March 18, Day 266 – In Fort Lauderdale

We woke up early this morning. This was the day the guys had been waiting for all week – the Dania Beach Marine Flea Market. It is billed as the largest event of its type in the world. Private individuals and corporate vendors sell marine equipment, antiques, used boats, fishing tackle, diving gear, clothes, marine artwork and other boating related items at a greatly reduced price – plus, in many cases, you can dicker with them and reduce the price even more. It covers several acres and takes a few hours just to walk through it to get an idea of what’s there. We spent almost the entire day at the market.

We ended up buying a few items: 4 new dock lines to replace the ones that were greatly chafed from our stay in Marathon; a new hot water heater because our current one has been leaking a while and we’re afraid it will quite working soon; an outdoor portable shower that would be great for the Bahamas; and a few odds and ends. Michael and Jana also bought several things – so all in all, we helped improve the local economy while saving money.

On the way home we stopped at Publix for a little provisioning. We are returning the rental car tomorrow, so needed to get all of our errands done.

We had dinner on board, watched a little TV and then off to bed. We were pooped from all the shopping.

Here's Gerry browsing through some fishing stuff. He's wondering if there is anyway he can buy some and sneak it back to the boat without Linda noticing -- not likely.

In the market for some fish balls?

Here's a shot of one of the aisles. You can see why it would take awhile to get through the flea market.

Here's one of the booths that had dock lines. They were about half the price of what you'd pay in West Marine.

Here's our new water heater. We got it for 1/3 of the price that you'd pay for it at Defender (which is usually the cheapest place to buy marine products). We thought it was a great deal.