Ft Lauderdale

Day 39 & 40
Feb 9 &10
Tues & Wed
Ft Lauderdale, FL

Day 39
After leaving Boca Raton Lake we arrived about noon at Ft Lauderdale. We  did 10 or so more bridges.  We docked at the Swimming Hall of Fame Marina. It was just a short distance from Los Olas where we had hoped to pick up a mooring but could not reach them to see if any were available. 

The business where we got our wind generator last yr is here in Ft Lauderdale. Lee had called them about the vibration problem and they agreed to take a look at it. Someone from the store came and picked it up after Lee and Mitch got it down from its perch. He promised to bring it back Wed after the store closed. 

I did 4 loads of clothes one load at a time and it took all afternoon to finish. Soon after that we went to a nearby place called Coconuts for dinner. We had eaten there before and knew it was good. We were cold because the breeze was chilly and the doors were all open. We returned for a game of cards and Martha and I killed the guys. Slept like logs, warm and calm in our boat. 

Day 40
We sat around and did pretty much nothing until noon. Mitch wanted to go to Sailor Man and Lee was into going along too. Martha and I thought we could skip that. The guys could not decipher the bus routes to tell how to get there by city bus so they just hopped the first one they saw and got as close as possible. They ended up walking several blocks to get to the store. They found some anchor chain Mitch was needing and figured they got a pretty good deal. 

Martha and I walked to a nearby 7 11 so I could buy some coke. Then we walked over to the beach and sat a while with our feet in the sand. The clouds came in and the wind picked up and we froze out so we came back to the marina. The guys came back around 4 and I had to go admire their find.  We all walked over to the beach road and looked for a place to grab dinner. Everyone but me got hamburgers, I had a salad.  

After that we stopped at Stricklands boat to talk about what comes next. We will have to go out in the ocean for tomorrows travels because there is a bridge which is fixed that is too low for us.  Stricklands will continue in the ICW. But we should all join up again tomorrow evening at Dinner Key and continue traveling together from there.  While we were there the wind generator was returned so we took it back to Sea Turtle. After we got on the boat Lee remembered he had borrowed some of Mitch's tools and he started back to their boat to return them. Unfortunately he tripped on a dock line getting off our boat and fell in the marina. After his swim in the dark I got out the swim ladder and he climbed aboard. He was fine but the cell phone and his glasses are casualties. It was funny until we realized his new glasses were gone and his cell phone is probably a loss too. Wonder if the Water Gods prefer human sacrifices or various boat paraphernalia?