Settling in - in Ft Lauderdale

Holly Goodhead docked on New River downtown Ft Lauderdale

    The past few days have been a little hectic as we try to find the right place to dock our boat for our prolonged stay in Ft. Lauderdale.  We got here Tuesday after-hours, so we had some difficulty determining where the dock master told us to tie up; we ended up tying to the wall right downtown (see picture above).  First thing the next morning, we spoke with the dock master about moving to Cooley's Landing slips further up the New River.  He had a spot we would just barely fit into.  We decided to move there for many reasons.  The New River in Ft. Lauderdale is always an experience - winds, tides, narrow channel, lots of curves, and, of course, BRIDGES!  This also includes a railroad bridge everyone hates, because once it goes down (with little warning), you are stuck on your side for at least 30 minutes (clearance under it is 4 ft).  Just as we cast off our lines (9am), a flotilla of yachts (some very large) started our way. Then, the railroad bridge went down!  Fortunately, we have an amazing captain on our yacht.  He handled waiting for the flotilla to pass us and train to go by with ease (or so it seemed), then we carefully navigated about 1/2 mile up river to our new slip.  Dock master helped us tie up.  Unfortunately, due to where the slip was located on the River, debris seemed to collect by us and it was causing havoc with our a/c units (you need them in 87 degree days!).  Sooo, on Friday morning (after 2 nights in a row without a/c, we moved again!  Now, we are safely, comfortably tucked away (docked) in the spot we wanted to be in in the first place!!  We are actually in the exact same slip we were docked in 5 years ago on our visit.  We like it here.  Aside from a beautiful location, we are also very close to many yacht services, merchants, etc, and we can do some repairs & maintenance we want/need to do before we cruise to the Bahamas in a couple months.