(Oct. 31 – Nov. 7, 2011) – Day 1 – Monday – We took the Executive Express, with driver Al D., to the airport & it was quite a ride. Al shared his motor-home tour adventures with us & said that a must-see of all his travels would be Alaska. Al drove us to the airport in plenty of time to catch our 9:35 am Delta Flight. The flight to Fort Lauderdale Airport was very good – with some minor turbulence & re-routing the flight path due to some stormy weather in Florida. We arrived at the airport at approximately 2 pm local time & found out that recent rains (3″ on Saturday) have caused some localized flooding.
We next went to the Alamo rental car desk, where Al warned us to watch as we get out of our rental car, with the recent flooding – alligators may be further inland following the flood waters. Due to Alamo running low on mid-sized rental cars, we were able to get an upgrade and drove away in a blue Honda Civic – with nice trunk space! 🙂 We found the accomodations at the Wyndham Royal Vista in Pompano Beach, Florida simply amazing! The condo unit was facing the Atlantic Ocean & words cannot adequately describe the view; & awesome condo amenities (full kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms, & whirlpool in master bedroom!
After checking in, we visited the concierge desk for some great advice, and headed for a nearby restaurant called the “Sea-Watcher” for a delicious supper. We had Mahi-mahi & “catch of the day” & found them equally delicious. After supper, the long travel day caught up with us, so we turned in early for a wonderful night’s sleep! What an awesome first day – we could hear waves coming into shore in such a magical rythmic sound – so blessed! Tuesday – 11.01.2011 – The Atlantic Ocean roared as the waves crashed against the beach – over and over – what a magnificent sound! Sitting with my sweetheart, Linda (a.k.a. Flowergirl!) – we watched the sun rise over the Atlantic from the balcony of the 8th floor condo.
We noticed a few beachcombers along the shore looking for shells. We donned our swimwear and went for a leisurely morning stroll along Pompano Beach on this beautiful morning with the sun shining over the Ocean to the east. We discovered some sea-shells that were keepers to take with us, and headed back to the resort for a dip in the pool. It was about 8:30 am by this time and we were the only pool-goers this early & it was delicious! My sweetheart and I in a pool by the Ocean – enjoying our honeymoon – we are so blessed!
Our first priority for the day was to schedule a snorkeling trip, however, due to the 20 – 25 mph winds, we had to go with plan “B” on this day. Plan “B” involved an adventure ride through the Florida Everglades on an airboat (pretty awesome plan “B”)! Everglades City was “the place” for the best airboat rides, so my sweetheart and I packed a picnic lunch and loaded up the Honda Civic for the 2 hour drive from Pompano Beach. It was a pleasant drive on I-75 North – really more due west – as the temperatures were going to reach 85 degrees on this glorious day. We arrived in Everglade City at about 2:30 pm, and checked out Captain Doug’s & signed up for the 3 pm ride with Captain Matt. We were seated in the front row of the airboat, my sweetheart and I, with a party of three who were from Atlanta, GA, seated in the row behind us. 
Captian Matt was in the seat behind the second row, and gave us a narrated tour through the second largest mangrove swamp in the world (only larger is located in Indonesia). As we were about to embark on our journey, two large pelicans landed about one foot away from us in the front of the boat. They enjoyed the ride for a little while, and then flew away. 
The airboat ride was facinating, with amazing scenery – as we headed along the narrow tunnel-like channels with the mangrove trees providing a canopy overhead. The ride was exciting and fast, at times, with twisty turns back & forth. We were also able to view many different birds, a Florida racoon (smaller than their Minnesota counterpart), and an alligator that measured about 11 or 12 feet long!
On our travels back to Pompano Beach, we took a different route – Highway 41 east – and stopped for a brief visit at the Shark Valley Visitor center of the Everglades National Park. We strolled along a paved walking trail and suddenly encountered an alligator staring up at us just to our left. We decided to head back to the visitor center to ask the park ranger about seeing alligators in the park so close to the trail. She explained, not to worry, the alligators are just trying to get the last of the days sunlight to warm their bodies. She said that they wouldn’t attack people – as it would be too much work for them, since we are so big. They would have to drag us into the water, spin us around until we drown, and find a place to store our body – until we would start to decompose, and then they would take small bites out of us – as they like smaller chunks to eat. The detailed explanation that she went into was not helping us feel better about being in close proximity to the alligators (haha). She reassured us that if we encountered a gator laying all the way across the path, that we should wait until it crossed – we should not try and step over it. We continued our walk, with much trepidation, and shortly encountered another gator, this one about 14 feet long. We immediately headed back to the parking lot to the safety of the Honda Civic, and headed back to Pompano – lol. 
What a magnificent day of wonder and adventure – we are so blessed! Wednesday – 11.02.2011 – Awoke to another day in paradise with my beautiful bride. Today we decided to tour a historic mansion – built in the early 1900’s – called Vizcaya Mansion, located on Byscane Bay in southern Miami, Florida. It was built by John Deering and was incredible to see all the detail & furnishings, many brought from Europe & some (table legs that were unearthed from Pompei) as old as 2000 years. No detail was spared and the mansion also had a large garden – designed in the European style – with modifications due to the climate in South Florida.
The mansion has access to Byscane Bay, and a ship was built out of stone & then the earth was removed around it, to enlarge the bay to allow guests to arrive by boat.
The garden was vast, and included a maze, an orchid garden, and many fountains and statutes from Europe. The mansion had an indoor/outdoor swimming pool that could have either sea-water or freshwater, depending on what the owner wanted. The house, in it’s day, required a full time staff of 30, including two French chefs. The mansion has 29 bedrooms. What an awesome tour!
After an awesome mansion tour, we next visited Miami Beach. It was very windy on this day, and we did not venture into the Ocean – due to the massive waves. We stopped at a sidewalk cafe, named The Carlyle and had a bite to eat. 
We took a stroll along the beach and enjoyed the last of the sunshine on this wonderful day. We then took a walk inland a couple of blocks to view the “Art Deco” area of Miami – near the beach – and were disappointed to not find much “Art-Deco’ at all. We then headed back to the friendly confines of the Wyndham Resort at Pompano Beach for a relaxing whirlpool & a great night’s sleep. Thursday – 11.03.2011 – We awoke from a wonderful night’s sleep, at about 6:30 am, in time to see another glorious sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, while eating breakfast. Our spirits were lifted, in our quest for a snorkeling trip, when we noticed the waves were much lower this morning & it was less windy.
We called John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park & made reservations for the noon snorkeling trip. We were informed that the 20 mph winds & 15′ visibility means the captain only wants “strong swimmers” for snorkeling today. No problem for the honeymoon couple (or so we thought). The anticipation and excitement for the snorkeling trip had us getting ready in snappy time & we left the resort at 8:15 am for the expected 2 hour drive to Key Largo. We soon found ourselves stuck in a traffic jam on I-95 & 595 that made for some slow going. It took us longer than expected & we arrived at the park at about 10:50 am – just in time to get signed up for the noon snorkeling trip (and get fitted with our fins, mask, and snorkel gear). It was a picture perfect sunny day, about 80 degrees & not too humid, as we eagerly readied ourselves for the snorkeling trip. We boarded “the Dolphin” boat, along with about 20 others & headed to the “Grecian Rocks” coral reef. The Dolphin was captained by Rick and Dean. The boat ride out to the coral reef was fast and fun, and it took about a half hour to get there.
The Ocean turned different colors of green as we traveled to the reef. The setting was incredible and magical as the sunshine came in on the white deck of the boat, surrounded by green water. After some instructions from the captains, the ladders were lowered on each side of the boat into the Ocean and Rick said to all “the pool is open”. With anticipation, we climbed down the ladder into the 79 degree Atlantic Ocean water. We realized now why the Captain called for “strong swimmers” on this day, as I found myself fighting to stay afloat & not drown – while getting accustomed & acclimated to the snorkeling gear & vest in the choppy waves of the ocean.
We soon felt comfortable that we could survive, and headed away from the boat towards the Grecian Rocks coral reef. The wonders of God’s creation continue to amaze – as we swam over and viewed such incredible aquatic life – we are so blessed and fortunate to be able to experience such things!
We headed back to the Dolphin (boat) after about an hour in the ocean (which seemed like only 20 minutes). Some other snorkelers were back in the boat already & the remaining in the ocean soon followed onboard as preparations were made to head back to land. Suddenly, as we sat in the sunshine on the boat, we heard a woman scream in fear. It turned out that a lot of “Moon Jellyfish” had moved into our location and a young woman (who was about seven months pregnant) was stung a couple of times. Captain Dean reasurred the young couple that the moon jellyfish weren’t dangerous & instructed them to swim around them. The stings from the moon jellyfish looked similar to a mesquito bite. Some other snorkelers saw a barricudda too – on their way back onto the boat. We enjoyed going through the park gift shop together, and shopped for some items to bring home to our people. We decided that we needed a meal & found a place called “Big Daddy’s Rib & Steakhouse” right in Key Largo, just south of the state park entrance on US Highway 1. The restaurant had three awesome saltwater aquariums to look at. We then drove back to the resort in Pompano Beach & enjoyed “dancing” in the pool next to the tiki bar – which had live music playing on this night. We had the pool to ourselves and it was delicious – what a magnificent day!
(Friday, November 4, 2011) – Today was “moving” day – so to speak – as we had to switch rooms because another timeshare member had requested room 8804 over a year ahead of time. We can understand why, as the view & room are outstanding. So we packed up everything and checked out at 10 am, and were temporarily in “exile” (room-wise) until they called us (anticipated to be 12:30 pm). We decided to stay in the local area while in exile, and we checked out a shopping area in Pompano Beach called the “Festival Marketplace”. We were successful in finding some gifts & viewed artwork in this indoor-large, flea-market type shopping place. It was fun walking hand in hand with my sweetheart – spending the morning shopping 🙂 We then went in search for “Cap’s Place” – a local historic restaurant that we’d heard about & was identified on the map we had. We found the parking lot for Cap’s & learned that it is an island restaurant that has a boat that takes guests from the parking lot to the island. There was no activity at this time & nobody in the parking lot, so we surmised that they were not open for lunch. We walked along the sidewalk in the Lighthouse City Area and stopped for lunch at a marina at the Nauti-Dawg Cafe.
The Mahi-Mahi sandwhiches were delicious & we enjoyed sitting outdoors overlooking the intercoastal marina and the many yachts that were docked there. There was some nice music playing while we dined & it was a very enjoyable atmosphere. We viewed some three level condo/townhomes that had some very tropical colors & fit in well next to the marina.
We next paid a visit to a local grocery store, Publix, to re-stock some food items before heading back to the resort. We drove back to the resort and re-checked in – this time to room 7713, which offered an ocean view also, although not quite as nice as 8804, but it would do (haha). We headed down to the beach & considered going in, but were dissuaded by the sharp drop off & strong waves coming into shore. We then decided on the “warm” pool at the resort, and spent time together enjoying the warm water.
(Saturday, November 5, 2011) – Today we packed up a picnic lunch and headed to the famous Fort Lauderdale Beach, for a day at the beach. The City of Fort Lauderdale has done a fantastic job of re-inventing & re-furbishing their beach along Route A1A, we learned – and it showed!
What a magnificent beach-scape, with a white “wave-wall” about two miles long with many shops & sidewalk cafes – it was a magical place to visit. We walked around and soaked it all in, and did some gift shopping for our people. The beach itself was very crowded on this warm & sunny day, and we were able to find a great parking spot close by in a public parking lot. We found a spot on the beach and gazed out over the ocean at the many barges, sail boats, wave-runners, and para sailers.
The sunshine felt good and there was a warm tropical breeze massaging us – this was indeed paradise – such a magical place with my sweetheart sitting next to me, we are so blessed 🙂 We decided that tonight we would dine at historic Cap’s Place in the Little Lighthouse City area of Pompano Beach. We arrived at the parking lot & didn’t have to wait long before a boat picked us up as we waited on the dock under the lights. The boat docked & an older couple got off & thanked the boat captain for the ride & mentioned that Cap’s was wonderful, as usual. The Captain helped us board the small boat, and asked us “do you know who that was?”, to which we replied “no”. He said that the couple that we just passed while boarding the boat was Wayne Huizenga, owner of the Miami Dolphins, and his wife – who have been regulars at Cap’s Place over the years. We enjoyed the boat ride along the intercoastal waterway to the island where Cap’s Place was located.
Cap’s Place, as we had heard, was an older – kind of rundown looking shack kind of place, that was known for where rum-runners would bring in illegal hooch during the prohibition days. Once inside, we viewed the many rooms that had photos & newspaper articles of the many dignitaries, past presidents, etc. – that had visited Cap’s over the years. We discovered that the Crab Cakes were delicious, and were the most wonderful food that we experienced on this trip.
We’ll know on our next visit to just get the Crab Cakes, and skip the Florida Lobster (haha). We enjoyed the ambiance of Cap’s & headed back to the dock to catch the boat, just as a rainshower began – and we soon were soaking wet. We took the boatride back along the intercoastal waterway to the parking lot & headed “home” to the resort after another magical day spent in paradise 🙂