Fort Lauderdale Boat Show

Again this year I had decided to attend the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, which I think is the best boat show on the east coast. Boats that are on display range mostly from the tenders of 32 feet to the superyachts of 245 feet, and range in price from 264,000 to well over 125 million.

My old boss, Jim McQuade, who owns the Schuyler Hill Funeral Home in the Bronx decided to tag along. We had a great time. We ate like cavaones, drank like fish and partied like true "party animals"

Here are a few pictures of some of the boats I boarded: M/V Aghassi,  M/V Remember When and M/V Diamonds Are Forever.  They are all average "Joe Billionaire Boats", with a lot of granite marble and gold, and I mean real gold.

Jim and I decided to schedule out each day, meaning we would board boats between 10AM and Noon, hit the local floating barge bar at Noon and stay till the show closed at 7PM.

We did meet a bunch of guys from The Locust Point YC, where Jim is a member, and one of them went for a 57' Bertram with a price tage of 700K, of course I had to get involved, showed my broker credentials and he bought her for a mere 455K.

Then we would return to our hotel and change for dinner and partying. Jim must be getting old, because usually by midnight he was shit-faced and I'd have to drive him back to the hotel. I'd go back out and drink till 2 or 3 AM, and repeated this journey for the next four days.

Hurricaine Sandy hit Lauderdale-by-the-Sea on Friday the 26th of October, causing no muss and no fuss.
Jim and I were set to return to NY's LaGuardia Airport on Monday the 29th of October. But, due to the fact tha hurricaine Sandy was to hit the Bronx on the 4 or 5th of November, Jim caught a flight out a day ahead of schedule. He was worried about his waterfront home in Throgs Neck in the Bronx. Late Sunday night, they closed LaGuardia until Thursday the 1st of Novemeber and I did not fet a flight out till Saturady the 3rd of November. Hey, who's complaining, I got almost a full week extra to spend in sunny, warm, Lauderdale By The Sea.

I followed the Hurricaine Sandy storm on the news from Florida, and my stomach was in my mouth by Thursday the 1st of November. All we were hearing was about the devestation and and damaged it caused on the coast, especially in the tri-state area of CT, NY and NJ.
And all I can think about was the Lucky Find III in Stony Point, NY just a tad north of NYC.
Dottie, who did not come along to the show, instead diverted down to the Jersey Shore to help her parents out. She stayed at the shore from Thursday the 25th until Saturday the 3rd of Novemeber.
This storm wiped out the Jersey shore almost completely......if you were just a few blocks inland, you were OK, but anywhere within 2 bloks off the ocean.....and BANG!

More to come on the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.....