B737 CREW MADE APCH TO WRONG ARPT.

Narrative

BOTH I AND THE FO HAD BEEN TO FLL TWICE; AND WERE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE LCL AREA. WE ARRIVED VIA THE MERLIN ARR; NE OF FLL. MIA APCH TOLD US OF A TSTM ON FINAL AT FLL. HE WOULD VECTOR US TO A 2 MI FINAL; TO KEEP US AWAY FROM THE STORM. WHEN HE TURNED US TO DOWNWIND (W; L DOWNWIND FOR RWY 9L AT FLL); I SAW A SMALL ARPT BELOW US. LOOKING AT THE APCH PLATE FOR THE ILS RWY 9L AT FLL; I DECIDED IT WAS FT LAUDERDALE EXECUTIVE (IT WAS POMPANO BEACH). FARTHER TO OUR L; I SAW ANOTHER ARPT WITH AN E/W RWY AND A NW/SE DIAGONAL RWY; AND DECIDED IT WAS FLL (IT WAS EXECUTIVE). THE REAL FLL WAS HIDDEN BY THE SHADOW OF THE TSTM TO ITS W. ABEAM THE FIELD; MIA APCH TOLD US FLL WAS AT OUR 9 O'CLOCK POS. I SAW EXECUTIVE TO OUR 9 O'CLOCK POS AND CALLED IT 'IN SIGHT.' HE TURNED US TO BASE LEG AND CLRED US DOWN TO 2500 FT. AS WE APCHED A SHORT FINAL TO WHAT I THOUGHT WAS FLL; I ASKED FOR LOWER. MIA THEN CLRED US ON A VISUAL APCH. WE QUICKLY CONFIGURED FOR LNDG; RAN THE CHKLIST; AND TURNED TOWARD THE ARPT (EXECUTIVE). MY FO NOTED A LOC FLAG IN VIEW; BUT WE DECIDED IT WAS BECAUSE WE WERE SO CLOSE IN AND STILL L OF THE LOC COURSE. AT AROUND 1000 FT AGL; WE HAD NOT BEEN HANDED OFF TO THE TWR. MIA WAS TALKING TO ANOTHER ACFT; SO I SWITCHED TO FLL TWR ON MY OWN. HE IMMEDIATELY TOLD US TO GO AROUND; AND WE DID. WE CLBED BACK TO 3000 FT; AND RECONTACTED MIA APCH. HE INFORMED US THAT WE WERE AT THE WRONG ARPT; AND VECTORED US BACK AROUND TO A VERY SHORT FINAL TO AN UNEVENTFUL LNDG AT FLL. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: UNFAMILIARITY WITH THE LCL AREA. ONLY 1 OTHER ARPT SHOWN ON THE APCH PLATE; AND THEN ONLY AS AN ARPT SYMBOL (RWY CONFIGN ON THE DIAGRAM WOULD HAVE KEPT ME FROM MISIDENTING POMPANO BEACH AS FT LAUDERDALE EXECUTIVE). SHADOW FROM TSTM W OF FLL OBSCURED FLL; BUT POMPANO BEACH AND EXECUTIVE WERE IN BRIGHT SUNLIGHT. VECTORS TO VERY SHORT FINAL PREVENTED US FROM OUR NORMAL ROUTINE; LINING UP ON THE LOC TO THE RWY. FROM THE BEGINNING; WE EXPECTED A TIGHT APCH; SO WHEN WE ENDED UP IN A VERY UNUSUAL POS RELATIVE TO THE WRONG ARPT; WE DISMISSED IT AS NORMAL. MY DECISION TO SWITCH TO TWR BEFORE APCH CTL TOLD ME TO. IF I HAD ASKED; HE MIGHT HAVE NOTICED I WAS GOING TOWARD THE WRONG ARPT. WE DISMISSED THE LOC FLAG WHILE STILL ALIGNING WITH FINAL; BUT THEN NEVER LOOKED AT IT AGAIN. I HAD THE FLL VOR TUNED IN ON MY SIDE FOR DME; BUT NEVER DOUBLECHKED IT. LOOKING AT EITHER ONE WOULD HAVE TOLD US IT WAS THE WRONG ARPT; BUT WE WERE RATHER RUSHED ABOUT THEN. ONLY THE TWR CTLR PREVENTED US FROM MAKING A RATHER BIG MISTAKE.