Fort Lauderdale: Yacht capital of the world?
Sarah Grace goes to sea
Chris Yerbury and Sophy White
Thu 10 May 2007 19:36
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This part of the
world does not make life easy for cruisers, unless of course you
happen to be a multi-multi-millionaire. Anchorages are very few and far
between, and access to terra firma is extremely limited(and needs to be paid
for- $6/day at a dinghy dock for Bob- our tender) as all the waterfront is
privately owned. After a maximum of 24 hours at most anchorages the
water police move you on, marinas seem to start at around £2/foot/night(£80 for
Sarah Grace),and even once ashore in typical American fashion everything is
a very long hot walk away. Motorists eye you in amazement because not only
are you actually walking but also carrying shopping. Florida has
not endeared itself to your cheap skate yachtie
correspondent.
Fortunately, as
terminal depression was setting in, I had a message from our lovely Swiss
friends Rudy and Lilian (aboard Shiva).[ We met and sailed with them
in 05/06 and they had pioneered the route we took this year from Venezuela,
giving frequent invaluable reports and advice on the best anchorages
etc along the way.] They saved the day as they tipped me
off about 'Bruno's Zoo' where they were currently staying. This consists of
a probably illegal row of mooring posts that line the end of his
garden in Fort Lauderdale. There is space for 6 boats, a hose and an
outside shower under the shade of a banana tree. At £10 per night and surrounded
by friends(Jem caught us up the next day),morale rose dramatically from an
all time low. We can do the final provisioning and preparations from here for
the long haul home.
The affluence of
this area has to be seen to be believed: Port Everglades is networked with
canals which provide miles of huge waterfront houses with their own docks. We
arrived on one of the busiest weekends of the year as an Air and Sea Show was
going on- jet fighters roared overhead for three days producing head
splitting decibels of noise. The waterway had so many motor boats cruising up
and down I think the authorities should introduce obligatory
indicator lights for all US craft. In true American style,huge was trumped
by bigger and marinas were lined with dozens upon dozens of mega yachts
while more lined the canals in front of the houses. They were all
gleaming as crew busily polished and buffed already lusturous
surfaces. $12 million for an average sized mega yacht, and the regular
sized sports fishing boats we had seen so many of since Key West were on offer
in the brokers window for $1.5 million. There were hardly any sailing
yachts and Sarah Grace towing Bob through the melee drew more stares than
the mega yachts( probably of sympathy).
So we are back among
friends and now await favourable weather for the leg to
Bermuda.
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