Fort Lauderdale to Boca Raton, FL

Island Hopper looks like a dinghy next to the Yacht CV-9

Fort Lauderdale Boating

RiverWalk in Fort Lauderdale

History Museum in Fort Lauderdale in the old town area.

Riverfront Restaurant

Just another yacht along the way.....

A beautiful home on the ICW

Yesterday Debbie & Joan took the bus (What an experience!) to Saw Grass Mills Mall. Sawgrass is an outlet mall with high end stores like, Nieman Marcus, Nordstom, and David Yurman. They left the boat at 9:15 AM and returned at 6:30 PM. A full day of glorious shopping and saving money for Ian and Kevin. Chris Gaffney, Debbie's cousin Vicki's husband, came to the boat for cocktails and we all went to Big City Tavern for a good dinner. Today "Island Hopper" departed the dock at 10:45 AM heading to the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida.(http://www.rpyc.org/ ) The skies are partly cloudy, and the winds south 15-20. The temperature is in the mid 80's again today. We have had only one afternoon of rain for 1/2 hour in Naples for the past three weeks. The weather has cooperated except for the sea state to attempt the Bahamas. We could have gone to the Bahamas yesterday, but the predicted winds would not have given us a window to return next week. Less than an hour south of Palm Beach and anchoring the country's south end, upscale Boca Raton has much in common with it's fabled cousin. Bothereflect the unmistakeable architectural influence of Addison Mizner, their principal developer in the mid - 1920's he meaning of the name Boca Raton often arouses curiosity, with many folks mistakenly assuming it means "rat's mouth." Historians say the probable origin is Boca Ratones, an ancient Spanish geographical term for an inlet filled with jagged rock or coral. Miami's Biscayne Bay had such an inlet, and in 1823, a mapmaker copying Miami terrain confused the more northern inlet, thus mistakenly labeling this are Boca Ratones. No matter what, you know you've arrived in the heart of downtown when you spot the town hall's gold dome on the main street, Federal Highway. It is interesting to see what a great job the townspeople did planning Boca - no billboards, parking lots at the beach hidden behind dunes, gas stations and shopping areas screened with lush landscaping - controlled growth and strict zoning and ordinances paid off. Boca is one of the nicest towns on the Gold Coast.

Debbie getting the bow lines reading for docking at Palm Beach Yacht & Country Club

We arrived at Boca Grand Yacht and Country Club. The dockmaster invited us for cocktails at the dock bar. After lunch we cooled off by swimming in the pool. We ate dinner in the Commodore's Grill.