March 19, 2008

We've been here on mooring #55 in Crandon Park Municipal Marina, Key Biscayne, Florida since March 5 and enjoying every minute of it.  The water is clear blue and warm and the temperatures have been in the 80's most days and as high as the 90's on a couple of occasions.  We're just across the bay from Miami and can get there by dinghy on a calm day or by bus.  We've learned our way around on the Miami/Dade Transit system (a combination of buses and metro rail). 

On one of my morning walks I learned that there is a charter fishing fleet right here at our marina - about 10 sportsfisherman boats tied up along the walkway by the road.  Around 10:30 every morning they set up their booths, start cleaning and filleting their fish and sell it.  So we've been having fresh fish just about every day and it's been terrific.  

                         View of Miami Skyline from our Mooring                                                             Miami Cruise Ships - Port of Miami

We spent one calm day exploring Miami in the dinghy.  Tied up a Bayside, a waterfront shopping area, and spent the afternoon.  Also explored the anchorage along Venetian Causway and Marine Stadium and checked out the cruise ship fleet on our way back.  Spent another afternoon taking a trip up the Miami River.  It was really neat to travel through downtown by river.

Made numerous trips into Miami Beach and South Beach on the bus system.   Found a little side street that's undergoing a revival as an area with a unique international flavor, Espanola Way.  There's a great French Cafe where we get the best Italian coffee and French baguettes for breakfast and a good Mexican Restaurant for lunch.  On Saturdays they have a market and the street is filled with vendors and artists.  It's great fun.  Of course we always walk the beach and do the required walk down Collins Avenue but our favorite places are the side streets where the locals hang out.  Just about everyone speaks Spanish so I'm getting to hear a lot of Spanish.  You hear very little English except from the tourists.

                              Espanola Way - Miami Beach                                                    Sunset over Biscayne Bay

On Thursday, March 13 we visited the Miami Seaquarium.  Saw plenty of fish, a dolphin show, and tropical birds.  Tried an "arepa" from one of the Spanish food vendors.  It's two corn cakes with melted cheese in the middle and fried on a griddle - "Welcome to the Miami Beach diet" as the man in front of us said!. 

                                                                 Tropical Bird Species at the Miami Seaquarium - the guy on the left is one of a kind!!

The highlight of the day for me was  an early 40th Anniversary gift from Alan.  He bought me a ticket to swim with the dolphins in their Dolphin Odyssey program that afternoon.    It took place in the Seaquarium's "dolphin harbor" which is a special facility just for this program.  There were 9 of us participating (Alan purchased a ticket to be an  observer, not a swimmer). We had four trainers with us and five dolphins.  We learned about dolphin behavior and how the trainers work with them.  We got in the water and interacted with the dolphins, learned how to catch their dorsal fin as they swam by to pick us up and swam with them, and just had a really fun time. It was an amazing gift!

This morning, March 21 we left Key Biscayne and started our trek back up to northern Florida.  We plan to be in Fernandina Beach around April 5, then spend a week cleaning up the boat and readying it for summer storage.  On April 15 we fly over to the Bahamas to spend a week on Island Girl and when we get back to Florida on April 23 we'll get the car ready to start our drive to New York.  Should be back in New York around April 27 if all goes as planned.  Hope the snow is gone by then!