Fort Lauderdale Tour

A Winter Day Trip was just the ticket… so it’s off to the beach and a boat ride. We parked right by the beach… had a nice walk collecting little treasures along the shore ( a favorite past-time ) and enjoyed the view of the ocean while we waited for the time for the boat trip to begin. This was the famous “Jungle Queen” cruise. A scenic trip up the new river to a private island filled with tropical adventure and animals. Perhaps it should have been more accurately billed as a boat trip to see how the rich and famous live. Maybe 6 months ago this might not have struck a nerve… but with the current state of the economy… seeing how the rich and famous live… well… that’s a mostly bitter and less sweet pill. Anyway here are some pics to of our trip up the river. We did make it to the private island of sorts… and we did get to see birds and other animals on the island. We did have a good time despite the over shadowing feeling that this was yet another tourist trap type thing. A little over priced, a bit over crowded, a bit hooky, a bit carnie, and no thank you… I don’t want to pay you $5 to take a picture… with my own camera… beside the baby alligator. We were on the little island for about an hour (captive audience) but there was plenty of stuff to buy as well as food and drinks…. again a bit pricy… go figure. Don’t get me wrong… we enjoyed the trip… and we did get to sit front row center on the upper deck of the boat and have the grand view of everything… so I do not regret making the trip… just glad I wasn’t one of the other 300 people that was stuck sitting amid the crowd trying to get a good view. The waterfront mansions were what you would expect to see in a Hollywood Movie… and we were told that many have been in movies and TV shows… as were the yachts. The one above even has a helicopter on it’s deck… guess that solves the traffic problems. Not all the mansions have large yachts… some have smaller boats for just cruising around the river and maybe a bit beyond. The tour guide on our scenic cruise on the famous Jungle Queen was a bit corny… but did keep everyone entertained with lots of interesting facts and comments, as well as fun fill comments to make you laugh…. I believe that both the boat and him have been around since the 1940’s. All in all a nice day trip ( can’t let the economy or touristy trap hooky carnie things ruin the day)… glad we went… would not do it again. So if you want to see how the Rich & Famous live… don’t miss this boat ride… but get there early to get the good seats… it was worth the wait.

I always have a good time… so long as I’m enjoying it with Shelly… the joy of my life!

We returned to the beach (without my camera… just wanted to enjoy the sand & water) and collected some shells and walked in the water…. than departed for dinner and the trip back to the resort. Sure would have been nice to use that helicopter to get back home.

( click on pictures to enlarge, than arrow back )