RSS
For someone who claims to genuinely love Fort Lauderdale, I should be a bit red-faced about this one. And, well, I am. I’ve lived here for more than 19 years, I’ve enjoyed many “staycations” on the beach, I’ve tried to get around a lot and really do this area – and I keep trying as the new replaces the old. But there is one Fort Lauderdale classic that I had never experienced in all my time here. Until recently. The Jungle Queen has been sliding up and down the New River for a long, long while. Like, some 65 years or so. Everyone I know who rides this boat tells me they have a wonderful time. I was always skeptical. But you know what? I gave it a go during my most recent beach vacation a couple weeks ago and I did indeed have a wonderful time. So did my girlfriend, who has lived here just as long as I have.
If you haven’t taken the Jungle Queen, you really should. Yep, it’s old and creaky. That’s part of its charm. We hopped on in the middle of a scorching afternoon but the breeze on the covered second deck soon was drying some of that perspiration. This was in the dead of August, remember, and the boat still was filling up with a decent crowd. I was pleasantly surprised.
Both Gwendolyn and I had been on water taxis and other boats many times along the New River. But we’d never gone as far on the river as we did this day. For us, that was the best part. We discovered entire neighborhoods full of very Florida-style houses with outside tiki bars all over the place. The Jungle Queen winds its way so far that you actually pass under I-95 before landing at the Jungle Queen Indian Village, as it’s called. Quite a hoot, this place. There’s some alligator wrestling, which was better than any I’d seen in the past. There were animals and birds and plants. There was a pleasant little picnic area with a food stand. We didn’t go for their dinner cruise, obviously, but many do and seem to enjoy the meal and show. Ours was the daytime three-hour cruise and for us this was just right. We got back smiling about the whole thing, both saying we were glad to have done the Jungle Queen at last. All those friends who’d taken this boat were right, as it turned out. Who knew?
If you haven’t taken the Jungle Queen, you really should. Yep, it’s old and creaky. That’s part of its charm. We hopped on in the middle of a scorching afternoon but the breeze on the covered second deck soon was drying some of that perspiration. This was in the dead of August, remember, and the boat still was filling up with a decent crowd. I was pleasantly surprised.
Both Gwendolyn and I had been on water taxis and other boats many times along the New River. But we’d never gone as far on the river as we did this day. For us, that was the best part. We discovered entire neighborhoods full of very Florida-style houses with outside tiki bars all over the place. The Jungle Queen winds its way so far that you actually pass under I-95 before landing at the Jungle Queen Indian Village, as it’s called. Quite a hoot, this place. There’s some alligator wrestling, which was better than any I’d seen in the past. There were animals and birds and plants. There was a pleasant little picnic area with a food stand. We didn’t go for their dinner cruise, obviously, but many do and seem to enjoy the meal and show. Ours was the daytime three-hour cruise and for us this was just right. We got back smiling about the whole thing, both saying we were glad to have done the Jungle Queen at last. All those friends who’d taken this boat were right, as it turned out. Who knew?
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 9:19 AM
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home