Tikki Beach
Tuesday was the day for the volunteer party on the Tikki Beach party barge. Of course I went.
As you can see, it was a wild party. This photo was taken on the upper deck while I was sitting at one of the three bars on board. You can see the "sand beach". It is a thin layer of sand over the steel floor. It does add a nice touch however. Very beachy.Most people at the event were on the lower deck. The food was there. The food was kept warm by those cans of gelled fuel, and the plastic windows were in place because it was a little breezy.
So I found it was better to hang out on the upper deck. There was a nice breeze, two bars (lower deck has one), fewer people, and I found the lower deck to be a little hot and stuffy.
This was the view off the stern. That is the back of the boat. So if the barge were moving, this view would be of where the thing was, as opposed to where it was going. In this case the view is the Ft Lauderdale Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) looking south. The photo was taken through a plastic window.The ICW in Broward County is pretty neat. It is a wide saltwater canal, at least 15 or 20 feet deep. Or something like that. It is deep enough to accommodate the luxury mega yachts and large sailboats and stuff. It is the Venice of the USA. Branching off from the ICW are many other canals, each canal containing some very expensive homes, or any number of businesses such as bars, restaurants, boat yards, marinas, and so on.
This is one such home. As you can see it is nice. The seawall with the posts is where whoever owns the home can dock a boat. As you can see, there is one such boat there. A big one. I would estimate it to be at least a 50 footer. At least. And behind it looks like another boat of some sort. I would not be surprised is an even larger boat is usually docked in front of it.The seawall with the boat is on one of the canals branching off the ICW. The seawall with no posts faces the ICW.
And this is just one such home. There are many others - a lot of them even larger. I heard that 80% of the world's mega yachts are sold from Ft. Lauderdale. And I believe it. The ICW is clogged with giant boats. I see a lot of ultra luxury yachts in Miami, but I see a lot more when in Ft. Lauderdale. They are everywhere. The boat you see in the above photo is not large enough to really stand out. You would see it and think "oh look, another boat".
Here you can see the view from the bow of the boat. That is the front. In the photo, you are looking north on the ICW. Remember what I said about the large number of big boats in the Broward ICW? Well just look. That half boat with the blue top you see is just an open center console boat. Lets just call it a 25 footer. In front of that is a small yacht, probably no larger than 30 something feet. Beyond that is a boat with the bow sticking out into he ICW. And then beyond that is another yacht. And this is only a very short section of the ICW. Maybe 1/4 mile.So that about wraps it up. The party on Tikki Beach. And a few photos taken under shitty lighting conditions.
I do not know if I will volunteer for the WInterfest Boat Parade this year. I had a good time last year but it turned into an all day event. I had to wake up extra early, hitch up the boat, tow it 30 miles to Broward County, put the boat in the water, kill time for a few hours, go to my assigned location, watch the boat parade, and then return home. For the return home, the ICW was thick with boat traffic. I had never seen so many boats in one place ever. It was like driving on a freeway only I was in the water and going slow because the whole waterway is a slow zone. In Miami, you just do not see that many boats in any waterway. It was wild.
And then when I get back to the boat ramp (which was not at all busy and this surprised the heck out of me) I have to get the boat back on the trailer and haul it home 30+ miles to Miami.
But it is not over yet! No! Now I get to clean the boat and flush the engine. And then I get to put the boat away.
At this point I think it was past midnight. It was a long day.
So I do not know if I will volunteer this year. I will if I can, but who knows what my schedule will look like in December.
Labels: Tikki Beach, Winterfest
posted by The Lazy Iguana @ 01:14
5 Comments:
it sure looks like there is some serious money floating around there. what's the water quality like, is it ok to fish in??
oh yeah also, does the bridge open (or does it need to???), can you get a yacht under it??
and, that party looks like it was rockin'. the problem with a party on a boat is that you are in for the long haul.....that is unless you want to make a swim for it.
Ponder - I can not imagine that the ICW in Broward makes for any fishing. There may be places where there is less development and some habitat for stuff, and other areas where the tide change brings stuff in - but otherwise it is just a canal with nothing on the bottom and seawalls to either side. And A LOT of traffic. The ICW is mandated by the government to have a minimum clearance of 65 feet (I think). So any fixed bridge has to be at least that high. Anything lower is a draw bridge that opens when needed or on a schedule. So yea, pretty big yachts can use the waterway. The limitation of height really gets to the sailboats if their mast is more than 65 feet tall. But some large sailboats are specially made for this and have masts that fold down to go under the fixed bridges. THe party was not really that wild. LOTS of older people. But the food was good and the cheap beer and wine was free so all was good. It was very nice for the boat parade committee to have a party for all the volunteers. They did not have to do that.
dude, that's pretty much what you have to do when you "use" your boat? so stop your sniveling.
as for your boat tour, and the sand on the floor, did you catch anyone digging little divets in the sand and peeing in them?
Doozie - I can not say I say anyone peeing in the sand on the barge.
These days my kind of party is the laid back kind. I must say that I have never been to a party where there was a layer of sand on the floor! Cool!
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