Located just north of Pompano Beach is Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, a charming seaside village about a half a square mile. The epitome of "old Florida," this quaint town features a popular fishing pier where pelicans fly overhead and where locals go for brunch and watch the sunrise. Lauderdale-By-The-Sea is a diver's paradise with beach diving available right off shore. Greater Fort Lauderdale's three tier coral reef system is located just 100 yards from its sun-kissed beaches. The reef is so close to the beach, it is even accessible to snorkelers and is an underwater habitat to Florida spiny lobster, grouper, rust-colored barrel sponges, numerous species of coral, sea fans and a variety of colorful tropical fish.

Remember the family beach vacation? Those endless hours at the water's edge when you buried Dad as he pretended to sleep and almost your trunks while riding the waves? Remember running on tip-toes across hot sand with homemade ice cream dripping down your arm? And the pleasure of coming home to beachfront motels, with their cool rooms, kitchenettes and balconies where soggy beach towels were thrown to dry in the sun? Remember watching the sand wash out your suit in the shower, and sleeping two in a bed with your sister? And how it felt when you learned to float in the salty water or stepped on a jellyfish while collecting shells, and how your fingers shriveled with prunes? That is a visit to Lauderdale-By-The-Sea.

Visitors to Lauderdale-By-The-Sea will find a wonderful selection of quaint properties that proudly belong to Greater Fort Lauderdale's list of Superior Small Lodging, properties reviewed each year for quality assurance.  These affordable, cozy properties are dotted across Greater Fort Lauderdale, often on or near the beachfront. For a complete list of all Superior Small Lodgings, visit www.sunny.org/ssl.

In early December, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea features special events including Christmas by the Sea celebration complete with Santa Claus, snow (synthetic of course), caroling choirs, hand bells, bands, hayrides, a lighting of a giant Christmas tree. February brings Taste of the Beach, an annual event that features the best offerings from 45 local restaurants, live entertainment, drinks and fun. There is also the Annual Fish Fry at Damon's in October, a fun-filled event for the whole family and a great meal of the freshest fish in Florida.

Lauderdale-By-The-Sea proudly claims to have grown but not changed much since Christmas Eve, 1924 when its first residents put down roots. Even now this stretch of barrier island flanked by the Atlantic Ocean and Broward County's famous Intracoastal Waterway is scarcely more than a mile long and a half mile wise, sandwiched between Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Many of its original residents are still around and they sing its praises. "After all these years, it's just my town," they say, with pleasure.

To the visitor, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea could be right out of a Jimmy Stewart movie. The local folk, population of 3,500, remain neighborly and welcoming of visitors. Since the town was officially founded in 1947, they have rallied as a community to save a wave of baby sea turtles, joined together to round up alligators and release them safely outside of town, and hunted, unsuccessfully, on the beach for buried pirate treasures.