Seattle and Vancouver Island

Flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle and grabbed a taxi on my way to meet my new boat.



And here's my new boat docked in Seattle. Home sweet home.



The view out of the skylounge windows of the docks and city in the distance.



Across the water was Gasworks Park.



Took a quick evening stroll across the drawbridge. Still getting used to the idea that the sun doesn't set until nearly nine at night.


Over to the Google and Adobe headquarters area.



I wish we had more time in Seattle, I'd eat my way through the city. This sushi restaurant where the food passes by on a conveyor belt made my day. (Thanks to my iPhone for the photo.) The dessert shop down the way was equally yummy.



Got front row seats at a Mariner's game courtesy my new boss. Yay for baseball, hot dogs and beer.



And then we left Seattle and headed for the San Juan islands.



Dropped anchor in a little cove in Friday Harbor for the night.



And spent another night anchored in ... forgot the name, I'll have to ask...



And eventually ended up in Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This view, through the window of the pantry is pretty much the only crew view of the starboard side of the boat. Most of my pictures have a similar frame of window and boat. Victoria was awesome, but more on that later.

Life in Ft. Lauderdale

I haven't posted much over the last several months because I've only been in Ft. Lauderdale and didn't have regular internet access or enough interesting material to post. I have since joined a new boat and am currently up in Canada for the summer, so I'm digging back through my pictures to catch up. This is the view of the intercostal waterway from the 17th Street bridge. The building on the far right of the horizon is Bahia Mar, just one of many hotels along the beachfront.



The drawbridge on 17th Street goes up on the hour (and sometimes half hour).



I finally bought an iPhone and started taking pictures of daily life. This is the drive down the A1A along the beach, essentially right across the street from the boat.



This was the galley on the boat where I was eventually hired full time as crew cook/stewardess.



Thursday nights we usually wandered down the beach to Cafe del Mar to enjoy the live Spanish Guitar.



Took the TriRail to West Palm Beach on occasion.



Played skiiball and other cheesy fun games. I love skiiball!



Visited the casino where we had some very disappointing "Mexican" food and gambled our pocket change at the penny slots.



I took a bartending course, and this was the view out the back of the stripmall. There are waterways all over Ft. Lauderdale, earning it the name the Venice of America.



And these guys were everywhere! Actually, they seem to be all over Ft. Lauderdale.



For the Fourth, we watched the fireworks show from the beach. The lights in the distance are all of the boats that lined up to watch them from the water.

Back to Florida: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and the Jungle Queen

After my little visit to Arizona was up, I flew back to Florida to continue my job search. Spent a day at the beach in Miami, was there for the boat show.



It was a cold, windy day and I fell asleep on the beach. This was back in February and I still have the remnants of that sunburn on my right leg. Oops!



Spent a lot of time entertaining myself with the nice long walk to the library.



I moved onto a boat to help out with their watch schedule. Even though it was an unpaid position, they fed me and gave me free rent so it made the job search much less stressful.



Goofed off in the crew mess.



In the same marina as our boat is Bahia Cabana, an interesting little waterfront bar.



Also part of our marina is the home of the Jungle Queen. Announcing it's daily departures at 9:30, 1:00 and 6pm with horn-tooting fanfare, the Jungle Queen is a riverboat tour through Ft. Lauderdale's waterways. I hopped aboard one afternoon for a leisurely sightseeing cruise.



Draw bridges punctuate the way.



The Jungle Queen takes you to their campy little "island" where they unload their flock of tourists.



Pull out your cameras and gawk at exotic animals in cages.



And be entertained by the alligator tamer (whose sole income is apparently tips).



I managed to trip over this big guy when he was munching on lettuce. Scared both of us equally and people remarked (not so quietly) under their breath of their horror that I could do such a thing, but an iguana isn't exactly like a cat or dog that you can go console. Felt bad for tripping over him, but what was I supposed to do? He just stared at me in dumbfounded tense horror "don't come near me, lady!" Oh well.