Fl luaderdale boating
 

Where the best place to go on Sundays for the performance boat people

gilberts or the tiki bar

I just got done scrubbing my boat up.... Heading out shortly to go grab some lunch somewhere... Weather is nice today.

I got pixs from a buddy of mine last night with a couple of inches of snow at my house in Annapolis.... I'm staying here! :party-smiley-004:

Be there on the 7th, snow here in louisville too......cant wait.

I feel for all those poor bastards up North....I guess we'll have to put up with the traffic down here thru Easter...:cool:

We ended up at shooters, it was dead all day

shooters has been dead for years !! no place in L town to go by boat head south my friend

to where?

bahia cabana (sp?) south sise of bahia mar marina the sands or hustons at atlantic blvd bridge

sammy's @ the grove

last time i was there it didn't get busy til early evening, which is when they moved "the show". gypsy kings were there playing, which is about the only reason we stayed as long as we did. --- left and went to Houston's for dinner.

Very nice

A couple of places might be Sands Harbor just north of Atlantic in Pompano and Banana Boat in Boynton Beach south of the inlet.

In the last few years I and some friends enjoy the Waterway's Cafe just north of Singer island Palm beach. Plenty of dockage. No shortage of cool places in that area. I'm sure sprink knows. Lauderdale has lost its appeal to me with the exeption of The Southport raw bar and the Bahia Cabana. But then again if I was anywhere in Fla I wouldn't, cry, as its a cold snowy day in NE.

You are correct...Waterway cafe is a safe bet in North Palm Beach County. We used to keep our 40' Sea Ray ate PGA/Soverel Marina just north of PGA Blvd and stopped at Waterway Frequently...also Panama Hatties across the ICW if your in the area. I prefer the "inside" boating in Palm Beach Co. to Broward...The ICW South of Boca to Hollywood is now no more than a no wake zone 50 mile long ditch.

" 50 Mile long ditch " Well said.

I like the area in an around Hillsboro Inlet and Whiskey Creek south of Port Everglades...but over the past several years with all of the imposed restrictions it's a pain in the a$$. At least here in Palm Beach and down in Dade there are plenty of open areas you can stretch out when it's too rough to go outside.

You get south of the Camino Real bridge in Boca headed south you might as well be on a Pontoon Boat...you can't even get a decent sized power boat on a plane without some water Cop putting the "Stink Eye" on you and pulling you over.

Gas up and head through Biscayne to Gilberts, Sundowners, Sparkeys......Keys my friend

+1 some of the best boating in the United States is south of Rickenbacker Causeway all the way thru the Keys.

I have to disagree with you guys, if we are talking restaurants that you can take a boat to lunch/dinner nowhere has more in a small radius than Ft. Lauderdale. Here is just a few off the top of my head:

15th St. Fisheries
Bimini Boat Yard
China Grill
Pelican Landing
Grill 66
Pirate Republic
Downtowner
De Campo Osteria
Shooters/Bootlegger
Charthouse
Bahia Cabana
Caps Place
Coconuts
Blue Moon Fish
Southport Raw Bar

This is just a few and the nice thing is they are all different atmosphere and cuisine, not like some other towns where every waterfront restaurant is the exactly the same. Also, most of these are close together so you can just cruise around and see from the water which has a crowd. Even more choices if you count Hollywood (GG's, Le Tub, Rivals) and Pompano/Boca (Houstons, Two Georges, The Cove) which are all easily accessed from Ft. Lauderdale. Miami by comparison has a few choices but not a lot, the keys has some great places but they are all pretty far apart not concentrated to one area. Gilberts is a really good choice to see performance boats but if you trek all the way down there and it's dead now what, you are kind of in the middle of nowhere. The boat traffic when you get down into the keys gets pretty sparse because it is so spread out, by comparison I was out for an hour in Lauderdale on Sunday, 55 degrees and cloudy and I must have passed 60 boats cruising in the ICW.

Yeah we all know the slow speed manatee zones suck, but that is why god made inlets. Most of the good restaurants are close to an inlet, so if you don't want to go slow just take the ocean to the inlet, turn in and idle to a restaurant. I like having the choice of cruising the ICW as an option when the ocean is too rough to go boating, versus boating up north where there is no ICW if it is too rough out you stay home on your couch.

To answer the original question, the best place to see performance boats, unfortunately these days the answer seems to be nowhere. Not a lot of guys using their fast boats as much anymore, plenty of guys trading them in for center consoles, etc.

True enough...but take the Water Taxi...less stress and frustration....if all you want to do is eat and drink. If you would rather boat to your destination and enjoy it...there are better choices.

Rum Bar is the beach theme bar directly next to Panama Hatties and if you feel more upscale Riverhouse and Seasons 52 are on the north side of Waterway/Hatties. So in one bridge intersection (PGA Blvd/ICW) there are 5 restaurants with dockage.

Sadly though the no wake/slow zones are creeping north. Last summer they shut down the 30 mph zone from Donald Ross bridge all the way past the Parker Bridge (US 1). Used to be 30 MPH all the way to Dale Earnhardt's canal (then idle past marinas to a 1/2 mile 30 mph stretch until the US1 bridge then wide open (no limit) to Blue Heron Bridge (just before Peanut Island). They also outlawed alcoholic beverages on Peanut Island but if you are standing in the water then it is ok.......:drink:

Up the New River to Riverwalk, for night life. Maybe a good thing about no wake is it keeps you from doing something stupid. Shirtail Charlie's too, is up the river.( in FL)
Oh yeah rum bar. I like that whole area and well.. 30 is better than 5

Spoken(typed) like a native Rich. :daz:

All good info. Always great places, just not a "one place" deal like it used to be when Shooters was it.

Well said, with the 24 I spend more time in the ditch than in the ocean, there is also the options of several sandbars to set up a grille.