Ernie and Debbie Fontaine Portal to the Sea

The Ernie and Debbie Fontaine Portal to the Sea is just what it says, being a lovely green and sandy beach place offering beachgoers a convenient park like access, or as they say, portal to the ocean. In an overdeveloped place like Lauderdale many access areas to the beach have been blocked by developers with a «public be damned» attitude and have long been lining their pockets with the extra dollars they get with huge profits on beach condo developments advertising «private beach.» Even with laws to the contrary you’ll find public access intentionally blocked particularly along the condo monstrosities of nearby Galt Ocean Mile. Fortunately this has not been the case with Lauderdale-​by-​the-​Sea which has maintained building height restriction and created various pleasant access points with the Fontaine Portal being one of the finest examples.
It’s a great place for beach goers and with the 1900 ship wreck of the SS Copenhagen, a designated Underwater Archeological Preserve, located nearby just off shore, a great place for those with a scuba diving interest as well as a home for spiny lobsters, tropical fish and other marine life.
If you like me appreciate public access points amongst the horrors and ravages of overly aggressive unrelenting developers you’ll understand why I’ve given the Fontaine Portal five stars.