Chapter 608

11/26/ - 12/4/2021

Pompano 2021

endless summer

link to Pompano 2021 picture folder

Amazing. A Flock of Seagulls sang for us. The morning before we left sitting in our coffee nook looked up and saw this spectacular golden sunrise. Grabbed my pocket cam and started clicking. Then noticed the gulls in the distance. Usually there's only a couple. Musta been a school of small fish out there attracting them. They know. When the fishing boats head out they will follow. 

The weather was fantastic all week. Warm enough for swimming, not so hot to make you sweat, only cool enough to grab a light coat once. Also bear in mind we are at 26 degrees lattitude, close to the equator so we have an extra half hour of sunrise and sunset.

See the picture folder for extensive coverage of all facets of the trip.

Side Note: Our usual room is on the second floor and that vantage point is TWICE as good as this one from the first floor, because we traded to a different week. We greatly missed the better view of more ocean and the convenience of opening the patio door for the breeze and the sound of crashing waves. SPECIFIC LOCATION makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE in the living experience and is worth consideration for any future home buying. We climbed up the stairs to the third floor balcony common seating area for coffee and cocktails most mornings and evenings.

The sunsets were a challenge looking west but easterly over the Atlantic there were subtle tropical color hue shifts from blue to pink, yellows and shades of purples. It's no wonder artists flock to Provincetown MA, Margate England and places like that. This is a tele from our third floor with a cruise ship leaving Fort Lauderdale.

We discovered the new Hilton Pier 6 (6 story) Rooftop bar open at 5pm for Happy Hour. It was magical up there with $6 Tequila drinks, a beautiful sound system and pleasant conversation with other snow birds and locals.  Nice Pompano overview video. Photographed many Boat- Tailed Grackles sqwaking and doing mating dances.

The best meal was at the new Oceanic Restaurant. Cashew crusted Salmon was great. They own the Oceanic in NC also.

Grilled Swordfish at the Coconuts was a close second and their Key Lime Pie was fantastic. Never knew it could be so custardy sweet, way beyond the too acidic supermarket versions.

La Crepes (real French management) was a favorite for breakfast & dessert crepes.

Had an excellent fish fry with our rowdy friends at the Briny Irish Pub. 

Nice pizza on the relaxed sidewalk cafe, Carlucci's Pompano.

Colleen's daughter and new husband made the 4 hr drive from the Gulf coast, overnighted and shared a few meals with us. Unfortunately it was the end of the holiday weekend - way busy and they experienced Pompano in a bad light.

Riding the Water Taxi is a great deal for $23 (Veteran) hop on and off at ten stops all day in the Fort Lauderdale harbor. This Explora Yacht is one of several owned by Herb Chambers. Met him briefly on my swap drive to Seekonk MA. He's one of the northeast's biggest car dealers. 

The wealth is overwhelming, the yachts are overwhelming, the mansions are overwhelming, and it just goes on and on and on.

Photographed the yacht named "Top Five" for my co-worker who is a fellow Penn State alum with the owner. Owner is Terrence Pegula 70 who studied math then switched to engineering. Made fortune fracking for natural gas 6 Billion net worth putting him at tenth richest Floridian. Also owns Buffalo Bill and Sabres, lives in Boca Raton a few miles north of our timeshare. Watch the demo for the boat if you want to grasp a tid bit what it's like to be able to buy into excellence.

Andrew Heller Capital yacht "Tanzanite" and mansion impressive again.

This harbor is actually 5  marinas and contains the top one percent of the top one percent of the wealthiest people in the country, more or less. Largest boat show in the world every year.

Wanted to get down to Miami to watch the boat show going thru the inlets. Maybe next time.

Each day pretty much, I swam 1/3 mile down the beach line. Really enjoyed swimming this time with the warm conditions 60 - 80 and not too rough surf. It was such a peaceful zen moment looking down at the sparkling bits of sea shells in the grooved sand. A highlight for sure.

We walked about 3 to 6 miles a day along the beaches , especially barefooting, and along the promenade up to the heart of Pompano at the pier. They've rebuilt the pier (free to walk, $6 to fish), finally open and many new businesses are popping up.

Found 2 Portuguese Man o War (Blue Bottle) jelly fish on the beach within a 1.5 mile walk. Saw no sharks. Iguanas, yes. A few hang around the pool. One jumped in scaring off a lady swimmer.

Attended the Yuletide Parade for kicks.  The parade was mostly comprised of youth, grammar and highschoolers. They were so excited to be marching, dancing and playing music after sundown. Frosty on the air boat was the best picture I had with all the darkness.

It's a real love hate relationship with Florida. You love the peaceful beach but hate in-land with crazy traffic- flat straight highways uncontrolled access pedestrians, homeless, motorcycles, tourists, old folks, racing, cutting off. You love a one week getaway, but would hate to live there year around. You love to have some warmth, but not continuously monotonously.

Spoke to many with similar views. Manager of Dairy Queen could not wait to get back to Brooklyn after living in Boca Raton for a few years.  There were a variety of opinions of course. A guy from Taunton, MA cut ties with the northeast and moved permanently down. Loves it. Another guy from Rochester retiring and moving into condo semi permanently. His wife doesn't want to come down and prefers staying north with the cats.

Met a few of the crazy cruise crowd in our first overnight at Dania Beach. They are all about the Happy Hour and it was two for one, any brand 24 hours a day there. Betty & Dan gave up home in Conn but keep a boat there to tour northeast 4 months a year. Spend rest of time in Florida, living in Cape Coral but have one or two condos in the Bahamas. On the way there next day.

Long enjoyable conversation with Alex, 29 living long time in Pompano, construction. But wants to move to be with mom in Binghamton and wants snow. He complimented us saying, "You guys are the shit."

Los Olas Blvd was dead.

The list of units and week of the year time slot at our Seaside Beach Club in photos folder shows availability. For zero dollars you can own a week every year. $100 closing cost plus $700/ year maintenance fee. Just did week 48.For a more choice week pay a few thousand initial cost. Not a bad deal. Our fourth trip and got tickets for our normal week 9March slot already.