letters. We got on at stop B which was conveniently located beside a bakery. We stopped to share a snack as we just missed one boat and had to wait half an hour for the next.

The stop was basically just a sign that said water taxi and the times the boat comes by. It would be easy to miss if you didn’t know where you should look!

Anyway, we got on the boat and headed over to the stop where you transfer to the Fort Lauderdale route. It takes close to fifty minutes to get to that stop and the Captain or First Mate talk on the loudspeaker telling you all kinds of interesting facts about the area. It was interesting, but the Fort Lauderdale part of the trip is definitely the most interesting.

After we transferred boats at stop 5A, they started taking us along the area that was packed with yachts and gigantic mansions. At first it seemed really cool to see all the big houses, but then it started to get a little bit sickening to see all of the ridiculous wealth. Some of the houses that were worth millions and millions of dollars are sometimes unoccupied for most of the year! Some of the yacht prices that would accompany these houses were upwards of 75 million dollars…for a boat you hardly use…Really?!?!

Believe it or not this is a house for just 2 people...

Don’t get me wrong, it was still interesting to see all the big houses and hear the stories about how much they were worth and who owned them!

We stopped at the last stop at a nice restaurant overlooking the water for lunch… I think it was called Bokampers. It was a sports bar, but definitely an upscale one. We ordered a drink, (which was free when we showed our water taxi ticket!) and some lunch. My glass of wine helped me get over the fact that I had just seen a fully naked ancient-looking man standing out on his balcony! There are some things that don’t need to be seen! (Luckily our camera ran out of batteries before this traumatic event occured!)

After lunch, we hopped back on the water taxi and headed back the other way. I would highly recommend doing the water taxi tour if you are interested in seeing Fort Lauderdale from another perspective. It was relatively inexpensive (especially when you consider that we got free drinks with lunch) and very interesting. It did end up taking up most of the day, which was fine with us… just be prepared!

When we finally made it back to Hollywood we decided to head down to the beach for a drink at the Mexican Restaurant that Steve and John went to last night. We enjoyed some slushy drinks (I had a mango dacquiri!) while we listened to the live music. Then we took another walk down the Broadwalk and did some shopping. We came across the “Margaritaville Entertainment District” which included a hotel, a bunch of restaurants and bars, and the Hollywood Theatre, which is an outdoor bandshell. There was a great band playing a free concert at the theatre, so we stayed and listened to that for quite a while.

Afterwards, we headed back towards our hotel, did a bit more shopping, a little people-watching, and finished the evening off with ice cream for dinner! I think John is going to like it here 😀