Sensory Overload in the Ditch

Heading north from Miami we decided, I think wisely, to get through “The Ditch” and into central Florida as quickly as possible. It is narrow, crowded and full of bridges on the negative side, and on the positive side is a lot to do and especially the Ft. Lauderdale area deserves a lot more time than we could give it.

So off we went at our breakneck speed of 7.5 miles per hour all the way through North Miami, Port Everglades and the beach suburbs (Delray, Papano, Hollywood) to a quiet night anchored at Lake Boca Raton. It is difficult to describe the scenery other than “opulent.” Huge houses, hundreds of hundred-foot yachts, luxury condos by the mile.

But that was just a precursor to the REALLY fancy stuff in Lake Worth and the Palm Beaches. The marinas in particular blew me away because if you took a picture of them from the air, they would look very much like our home base at Guilford Yacht Club. But the scale would be all wrong, because all the boats are 150-200 feet long instead of 25-40! I don’t know where all the money comes from. Because of business, I personally know about six people in the entire world that could afford to live like this, and I know one who actually does (Hi, Bruce!). So who are these people? Has all Latin America and Asia moved to Miami?

We decided to sample a bit of luxury ourselves at Olde Point Marina in North Palm Beach. It’s part of a big condo complex and absolutely first class — great docks, private shower rooms, restaurant on site (they deliver to your boat!). But the boating economy is still so bad that with our Looper discount we paid a whole $64 bucks for a berth with the billionaires — and they were glad to see us.

We are now esconsed in nice little old Vero Beach Municipal Marine to get John fixed up and see our wonderful friends, Oscar and Anne Marie Sales.

About 70 miles of the ICW north of Miami look just like this — plus 30 or so bridges to get through.

Right in the middle of the opulence is Port Everglades. How they turn these babies around in the ICW is a mystery.

Port Everglades cruise ships make the Key West models look tiny.

Nice four-decker. The big balloon-like structure on top houses a NASA-level satellite dish for instant communication to the world’s markets and watching “The Family Guy.”