Sunday, December 11, 2011

Ft. Lauderdale Homes

20 opening bridges today...also called "lift" or "bascule" bridges
The Intra-Coastal Waterway from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale passes through 20 opening bridges in only 47 miles!  We found it difficult to concentrate on navigating today, because we were distracted by the beautiful homes of North Palm Beach, Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

The waterway here has multitudes of man-made canals that lead into the mainland, perpendicular to the waterway. This design creates peninsulas that then create one end lot or several end lots where the most impressive homes are built. Another benefit of this design is that it creates perfect boat slips on the inside of the canal for docking 100' yachts. The view of many of these homes was partially blocked by the yachts, which in some cases are larger than the homes. It was interesting to see the mix of older houses and the lots where old homes have been torn down in favor of newer models. Most of these mansions must be second homes, as we rarely saw anyone outside on this pleasant Sunday afternoon. We found it very interesting and entertaining looking at all these beautiful homes and it made this section of the ICW very enjoyable, even with all the bridges.  Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale are addresses of the rich and famous and it was fun to pass through the area.

Here are some house photos of the area...
Palm Beach high rises

A modest ICW home near Palm Beach, Fl with the 45' powerboat
The end lot with a canal on the right side with a yacht out of the photo
Perfect example of fully using the view of these end lots

Multiple lots taking the entire end with canals on BOTH sides!
That is ONE HOME!
Sunday afternoon boat traffic at the bridges, Catspaw in the lead
Coming home from a Sunday afternoon cruise on the boat...an 85 footer at least!
The small 45 footer docked at the front yard, end lot with canal sides
It was a great day touring the ICW past these beautiful homes. Take a look at this location on my Google Map and zoom into the area. Look at all the waterway cuts back into the mainland. This could NEVER be done today....

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