Lauderdale-By-The-Sea: Perfectly Imperfect Coast - City #5

Lauderdale-By-The-Sea marked a fifth city stop, technically a town, sure, but with its own post office, which feels official enough for blog purposes.

South Florida Food Tours turned out to be the right call. The guide stitched the area together with equal parts history and hometown pride, the kind of storytelling that makes each bite taste like it belongs. A standout stop: a small Jamaican spot tucked right in the heart of downtown, called “Alexandra’s.” Alexandra greeted guests at the door with a bright smile and a soft Jamaican lilt: “Welcome, please, come on in.” The jerk chicken was the kind of good that doesn’t just end a meal; it plants the seed for a return trip.

Lauderdale-By-The-Sea stays low to the ground on purpose, a true low-rise community with a height limit that keeps the sky feeling big. With only about 6,000 residents, an “old Florida” ease lingers, as if the modern world agreed to whisper for a while. The beaches were clean, but the wind arrived with an attitude, pushing salt air in sharp gusts and roughing up the water into white-capped drama. Out along the shore, the broken pier stood like a reminder that nature always gets the last word. Damaged in a recent hurricane, the pier faces an especially tricky rebuild because of the coral reef below. Privately owned and expensive to repair, the structure is also tangled in legal and financial hurdles. Rebuilding requires approval from multiple agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Environmental Protection, and the process is expected to take several years. Until then, the scene looks perfectly imperfect.

For views, Aruba Beach Café stole the show. When the wind isn’t quite so relentless, the doors open and the place becomes a front-row seat for ocean watching, live music in the background, good food on the table, and that steady rhythm of waves doing what they’ve always done. The “Aruba Ariba” adds a playful tropical curveball: vodka, rum, passion fruit syrup, crème de banana, and a bright mix of orange, pineapple, and cranberry juice, vacation with its volume turned up.

A perfect ending to a weeklong trip: sun on shoulders, sand in inconvenient places, laughter that carried late, and (in full honesty) a little too much drinking. Thanks for the memories, Florida.