On the Way to South Beach

The night view from our current anchorage spot

Departing Fort Lauderdale, we motored between two mega yachts, Seven Seas on starboard and Pegasus Five on port. We then passed under the 54. 8 ft. 17th Street Bascule Bridge without asking for an opening. Our mast is only 48 feet plus our aerial of 1.5 feet, so we have a total height of 49.6 ft. We had room to spare but it looked very close. (Note: If you ask for a bridge to open and you did not require the opening, Florida can fine you $25,000!) Next was the Port Everglades cruise ship terminal with one ship docked.

The ICW from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami is only 26 miles long, with 8 lift bridges, and then the infamously short Julia Tuttle Bridge at only 55 feet. That is a BIG error as all other ICW bridges are 65 feet, but this one is 55 feet. Oops! So, tall sailboats need to exit to the ocean at Fort Lauderdale and sail outside to the Miami inlet known as Government Cut. Boats shorter than 55 feet, like ours at 49.5 feet, can stay in the ICW and pass under this low, non-opening bridge.

Here is photo progression of our day from Ft. Lauderdale to South Beach.

Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, launched in 2008
4,370 passengers and 1,360 crew

Now that is a massive ship!

Commercial shipping with containers being off loaded 

Welcome to HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA

Sunny Isles lift bridge with an engineer taking a break from working on the system

There it is....the JULIA TUTTLE bridge, built to 55 feet, NOT 65 feet...OOPS!

Julia Tuttle Bridge barge boards showing the clearance of 55 feet, plus a little

Welcome to South Beach and the Collins Canal. Taking the dinghy to town

Thank you for building a new dinghy dock in the Collins Canal!
Dock right on the highway

Yes, that is a McLaren....a $500,000 dollar car, only about 100 in the USA!
http://www.edmunds.com/mercedes-benz/slr-mclaren/

Brand new yacht being cleaned for delivery. Notice the people!
This is about 90 feet long.

Miami Beach living on the marina side

Biscayne Bay Speed boat ride, looks fun

South Beach at dusk as the lights come on

Island Spirit at anchor off South Beach

GOOGLE MAP OF THIS AREA
open that and then ZOOM around and look at the islands and waterways!

So much to discover and so much to see. Time to view some Art Deco Architecture on Ocean Drive. Travel by sailboat is wonderful. We are very lucky and so appreciative everyday......