Oct. 14, 2015---a real tourist day!  Ft. Lauderdale Beach Park and the Jungle Queen Dinner Boat excursion!
I happened to see the Jungle Queen Groupon a couple days ago and asked Ken if he'd like to do this.  He agreed and we decided to do the dinner cruise instead of the day cruise since the dinner cruise would be during sunset and the dinner (bar b qed ribs, chicken, shrimp, baked beans, slaw, rolls, french fries, and tea or water) sounded good.  So I bought the $68 for 2 Groupon and wanted to use it before it got darker even sooner then the 7pm when it does now.  They were suppose to start check in at 5 and boarding at 5:15.  Anytime we go somewhere Ken's unfamiliar with, we leave way early so as not to miss it.  He even insisted on taking the expressway (toll road) to get there faster.  We usually try to avoid the toll roads---something about living somewhere all your life where you didn't have to pay for driving on your local roads makes it hard to pay for the privilege.  But sometimes they are nice to have around!  Especially when there's hardly anyone on them and you don't have to sit in traffic.  Here's the Sawgrass Expressway near our apartment.

We did have a little trouble figuring out where we were suppose to park, but I enjoyed the extra views.

 We finally got there about 4pm.  We ended up parking in the Bahia Mar Hotel parking lot (for $7) and walked across the street to Fort Lauderdale Beach Park.  Ken sat at a pic nic table in the shade while I took a 45 minute or so walk down the beach snapping picture after picture.  I hadn't been here since I was there with Angie and Josh a year or so ago while waiting for our gondola ride from the same marina and then we didn't walk down the beach very far.  It was a beautiful day for a walk---a bit warm and still a bit humid, but I enjoyed it!
View towards the Jungle Queen from the parking lot by the hotel.

 the park across from the Bahia Mar Hotel.

 Impressive workout and basketball area on the beach.

 Heading down the walk.

 one of the many life guard stations

 Just loved the shadows of the palm trees and the boats in the water.

 Of course I had to get pictures of the huge Adirondack chair

 sailboats waiting to go out.

 Looking back at the chair

 I assume this is a place to lock your bike at?  There were several of them.

 another lifeguard hut.

 Ok, I like lifeguard huts, too.

 Looking towards the shops on the other side of A1A along my walk.

 More of the beach

 across the street.

 heading back.

 More palm trees

 Heading over to the marina.

We got to the Jungle Queen about 4:50 and I was surprised to see they were already checking people in and letting them board.  So we joined the line that had already formed and got our tickets then boarded the boat, too.  We still got good seats.  The boat holds about 550 people.  It ended up being almost full, but didn't seem crowded.  We sat on the 2nd level.  I would have been upset, though, if we arrived later and weren't able to sit by the "window".

 Love taking reflection pictures.

 Sunset was still about an hour away

  It took about an hour to get to their island where dinner and the show was.  We had a guide pointing out celebrity homes.  I had asked which side of the boat to sit on for the best pictures and was told the left, but most of the sunset and celebrity homes were on the right.  I still enjoyed seeing the homes on the left, though.

 They're all so different!

 All so beautiful!

 All so unique

 Gotta find out how to get to this park!

 beautiful folliage, too.

 We even went by downtown Ft. Lauderdale.

 He even pointed out where you can stay for free---the brown building which is the county prison.

 more downtown

 picture on one of the draw bridges.

 Wonder which cost more---the house of the yacht?!

 weird decorations along the docks.

 Even a pooch enjoying the evening.

 For about 3 minutes we turned enough that I could get a couple pictures of the sunset.  Turned out to be a pretty nice one!

 The underside of the I-95

 Talk about location!!!  Ken thought he heard it was something like $65/night to stay here.

 The "island" was across from the trailer park.  We were directed into a huge building where food was brought to us.

 It was a well run dinner and very good!  Plus it was all you could eat so they kept coming around with more food.  I was impressed with the quality of the dinner!

 After dinner we were directed out to an outdoor amphitheater.  It even had a bar for purchasing alcohol and sodas.  They also sold alcohol and sodas at dinner, but we're water and tea drinkers and their tea was excellent.

 I was concerned the show would be a little hokie, but it was really cute.

 Mostly humorous with lots of audience participation.

 The finale was a Polynesian show complete with fire.

 Then it was time to get back on the boat for our hour ride back.  By now it was after 9, so they just turned music on low and we enjoyed a leisurely ride back.  I even played around with some long exposures before we took off.

 took some more photos along the way back but they aren't as clear since we were moving and I had to hike up the ISO.

 It was neat seeing the city lit up.

 Looks like an electric gondola like we've ridden on a couple of times.  That was a lot of fun, too.

 heading back into the marina with the Bahia Mar Hotel in the distance.

 A little after 10 we were back at the port and off the boat.  I forgot to get a picture of it before we left, so got one as we were leaving.

 Looking back towards the Jungle Queen from the Bahia Mar parking lot.

 Couldn't resist taking a picture of this old McDonald's sign a short way away from the marina.

 We're already talking about doing this again.  Maybe even the $30 Groupon one for the day cruise.