A. Water Fantaseas, Inc. is pleased to provide the following sample itineraries and excursions as a base to begin planning your own charter from. Please note that these are not “group trips” or cruises that you can purchase individual tickets for, rather they are ideas, suggestions and samples of what you can do and where you can go when you charter a private yacht from A. Water Fantaseas, Inc.

SOUTH BROWARD & HOLLYWOOD  (4 hours or more) ::

   
This cruise also begins with a brief tour of the Intracoastal Waterway and Port Everglades and a run out through Port Everglades Inlet. Once we’re in the ocean, we head just a bit south to visit the magnificent John Lloyd State Park and Dania Beach. This relatively isolated beach with clear water is a local favorite. We can anchor as close as we’re allowed if you wish to take a dip. It’s also a good place to ride the WaveRunner if the ocean is cooperative. If not, you’ll have other opportunities later. There are also mooring buoys along the reef that lies about three-quarters of a mile offshore. So you can also do some snorkeling on this cruise, too, if you so desire.

When it’s time to move on, we can continue to go south along the beaches: Hollywood, Hallandale, Golden Beach and Haulover. Hollywood Beach, long a favorite with French Canadian visitors is, as are so many of our coastal communities, undergoing a transformation as high-rise hotels and condos are replacing most of the older low-rise motels. One of the more interesting is the Westin Diplomat, built on the site of the “old” Diplomat, which was famous for its star-studded nightclub attractions back in the 1950s and ‘60s. The new hotel is larger and far more elegant in its architecture, accommodations and overall style. As we pass south from Hollywood, we can’t help but notice the brightly painted “beach ball” water tower that identifies Hallandale Beach. This tower used to stand well above most of the city’s beachfront structures, but it is now dwarfed by the new construction. Below Hallandale, the real estate becomes lower in height, though still quite high in value as we pass the exclusive community of Golden Beach, with its expansive and expensive beachfront estates. These are among the few remaining beachfront single-family homes in all of South Florida. Given their owners’ wealth and power, they are not likely to be replaced with high-rises at any time soon. After Golden Beach, we cruise along Sunny Isles Beach, where again, things are rapidly going vertical. Among the many high-rise condos and hotels we see the striking Trump Tower, as well as several other interesting and impressive new structures. Not too long ago this stretch of beach was noted for its many 1950s-styled two- and three-story motels. South of Sunny Isles Beach we suddenly see some open space. It’s Haulover Park, a public recreation area that includes South Florida’s only “Clothing Optional” beach. No, we can’t run close enough to the beach to confirm this – you’ll just have to take our word. Haulover Park is, not unexpectedly, just north of Haulover Inlet, where we turn in to take the inside route back to Fort Lauderdale.

The run up the Intracoastal Waterway from Haulover to Fort Lauderdale takes us through the very heart of the area’s “condo canyons.” Starting with Sunny Isles Beach on the east and North Miami Beach and then Aventura on our west, we head northward -- slowly, most of the way, thanks to the many well-enforced speed limits along this stretch of ICW. After passing under the William Lehman Causeway, one of the few high fixed bridges on this section of waterway, we go along the inside of Golden Beach, where the homes and lots are generally quite a bit smaller than the estates we saw on the ocean side, but can be rather spectacular, nonetheless. In striking contrast, the single-family homes of Golden Beach to our right are counterpoised by the high-rise condos of Aventura on our left. When we cross the county line into Broward, we pass through Hallandale Beach and enter Hollywood, where there are several opportunities to stop for a drink or a bite to eat in a waterfront café, including the famed Nikki Marina at the Diplomat. This is but one example, however, as there are several more opportunities just a bit farther north that include nearly the whole gamut in terms of style and price with choices ranging from the very formal to the very funky with quite a few in between. On weekends, a number of them feature live entertainment. Just north of Hollywood in Dania Beach, the waterway passes through a good-sized lake where, if we have the time, we can anchor well out of the channel and yet have ample opportunity to ride the WaveRunner with very few restrictions. So if you didn’t get a chance to use the WaveRunner on the way down (or if you’d like another go at it anyway!), this is the place. This route ultimately takes us to the south end of Port Everglades and soon on through to Fort Lauderdale, where, if you’ve used all your available time, we must return to where we started.

Original Content: Boat Write