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Fort Lauderdale - Our Caribbean Cruise begins before the Princess sails.


The Caribbean Princess was due to leave Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale Florida, and Kathy has a friend who lives in West Palm Beach, about an hours drive from Ft. Lauderdale.  So Kathy arranged to spend a couple of days in Ft. Lauderdale before the cruise left so we could visit with her good friend Dana, and Dana's new husband John.

We rented an SUV at the airport and along with it we rented a Garmin GPS unit, very similar to one I have at home. We took the toll road which runs parallel with the state highway to West Palm Beach, and the whole way the GPS unit was trying to get us off of the toll road and onto the state route.  LOL.  There is some setting somewhere apparently that you have to set so it lets you travel on toll roads.

We got to Dana's house without much difficulty since we had a cell phone...the area she lives in is one of those strange places that confuses the GPS unit. I've encountered them before.

Dana and John showed us around the area and we had drinks in a local establishment, where in a nearby shop Kathy found a nifty pirate hat for the cruise.  She was really looking for a certain brand of sandals that she never did find. 

They pointed out all the famous spots, and filled us in on which beaches were best for what and that kind of thing. We watched some surfers and talked to some locals fishing on a pier. A nice relaxing day.

We had a lot of fun with Dana and John and ended Friday evening after having dinner in a happening restaurant right on the water in a marina.  I've never seen so many yachts.  It seems as everywhere you go in Florida you see lots and lots of yachts.

Our Hotel -  the Lago Mar in Fort Lauderdale Florida

We stayed at the Lago Mar hotel which is a very nice luxury resort hotel, right on the beach.  From our hotel you could easily see the port where the ship was going to leave on Sunday.  Port Everglades was about 3 miles from the hotel, and from the Port you could see the control tower at the Ft. Lauderdale / Hollywood airport.  Everything very close to everything else. Very nice.

Our room at the Lago Mar, as you can see from the pictures, was spacious and nice.  The service was excellent, and the room was equipped for wireless internet which we took advantage of as usual. The hotel has two tropical swimming pools, four restaurants, and a host of recreational sports form tennis to volleyball.

We spent much of Saturday just hanging out by the pool sipping drinks and people watching.  We also did some Iguana watching as there was a mother Iguana and a baby Iguana that the staff told us about.  When the Iguana's would run across the area all the little kids would scream and there would be much commotion.  LOL.

Here are some photos of our hotel room and our balcony in Ft. Lauderdale where we stayed before the Caribbean Cruise got under way. As the pictures show it was a nice room and the hotel grounds were beautiful.
picture lago mar hotel Image lago mar hotel Photo Lago Mar Hotel photo lago mar hotel photograph Lago mar hotel
picture of room at Lago Mar Hotel in Florida Image of hotel room at the Lago Mar in Florida photo of Lago Mar hotel
         
An here are some photos of areas in and around the hotel grounds.
Lago Mar Hotel Fort Lauderdale florida jpg Lago Mar Hotel Fort Lauderdale Florida photograph photograph Lago Mar Hotel Fort Lauderdale Florida Lago Mar Hotel Picture of Lago Mar Hotel
         
photo lago mar hotel      
         
We took some photos of our exploration of West Palm Beach with Dana and John.
picture west palm beach Image west palm beach Image west palm beach florida Pictue fish in ocean west palm beach florida west palm beach florida
Pirate picture - marina west palm beach florida picture of restaurant in west palm beach florida
marina picture west palm beach florida picture William James Lund and Kathy Lund
         
These following pictures are from our little foray into Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday. We just kind of wandered
up and down whatever street that is right on the ocean beach.
         
image Ft. Lauderdale Florida Ft. Lauderdale Florida photograph Ft. Lauderdale Florida picture palm trees and sky Ft. Lauderdale Florida palm trees and sky Ft. Lauderdale Florida
         
Street scene Ft. Luauderdale Florida Picture street scene Ft. Lauderdale Photo Ft. Lauderdale Florida Photo of street in Ft. Lauderdale Florida
         
Ocean shot Ft. Lauderdale Florida jpg picture Ft. Lauderdale Florida Image Ft. Lauderdale Florida photograph ocean Ft. Lauderdale Florida
         
Street picture Ft. Lauderdale Florida Beach photograph Ft. Lauderdale Florida Ft. Lauderdale Florida photo marina Ft. Luderdale Florida marina Ft. Lauderdale Florida
         
picture yachts Ft. Lauderdale Florida picture ocean Ft. Lauderdale Florida Ft. Lauderdale Ft. Lauderdale