A Weekend Boating in Fort Lauderdale
FORT LAUDERDALE
Fort Lauderdale seems like the boat capital of the world with everything from runabouts to massive yachts filling its waters. This is because Fort Lauderdale offers so much to do via the water. In addition to the world class fishing and scuba diving in the Atlantic, there are sand bars to stop and enjoy with friends, too many restaurants to name and what seems like endless waterways to explore. You will find that every house on the water has a dock or boat slip and there are marinas around every corner. Despite this, if you are not from south Florida and are looking to spend a weekend there, it can be a challenge to find a safe and affordable place to keep your boat. That is why I decided to write this blog.
HILTON FORT LAUDERDALE MARINA
After looking through various forums and websites about places to keep the boat in south Florida, we were able to find the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. The front desk put us in touch with the dock master who gave us all of the details. He offered us a slip, literally steps out of the hotel door, for $100 a night. That was considerably less than the dozens of other marinas that we checked. We could walk also out on the balcony of our room and see the boat. The hotel also offered us a place to keep the trailer and unlimited ice to fill the coolers - what more could you ask for? A boat ramp, I guess. Well, for that, there was a free public boat ramp (Cox Landing 15th Street Boat Ramp) just on the other side of the canal from the hotel. Once on the water, the hotel is conveniently located less than 10 minutes to the Atlantic through Port Everglades.
BOATING IN FORT LAUDERDALE
We spent our days on the water, exploring the underwater reefs that lie just off the beach and a couple of the many wrecks that have created homes for various sea life. You can read about our scuba diving here. We took the boat to dinner, trying a different dockside restaurant each night. I highly recommend visiting south Florida for some boating fun and the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina if you are looking for a place to keep your boat during your visit to south Florida.
