A day on the beach

At Sun, Sea and Surf

It’s beach day today, time to laze by the ocean on a couple of sunbeds with nothing more to do than listen to the sound of the waves breaking on the beach. In the morning, the ocean is rough with waves crashing onto the beach, great to attempt some wave jumping but brutal or should I say exposing if you get it wrong as I did. Dave was considerately crying laughing! In the afternoon, the waves are gentler and the breeze stronger, fanning us gently as we watch the world go by. Pizza for lunch, take away salad for tea with wine, and an evening stroll to a very cool bar Sun, Sea and Surf, but there’s no way we could eat here as even the youngsters have their mobile phone’s out with flashlight on just to read the menu! They do however, have a very cool fire pit, but why is this needed tonight when it’s 28⁰C?  A perfect day in all.

Fort Lauderdale to Hollywood and back

Stephen Spielberg's yacht

We’re both eager to get out and about this morning, the reason, we want to explore on the water taxi. The stop is a short walk from us through the lobby of the Hilton hotel and the concierge is only too willing to sell us tickets. The yellow water taxi soon arrives and as we cruise along captain draws our attention to places of interest. Right now, he says this is where the working class live, Dave and I look at each other, that’s right he continues they’re only millionaires here not stupidly rich like further on! That’s the house Mr Wells owns (founder and owner of Wells Fargo Bank), that’s where Jane Fonda used to live, that house sold recently for $23 million, that house was given as a wedding present to his niece it’s now worth $48 million, the list goes on and on and our mouths open more and more. Then there are the yacht’s, initially the ones we pass are only 2 or 3 storey’s high, then we come to the really big boys including Steven Spielberg’s yacht which is more like an ocean-going liner! Apparently, we could hire it for a week for $1.2 million excluding gas, food and tips!

Bahia Cabana

Then there's the celebrity stories the most notable one about the Bahia Cabana, it has 2 periods for happy hour, 4pm - 7pm and 7.30am - 10.30am the latter being specifically for Nick Nolte when he was living here in Fort Lauderdale, apparently he liked to drink late or was it early!  

Lunch at The Downtowner

As we want to go to Riverside we have to change water taxis, the next one goes up the river under bridges that have to keep opening for the large boats. Being nosey we want to travel to the end until the taxi turns around on its return trip, then get off at the first stop. This however gets lost in translation and we end up getting off at the second stop. What a fortunate error, there’s a man playing soft guitar jazz and blues at The Downtowner, which makes for a perfect lunchtime spot to watch the boats coming and going while sipping a cold glass of wine and eating spicy chicken tacos and a mahi mahi sandwich. A stroll along the riverside shopping and hotel area afterwards is pleasantly accompanied by window shopping in some very high-class shops, shame they’re shut, but Dave feels this is the best time to go shopping!

Margaritaville

The taxi now takes us back to the under the bridge exchange point to go to Hollywood. The double decker taxi arrives and departs with us sunbathing on the top deck while listening to the captain tell us about the intercoastal waterway which runs all the way to Texas, hope the taxi stops before that point! It takes 30 minutes to reach Hollywood or Margaritaville, past the huge cruise ship which is like a city, past the container port and the airport and the national west lake park. Now Margaritaville is completely different to Fort Lauderdale, younger, more vibrant and noisy. The beach flows off the boardwalk and on the other side are lots of bars and restaurants. It’s strange to think that on one side of this strip of land is the Atlantic Ocean and on the other the intercoastal waterway with the everglades beyond. All this is too much for me we retreat to the bar by the water taxi stop. Well as it says on the sign, “It’s 5 O’clock somewhere”, 2 margaritas’ later the taxi arrives and the trip back begins along with more banter. “If you’re goin’ out drinkin’ tonight take the taxi, let us do the drivin’, or better still we’ll come drinkin’ with you, heck I’ve only hit 2 icebergs this week!”

The walk back to the hotel is hot and very sweaty but after a cold shower and an hour rest we’re ready to stagger to Franco and Vinnies just down the road. For once it’s a more European pace for eating, food appears at a more leisurely pace and the chicken and sausage special and chicken with aubergine are both huge and delicious. We can’t manage all the food or wine, I don’t think I’ve ever been given a doggy bag of wine in a plastic container before. 

Bikes!!!

This morning we’ve decided to use some of the “Boris bikes” from outside the hotel to bike around the adjacent Hugh Taylor Birch state park. So, bikes hired we set off down the sidewalk towards the park, now I’m not a natural on a bike so I’m nervously wobbling all over the place and jumping off at every stop. Dave on the other hand is a natural and soon diagnoses part of the problem my saddle is so high I have no chance of touching the ground. Saddle adjusted, the ride continues with much more success. We can’t believe that we’re in the middle of a busy city, the only noise is that of birds and cicadas. The trail through the park is through thick trees and mangroves coming out eventually on the inter coastal canal. Here there are amazing waterfront mansions across the water from us all with their own dock for their boat, naturally. As we stand there a huge “gin palace” passes us, so large that the bridge over the canal must be raised, stopping the traffic on the 6 lane Sunrise Boulevard. Bike ride completed its time to relax on the beach, dozing and people watching and swimming in the sea.

Us & The Bikes in Hugh Taylor Birch state park

This evening we stroll down the promenade until we come to a casual dining restaurant, The Deck. It’s up a set of steps overlooking the ocean and unusually it’s outside. The grilled chicken and rigatoni Bolognese are all good home cooked fare. The stroll back is breezy and refreshing, as is the drink in The Parrot bar where sport is being displayed on every TV and no 2 TV’s are showing the same game or sport. There’s even a frisbee game being televised or Disc League as it’s called over here.

Fort Lauderdale by the Sea

Fort Lauderdale by the Sea

Another hot and sunny day greets us this morning, eager to explore we walk towards Fort Lauderdale by the Sea. At first the walk is along an esplanade running next to the beach then expensive mansions with sea views and eventually high-rise hotels and condominiums. We’ve now been walking for an hour and are hot and dare I say, sweaty, time for a drink and a cool off in the air-conditioning of a café before going on further. Dave wants to go on the beach but every turning ends in a gated and fenced car park, its miles till we find an access onto the beach. By now I need to cool off, I’m almost running to get in the cool water. Dave sensibly sticks to paddling and when we’ve finished strolling through the waves into Fort Lauderdale by the Sea, I wish I’d done the same! I’m now very soggy as we eat our burgers in Mulligans Beach House. And even more embarrassed to get into the uber car still looking like a wet T-shirt ad from the front at least. We’ve managed to walk 3½ miles in 34⁰C heat, and Dave in flip flops! Must have a snooze by the pool to recover!

Our Friday night out in Fort Lauderdale starts with an uber ride to Treasure Trove where all the locals seem to be out in force drinking beer and shots, we stick to the beer. We’ve put our names on the list for the restaurant, Coconuts, a very cool riverside restaurant where we can dream of luxury yachts as we sip drinks on the riverside deck. The tall table inside gives great views of the sun setting over the marina as we tuck into Jambalaya and tuna salad. Over a bottle of wine, we indulge in people watching, the large family in front of us, the large guy is obviously the patriarch and the children are so well behaved. There’s lots of couples enjoying romantic meals together. A short stroll takes us to Ibiza, a Mediterranean styled restaurant with uninterrupted views of the ocean and a superb sax player cum singer songs by John Legend, Mike and the Mechanics and Neil Diamond.

The marina from Coconuts restaurant deck

Fort Lauderdale beaches

Fort Lauderdale Beach

Well, fortunately this morning the weather is fine, after gazing open mouthed at the stunning view out of our room window we set off to walk the beach. And what a beach it is here, miles upon miles of white gold powder soft beach. There’s not many people on the beach the major activity is from the pelican cruising above the wave like some malevolent prehistoric bird before it suddenly folds its wings and becomes a streamlined dart diving into the water for fish. This beach is a protected nest site for turtle so every now and then there is a cordoned off area presumably where there is a nest site. After all this walking a sleep on a sun bed on the beach is the perfect solution. At 1pm we decide it’s time for lunch and just as we’re thinking about moving, bang, a huge clap of thunder and instant torrential rain. Dave’s never seen me move so fast, packed and running across the beach and road straight into Primanti Brothers Pizza for lunch. What huge slices of pizza! The rest of the afternoon is spent watching lightening and torrential rain before going down stairs for cheese and wine and meeting an American couple from North Carolina. The restaurant Seasons 52 proves to be a wonderfully romantic setting for an evening meal with candle light and wine. The food is great too, chicken flatbread to start, pork tenderloin and BBQ chicken salad to follow with key lime pie and pecan pie to finish. The walk back to the hotel is warm and pleasant, so much so that we’re enticed to stop for a nightcap in McSorley’s Irish bar.

Jan outside Seasons 52

Storms over Fort Lauderdale

Our alarm is set to wake us this morning as we need an early start to get the flight from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale. This morning there are lovely warm fruit pastries for breakfast and fresh coffee as always. The taxi soon gets us to the airport and we get a whirlwind like tour of bag drop and security leaving us shaken if not stirred by the end. The flight is a little delayed by bad weather coming out of Miami, uhh ohh. We’re about last to board by seat number and should we be alarmed when the flight captain addresses the plane and says it was a little rocky on the way over so I’m going to keep the seat belt signs on today, gulp! He was right, 15 mins from our destination the plane is ‘arocking and ‘arolling and dropping, I nervously keep concentrating on my card game! Not sure if Dave is rocking in time to the music he is listening too on his headphones or the turbulence anyhow he does not seem to notice! After this landing is a doddle, as is the pick up by Rae our driver in an E-Class Merc despite him going to the wrong terminal and we arrive at the hotel Sonesta. Check in is smooth and as we get chatting to the receptionist we detect a Scottish accent, turns out she is from Stirling although she has lived here for over 30 years

Our room at the Sonesta Hotel

It is so far removed from the last hotel it is untrue, modern, floor to ceiling glass windows, white and chrome. What a spectacular room, floor to ceiling windows along two walls with views down the beach and another panoramic window looking out to sea, just wow…. The hotel is doing a special today, 80’s music and corn dogs. What are they we ask each other, turns out they’re large hot dogs covered in a slightly sweet dough fried and very good with ketchup or mustard. Another first for us.

As we get ready to go out tonight a thunderstorm rolls in off the sea, how spectacular, watching forked lightening light up the sky and waves of rain surge down the beach obliterating the tall tower blocks in the distance. It’s nature’s own light show. It’s too wet to wander far but just around the corner is a bar called The Parrot, which has been serving visitors and locals since 1970. Just to be extremely British we order fish and chips and very good it is too. On the down side the waitress tells us this weather is here for the next 10 days, we leave in 7 so let’s hope she’s wrong.

New Orleans meanderings

Dave with the jazz musicians

Our last day in New Orleans starts with torrential rain and a thunderstorm, thankfully we’re in the main house here at the hotel so the walk down to breakfast is not a wet one. When the rain stops we walk out into the city just to soak up the atmosphere, nowhere in particular to go to. Just outside the French Quarter is Louis Armstrong park, it is completely deserted apart from the statues and the guy trying to cut the grass, it’s more like aquaplaning really! The old US Mint is our next stop, not only does it have old memorabilia on coins it has a small art and jazz museum too. Our wandering takes us back to the French Market, it’s not so crowded today, so we take time to wander along the stalls. It’s time to try another New Orleans must, a muffuletta. It’s a large flat bread roll filled with salami, ham, mortadella, provolone and mozzarella cheese, but the iconic ingredient is the olive salad. Ours is served hot so the cheese is gentle melting into the other ingredients, yummy. As we eat there’s the bustle of the market, birds tweeting and in the background distantly heard jazz from the band at the Gazebo café.

The French Market

More wandering through the old streets drinking in the atmosphere brings us to The Golden Lantern. From the bright light outside the bar looks tiny but it is a typical American bar with a large u-shaped bar and a back room. The barmaid and locals make us feel very welcome and are interested to compare notes on our and their political situations and the world in general. The barmaid seems to believe that more of us Brits carrying guns would solve a lot of our problems, we and another local disagree amicably.

It’s back to the hotel for fresh baked hot cookies and coffee before getting ready for our last night here in NOLA. The walk to Frenchman Street takes us yet again down streets lined with old houses all in different colours and uneven brick pavements. Abita is on the corner and Dave has been looking forward to the steak here all day, it doesn’t disappoint him and my comfort food of red bean stew and andouille sausage is equally good. To finish the evening live music curtesy of Louise Cappi at Vaso before a final drink in our “local”, Cosimos.