to Fort Lauderdale, and then some

Hello Everyone 12/27

We are in Fort Lauderdale staying at the Las Olas Marina. At first we had some misgivings about our choice, we are right next to the Las Olas Bascule  bridge which sounds alarms and sends out loud speaker messages when it opens. There is also the traffic noise, however we found that everything pretty much levels off come evening and we are walking distance to the beach, sheltered from the winds- great laundry and showers, what more can you ask for.

We have great neighbors and shared a wonderful Christmas Dinner with Dale, Patty and Oliver (s/v Nautical Dreamer. With front row seats on all the Mega yachts that come through the bridge.

We had a lovely time opening presents with Jennie and Meghan via Skype in the Captains lounge.

The best news was receiving our new Sirius weather module for our Ray marine chart plotter. Of course the connection cable is to short but Tom found one in town so I am hoping we will have it up and running by the end of the day. No more weather sunrises.

As to when we will be taking off for the Bahamas - Weather is not looking great to leave this weekend and we are still provisioning. We are hoping to jump 1/2 or 1/3- I think arriving on New Years Day may be a customs nightmare. 

Wishing everyone a super New Year

Laura and Tom

Christmas Dinner

Meghan gave us these great glasses - they tip but don't spill

look closely and you can see all the decorations on this house

there are lots of side canals for residents to dock their boats.
there are also signs where they lease these docks out
curious

we went through several patches where there were dozens of
coconuts in the water - didn't spot the trees - just the nuts

many of the homes have large collections of sculptures in their yards -
I just loved this one, it took a while for me to realize
it was not a person

the bridge by our slip

this palm is growing out of this tree

at the beach - having a great time collecting shells

having a hard time identifying this bird- if anyone has a clue
let me know

Tom relaxing

Jennie and Meghan horse back riding in Corpus Christi Tx.

Oliver