Since then, although there were occasional bar raids and arrests for “lewd behavior” in the parks or along the beach, the resort economy and culture of Fort Lauderdale created a relatively relaxed scene. When the report was released its major outcome was to indict a well know local crime figure for gambling. The Fort Lauderdale News ran a multi-part series on homosexuality in Broward noted for its lack of sensationalism and tepidness. In 1967 there was a well publicized Grand Jury investigation about crime and homosexuality in Broward. In the 1954 when Miami went through a brief period of “moral panic” about the city’s gay bars, public officials in Fort Lauderdale assured the citizens that there were no threats and they had the situation under control. And gay owned local businesses like photographers, printing shops and restaurants began to to advertise openly.įor the most part the emerging gay presence was ignored by the larger heterosexual community. Bars such as Tacky’s and the Everglades provided popular social meeting places. Organizations like the Metropolitan Community Church provided one of the earliest gathering places where lesbians and gay men could come together and worship. Riverside and Sailboat Bend, with its Key West ambiance, were the first neighborhoods with sizable concentrations of lesbians and gay men. It may be at times but on this day there was a good sized motor yacht on their T-head, a boat the size of ours which had just pulled in and then your usual variety.Although the LGBT community has been a part of the Fort Lauderdale even before it became a place on the map, it was only in the 1970s that it emerged as a visible community. I remember reading about the Big Game Club in the past and assumed it would be a big sportfish marina. This dockmaster was right on it, said they had space and told us to come on down. When many attempts to raise them on their working channel and the general hailing channel proved futile we decided to hail another marina a bit further to the north that we heard answering other boaters on the radio (by this time the rain had caught up with us and we were a bit concerned to be in this unfamiliar place while the skies opened up without a marina that was ready for us). As we got closer to their entrance channel we realized getting in looked much trickier than we thought it would be so we wanted to get some local knowledge from their personnel before proceeding. When we were a few miles out I hailed them on their working VHF channel. Based on some reviews and what looked from pictures like an easy place to tie up, I made a reservation at Bimini Sands Marina. Great to see you guys!īecause our Exumas plan all came together in the last couple of days, I didn’t do my usual over-research on where we’d be staying. And how terrific to be able to get a shot of OLOH in the middle of the Gulf Stream. So I asked, “you don’t happen to be the guys on the 70 something Hatteras yada yada yada?” And it was! What are the chances?! They were just returning from Bimini after two months in the Exumas and we had a great catch-up on the VHF. We met a couple on a boat by that name about seven years ago at our former home port on Long Island and ran into them again a year later in Atlantic City. As I’m about to hail them to make sure we were agreed on passing arrangements, I mentioned to Tim that the boat’s name, Cupecoy, was very familiar. When we were about 30 miles offshore there was a boat coming at us, about five miles ahead on our exact course line. It couldn’t have been more calm and smooth as we pulled away from Bahia Mar.Īs land disappeared behind us we did encounter a handful of boats out in the stream including a few freighters that you have to pay close attention to because of the movement of the stream (see the shift in our track at the top of this page). Because of our inability to fuel at Bahia Mar due to the super-yachts monopolizing the docks normally used for fueling, we were out of our slip at 6:45am to head to Lauderdale Marina to top off the tanks on our way to the inlet. Not being on a schedule, we were picking our day carefully even if it meant sitting around for a bit (it always bears repeating – the worst thing you can have on a boat is a schedule). The Stream moves northerly at up to five and a half miles per hour so if the wind is coming out of any northerly quadrant it creates a wind-against-tide situation that can get downright nasty and even dangerous. You can’t really hope for much better than that when crossing the Gulf Stream. The forecast held as predicted – 10 mph hour winds out of the southwest and two-foot seas. When we awoke Friday morning at 6:00 we checked the weather again and quickly got to our departure procedure when we agreed that this was the day.
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