reQunix
14.06.2021 9:09:55
Some may require the use of masks. You are encouraged to carry a mask with you.
See full version: COVID-19 Travel Information
Some may require the use of masks. You are encouraged to carry a mask with you.
COVID-19 testing is available by appointment for travelers with scheduled flights at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Tests at the airport require a fee. Find details here. Find information on other testing sites throughout Greater Fort Lauderdale here.
Vaccination sites are open to all Broward County residents 12 years of age and older (for Pfizer vaccine) and 18 years of age and older (for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine). Find more information on vaccinations here.
Many restaurants and bars in Greater Fort Lauderdale offer outdoor seating. Each business may decide whether to customers are required to wear a mask when entering restaurants or when waiting in line or walking to registers, pickup counters or restrooms. [links]
Temporarily Closed Attractions
Visit Lauderdale's highest priority is the safety and well-being of visitors and residents. Locations throughout Greater Fort Lauderdale (Broward County) and its 31 cities are ensuring Safe + Clean experiences. Everyone is asked to keep a mask with them at all times and wear when social distancing can’t be maintained or when required. Mask wearing policies vary inside local businesses but are required on public transportation, at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades. Consistent with CDC guidelines, effective Friday, July 30, facial coverings and social distancing are required while indoors on Broward County government property, regardless of vaccination status.
Great Abaco: group of islands in the Bahamas known worldwide for coral reefs, ideal for diving and sailing in the Abaco Sea. Hotel prices from $298. [links]
*A Bahamas citizen or resident planning to travel abroad for five (5) days or less must secure a test in the destination they visited before travelling back to The Bahamas. Any RT-PCR test taken in The Bahamas prior to travel will not be valid for re-entry. here
With the safety and hygiene of passengers in mind, Balearia Caribbean has installed additional disinfectant dispensers in all its terminals and on board the ship. more
Balearia will retake its operations with a host of new health and safety protocols, including mandatory face masks, electronic boarding passes, enforced social distancing and temperature checks prior to boarding, and only 40% occupancy of the total capacity of its ferry.
51 miles is the distance between Fort Lauderdale and Bimini Bahamas. more
At the same time, Balearia will reopen the ferry route between Florida to Bimini island starting on February 10th, 2021. This route will have, at the moment, a frequency of 3 departures a week, in both directions. The Jaume II ferry will be the ship that does both routes.
Next you pass over the Windward Passage and under the first sighting of an island of the Bahamas, Inagua. Cuba, possibly blacked out on your charts, will be south. If you are not American, Cuba is another opportunity for stopping. I highly recommend avoiding Matthewstown, Great Inagua. Soon you will be heading more northerly towards the Florida Keys and up through the deep water Bahama Channel. At some point the Gulfstream will kick in, and you get a nice boost up the coast and back into 3G range to check back into the civilized world.
The first part of the journey from Puerto Rico to Lauderdale is in the Lee of Puerto Rico herself. San Juan is a must see destination if you have a chance and seeing the old Fort by sea is a wonderful sight. You should have a nice breeze and smooth seas. As you scoot out north of the Mona Passage between Hispanola and P.R., the seas will increase until you find yourself in the lee of Hispanola.
When cruising from Puerto Rico to Fort Lauderdale, you can travel through the Exumas up towards the Providence channel or stay south through the old Bahama channel. I will outline here the old Bahama route. It is a wonderful, 1,000 nm journey with the predominant southeast tradewinds and swell. It is an American trip as you never leave the jurisdiction of the United States. I completed this route a month ago non-stop on delivery of a 44-foot yacht. As we arrived in the Port Everglades basin where, sure enough, US Customs and Border Control pulled us over. They asked, “Where are ye out of, boys? What was yer last port of entry?” The response seemed to shock them. “Fajardo, Puerto Rico.” In terms of our legal travel obligations we might just as well said Georgia. here
The Dominican Republic is an amazingly beautiful landscape, lush and mountainous. The best stop for fuel is the newish Waterworld marina about half way along the north coast of the D.R. You can fuel up for the remaining three-fourths of the journey back stateside. The Dominican coast ends, and Haiti begins also incredibly beautiful on this Northwest point. Oddly a steady stream of disposable food containers and plastic bottles emanate from the Haitian shore. One can speculate this pollution as a result of the continuing post-earthquake turmoil in Port-of-Prince. here
If you are thinking of making this passage or have before and want to share your experiences, please post a comment below, and I will get back to as soon as I can check in to a wifi signal ashore. here
Tampa Bay is by far the biggest ship port on Florida’s West Coast, with a big-ship channel called Egmont Channel that is wide, deep and well-buoyed. But there are two other ways for small boats to get into and out of Tampa Bay. The first and best of the two choices is Southwest Channel, running just south of Egmont Key. At about 17 feet, it is plenty deep for pleasure craft and you won’t have to share the road with big ships, but it isn’t well marked. Even less well-marked is Passage Key Inlet, the southernmost of the three routes into Tampa Bay. It’s deep, but narrower than Southwest Channel.
The A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway crosses Matanzas Inlet near the historic Fort Matanzas -- held by the French, Spanish and British -- in southern St. Johns County. more
Cruise ships, Navy vessels and lots of fishermen use this deep and well-marked inlet. I’ve had to put in there unintentionally in the past when a scheduled rocket launch from nearby Kennedy Space Center prohibited any boats from entering the launch hazard area.
The river marks the border between George and Florida and its currents flow fast. Several years ago, the U.S. Navy built a nuclear submarine base at nearby Kings Bay, Ga., and undertook extensive work dredging and marking the St. Mary’s River entrance. Now, as long as you stay clear of subs coming and going, it’s a relatively easy passage, well marked and deep.