Thanksgiving 2005: Ft. Laud New River Cruise

Got up early on Thanksgiving Day, splashed the runabout and headed down to Port Everglades hoping to see Rising Sun, but... the Sun had already sailed. She's back in port now, but chances are the marine patrol won't let civilians break away from the channel to take pictures of her.

I picked up our senior writer Chuck Gnaegy at 15th Street and we took a cruise down Ft. Lauderdale's New River. At the end of the day, we pulled up to Marina Bay and had Thanksgiving dinner.

For those of you that were land-locked, snowed in or tormented by relatives... I thought you might like cruising along with us.

Entering into Port Everglades, we were greeted by Abeking & Rasmussen's 187' Excellence III...

The matching tender to Excellence III is an Intrepid center-console with a pair of Merc Verado's. Some would consider this excellence too...

Docked at the Marriott, Feadship's 152' Paraiso...

Close up side shot...

Aft quarter...

When not on charter, Van Mill's 143' Starship is a regular resident at the Marriott...

Docked on the south side of the Marriott (the 15th street canal), this 112' Westport "White Star" caught my attention because of the new windows. Seems to be taking clues from Pacific Mariner's line...

Making our way down New River we found Evviva, a 161' Admiral docked at the Lauderdale Marina...

New River is a narrow canal. For all practical purposes, it's too narrow for most of the megayachts that make their way up the river for repair or refit, but that doesn't deter. Some of the most capable yards on the east coast are located on New River and the larger yachts often require a tug on the bow and on the stern to navigate the bends in the river. For this reason, I couldn't get a side shot on Evviva, but here's a little better angle...

Also docked at Lauderdale Marina was this 95' Buccaneer "Sylvia's Surprise". I bet she was!

Continuing passed the Lauderdale Marina and under the I-95 overpass, we spotted this 105' Broward "Independence"...

Chuck made the comment this was one of the best looking Broward's ever built. I think ALL Broward's are beautiful, but I'm really looking forward to the 120'...

Rounding the bend along State Road 84, Benetti's 164' "Aquila" awaited...

The canal was too narrow for a side shot, so here's the bow quarter. Aquila is all "boarded-up" in preparation of a trans-atlantic crossing...

Reminding me of an older Benetti, how many of you would have guessed this Lowland 103' "Suncoco" to be the same?

Another angle on Suncoco...

Docked at Bradford, the 130' Northern Marine "Magic"...

A close up on Magic. If you get a chance, check out Northern's new 150' "Lea Fail". Beautiful boat!

Also at Bradford, the New Zealand 81' "Spirit"...

And a no-name Moonen...