May 2nd
Worked my way out of the mooring
field, funny how its never quite so bad leaving by a channel that you've
entered by, and made my way back to Miami. Made my way under power to
Miamarina and checked in over the radio. They asked if I had reservations,
name of the boat, “no, not found” which is not surprising because they never
asked for it. What's your name “David”, “Oh yes sir come on in.” I just
needed to know the magic word. They were efficient and helpful and the
marina is smack downtown in an area called Bayside. Bayside is a tourist
destination so lots of unique shops, lots of restaurants, great city views.
I went that night to meet Hiam, Plane was late go figure. Took Lyft back to
the boat. Its really great being with my wife. I enjoy her company and enjoy
her as a person. She is the reason I'll stop cruising. She has a fear of the
water and its apparent whenever she steps on or off the boat, despite the
fact there's a ladder. All this time without her is time without my best
friend and takes from cruising. So it'll come to an end.
Its hot on the boat, no cooling breezes that are there when you anchor or moor. We slept at night with the windows open and so of course mosquitoes found us. Means a trip to home depot for mosquito control.
May 3rd
Got city bikes and went to Miami South Beach. Went to the Government Cut channel then went for lunch and hung out for a couple of hours watching the show go by. Walked back most of the way through the Venetian Islands (man made islands with Italian names) and stopped when it was too much and again took Lyft. We used Lyft exclusively in Miami. The big tower block behind the boat with the “Ride Lyft” advertisement running up and down could not possibly have been a factor in out choice of rideshare.
May 4th
Went to the Vizcaya mansion. What an interesting place that was. Built by some farm machine executive as his winter home. Spent some time on it I can tell you. Went to Home Depot afterwards and got Mosquito control. Whew that stuff is good.
May 5th
Went to the Science museum with
the planetarium and aquarium. Really easy to spend the day there.
May 7th
Went to Bass Pro and after a lot of pontification got a trolling motor for the dinghy. Went with a stupid expensive battery and got a charger. Need to give this a try at least.
Ate lunch at whole foods. Really quite good, never done this before and ate the pizza. It was excellent and I continued to pay the price for the next 3 days. Won't I ever learn.
Pics
Lots of photos for Miami, so here's a link - photos here.