On recent trip to Fort Lauderdale a friend and I were really impressed with how the city has grown up. When we were younger we used to come down here for Spring Break and really enjoyed the area; an area that is now quite cultural but still fun.
We've always liked the Fort Lauderdale area because its tropical climate makes it warm in summer and the winters are so mild that many of our friends from up north come down for a visit too. The Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport is a great place for friends and family who are visiting South Florida to fly into and be conveniently picked up. One of the world's busiest cruise departure ports, Port Everglades, is just miles away from the airport. This is convenient for the four million cruise passengers that pass through each year to get to the ships that will take them all over the Caribbean, Europe and the rest of the world.
A great day trip if you're spending some time in the area is the Everglades National Park. The Everglades is pretty much a swamp that has many birds and animals living in it. Its really beautiful and a great place to take an air boat ride especially if you've never been on an air boat before.
My friend and I stayed in Fort Lauderdale and decided to go down to Las Olas Blvd to the Riverwalk area. This is the Art and Entertainment district and also where the Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located. We didn't want to see a play or modern dance recital but we did go to the Sunrise Cinemas. This is a great place to see a movie with a unique twist. After the latest blockbuster, or Indy film, you can go relax in the beer and wine bar in the lobby and discuss what you've just seen, which we did with some people whose table we asked to share, it was crowded, they were gracious and we made new friends.
The next day we went back to Riverwalk to catch a boat tour of the area. You see, Fort Lauderdale is known as the "Venice of America" because it's crisscrossed by 300 miles of navigable waterways. We went up and down the canals looking at all the magnificent architecture of the homes in the area and all the yachts. So to say that it's great area if you love the water is an understatement. If you own a yacht or any kind of boat, which many people here do, it's a perfect place to go sailing either on the intracoastal or, as we did, through the canals.
Every year, usually in the fall, Fort Lauderdale has this great boat show called the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. It's is the largest in water boat show in the world and shows off over three billion dollars worth of boats, yachts and super yachts as well as electronics, engines and thousands of boating accessories. The Boat Show occupies more than three million square feet of space, both on land and in water, but don't worry they provide a network of water taxis, riverboats and bus shuttles to help people get around. Maybe we'll came back for that, it sounds like fun.
The next day we decided to just relax and go to the beach. The Fort Lauderdale area has 23 miles of beautiful beaches so we knew we'd find one we liked.These are some of the ones we visited. Deerfield Beach is a cove beach and is great for a calm quiet day at the beach. Then there's Hillsboro Beach that has the Hillsboro Lighthouse. This is the perfect beach to sit on and watch all the yachts and other boats come in because it's right at the inlet. Pompano Beach was named for the Pompano fish found in the area, every year they host the Pompano Seafood festival and a Fishing Rodeo. There is a bend in the Gulf Stream here that makes this some of the warmest, clearest water in South Florida. Lauderdale-By-The-Sea is one of the only places in Florida where the three-tier natural coral reef system is close enough to the beach for you to swim out and go snorkeling or diving which we did, it was spectacular.
Fort Lauderdale is a great place to start a cruise vacation or spend a few days as we did. You can enjoy the arts, the beaches or come down for a boat show or festival; shop or sight see and enjoy some of our fabulous Florida seafood. Fort Lauderdale has many options of things to do and warm sunny weather, almost always, to do them in.
Port Everglades is world's largest and embarks more cruise passengers than any other Florida cruise port. Cruising from Port Everglades will take you to more destinations in the Caribbean than ever. Fort Lauderdale is a destination in itself with miles of beaches and plenty of activities to keep you busy.
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