The city has a lovely beach that runs along the east side of route A1A. There is a very wide expanse of sand with palm trees lining the roadside edge. There is a wide sidewalk with a meandering low wall for sitting and beach access at every block. Some blocks even have open-air shower stations. The city has tractors that groom the sand regularly. This keeps the trash and bums too a minimum. Sadly it makes metal detecting less fruitful since there isn’t as much trash to find. There are even some nice spots for shelling at low tide. From where we are at Las Olas Blvd, there is a nice 2 mile walk down the beach to the Port Everglades inlet where you can watch the boats/ships coming and going. We’ve had as many as 7 cruise ships in port at once.
We have had a varied of wind and weather conditions that really define the quality of a beach day. The flags on the lifeguard stands let you know what mood to expect from the sea. As you might imagine Green means calm and safe, Yellow means use caution, and Red means the sea is angry. You can generally get the gist of the ocean’s mood just by looking at her. We’ve had some seriously windy days so we haven’t seen too much of the Green flags. Really high winds also mean that your towel is not likely to wait around for you to return to it. That can be disappointing if you were foolish enough to try to swim on a windy day (as the Red flag would definitely be flying). There is a sharp drop off at high tide so if you want to walk into the water without stumbling, you’ll watch the tide too.
The final bit of data you need to know is ‘who will be in the water with you?’ Here’s where we learn about the extra flag. A Purple Flag on the lifeguard stands means that there are dangerous sea creatures in the area. That flag has been up EVERY day. It seems winter is Jellyfish Season. Not just regular moon jellies, we have Portuguese Man o’Wars. If you’ve never seen them before, it’s because they are ALL here.
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