Is it possible to get from Canada to the Bahamas by train?
Jan 8th, 2011, 02:46 PM
#24
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Thanks AnnMarie, cmcfong, qwovadis, dwooddon and Tdudette for your kind comments!
*A Day in Fort Lauderdale*
To try to minimize on travel wear-and-tear, I decided to spend a full day in Fort Lauderdale (my first time there)after returning on the Discovery ferry... and only head northward the following day (yesterday).
It is perhaps unfair for me to come to any judgment with only one day in Fort Lauderdale after spending several days in the warmth & raw humanity of the Bahamas, but honestly I could not shake the thought with each visual that Fort Lauderdale struck me as being humongously big, brash, sterile, quasi-soulless, lacking-in-definable-character and too lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous than is my preference.
However, I was pleased there was the water taxi ($20/day) which took me from near my Fort Lauderdale Beach hotel (stop #3) up to the Las Olas Riverfront (stop #9) area. Along the way, the water taxi driver would tell us "this house belonged to Vivien Leigh", "this to Johnny Weismuller of Tarzan fame", "this to Barbara Mandrell", "the next one to Sonny & Cher", "the yacht you see in front of you belongs to the following Fortune 500 corporation", "the mansion at right to Dinah Shore and Burt Reynolds", "over at left, this XX million dollar home belongs to the heir of the Anheuser-Busch fortune"... I know some people who eat up this sort of stuff, but it's not really my scene. However, it was nice to get out on the water and certainly some of the homes were handsome to look at (if possibly in some cases a bit over-the-top).
The Las Olas Blvd. area near the water taxi stop has trendy, upscale restaurants and boutiques (the hotel concierge described it as Fort Lauderdale's Rodeo Drive). Just off of Las Olas, I peered at the Stranahan House, a charming-looking home owned by one of the early residents of Fort Lauderdale. Since I didn't especially feel like spending loads of money and was hungry, I was happy to find an unpretentious diner called "The Floridian", which served meals at reasonable prices. From here, it was about a 35 minute walk to my near-beach hotel, which made for a lovely stroll past the glitz and beauty of the Intracoastal Waterway as well as the crowds of folks staking their spot with beach umbrellas along the beach by the A1A Highway.
My favourite part of the day ultimately was renting a bike ($12.50/hour) at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park (right by the A1A Highway) and doing laps on the circuit inside the park, which passed through lush vegetation native to Florida (saw an ibis here!) and abutted the Intracoastal Waterway for about 1/3 of the loop. A beautiful spot to get some exercise and have one extra day's escape from winter.
Best wishes and happy new year to all! Daniel
*A Day in Fort Lauderdale*
To try to minimize on travel wear-and-tear, I decided to spend a full day in Fort Lauderdale (my first time there)after returning on the Discovery ferry... and only head northward the following day (yesterday).
It is perhaps unfair for me to come to any judgment with only one day in Fort Lauderdale after spending several days in the warmth & raw humanity of the Bahamas, but honestly I could not shake the thought with each visual that Fort Lauderdale struck me as being humongously big, brash, sterile, quasi-soulless, lacking-in-definable-character and too lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous than is my preference.
However, I was pleased there was the water taxi ($20/day) which took me from near my Fort Lauderdale Beach hotel (stop #3) up to the Las Olas Riverfront (stop #9) area. Along the way, the water taxi driver would tell us "this house belonged to Vivien Leigh", "this to Johnny Weismuller of Tarzan fame", "this to Barbara Mandrell", "the next one to Sonny & Cher", "the yacht you see in front of you belongs to the following Fortune 500 corporation", "the mansion at right to Dinah Shore and Burt Reynolds", "over at left, this XX million dollar home belongs to the heir of the Anheuser-Busch fortune"... I know some people who eat up this sort of stuff, but it's not really my scene. However, it was nice to get out on the water and certainly some of the homes were handsome to look at (if possibly in some cases a bit over-the-top).
The Las Olas Blvd. area near the water taxi stop has trendy, upscale restaurants and boutiques (the hotel concierge described it as Fort Lauderdale's Rodeo Drive). Just off of Las Olas, I peered at the Stranahan House, a charming-looking home owned by one of the early residents of Fort Lauderdale. Since I didn't especially feel like spending loads of money and was hungry, I was happy to find an unpretentious diner called "The Floridian", which served meals at reasonable prices. From here, it was about a 35 minute walk to my near-beach hotel, which made for a lovely stroll past the glitz and beauty of the Intracoastal Waterway as well as the crowds of folks staking their spot with beach umbrellas along the beach by the A1A Highway.
My favourite part of the day ultimately was renting a bike ($12.50/hour) at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park (right by the A1A Highway) and doing laps on the circuit inside the park, which passed through lush vegetation native to Florida (saw an ibis here!) and abutted the Intracoastal Waterway for about 1/3 of the loop. A beautiful spot to get some exercise and have one extra day's escape from winter.
Best wishes and happy new year to all! Daniel
Nov 27th, 2011, 12:09 PM
#25
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For those of you who read my report, I just found out that Discovery Cruise Lines (after many years) is no longer doing the day journey from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Bahama Island (final journey apparently was last September). While not the greatest ferry ride on earth, it had its charms and I feel somehow sad that it's no longer with us, particularly for the Bahamians who seemed to use the ferry in number for a weekend in Florida.
As an alternate possibility for those who like the idea of ferrying from the US mainland to the Bahamas, I believe Bahamas Celebration still is running their overnight service (usually to Freeport, sometimes to Nassau) out of Palm Beach but I believe there's no "day ferry" at the present time. I also keep hearing about a fast ferry "starting soon" to be run by Balearia out of Miami, but nothing seems to have materialized yet.
As an alternate possibility for those who like the idea of ferrying from the US mainland to the Bahamas, I believe Bahamas Celebration still is running their overnight service (usually to Freeport, sometimes to Nassau) out of Palm Beach but I believe there's no "day ferry" at the present time. I also keep hearing about a fast ferry "starting soon" to be run by Balearia out of Miami, but nothing seems to have materialized yet.
