Doug chose the perfect day for our ocean trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. The seas averaged 2′ with light winds until we were an hour outside of the Miami inlet.

Just after we passed the freighters at the commercial dock, we were greeted personally by three of Miami’s finest on security patrol in advance of the Super Bowl. Doug gave them all of the required information, we all exchanged pleasantries, and Doug and I went on to Crandon Park Marina.

By this time, the winds had picked up, and landing at the fuel dock was challenging. After filling our diesel tank, we reminded the dock hand that we needed a pumpout – “You have to move your boat for that” was the reply. (“You are kidding me,” I muttered.) Were it not for the help of two other boaters, we could not have accomplished the move. Next came the uncertainty of our being able to stay on a mooring for more than two nights, despite my conversation with the office manager the day prior, but sparing the details with all of this (plus all of the paperwork they require, which always results in phone calls to our insurance company), all’s well that ends well, and we’ll be here through this weekend. (I should add that this is a government-run state park.) We seem to have timed our stay with an apparent “seasonal” ritual of crows flying out of the mangroves and perching on whatever’s available on all of the sailboats, then leaving behind splatters from the berries they’ve ingested. (We did not encounter this when we were here in June of 2016.) Prompt cleanup is required, of course. This would have been an easy enough chore had I checked to make sure all of the ports were closed. Live and learn. Heavy, heavy rains rolled in around 3 a.m., which finished the deck cleanup beautifully but added a few inches of water in the dinghy where our small outboard motor was laying on its side. Doug got up to bail the dinghy (I counted 49 containerfuls of water tossed overboard) and reposition the motor, while I made sure there were no mishaps. This was Day #1 in Miami.

Day #2 (Jan. 30), turned out to be a pleasant one after a bus and train trip over to West Marine in Coconut Grove, then a one-mile walk back to Coconut Grove’s “Coco Walk” to have lunch. Things just didn’t look the same as they did four years ago, and Google’s “Map My Walk” was telling us our destination was 300 feet away! We were totally confused until we saw a sign in front of an enormous construction site that read, “Future home of Coconut Grove business park at Coco Walk” (or some such verbiage). Now we understood!! On we walked toward the train station, getting very hungry and tired in the process. Another mile later and about two blocks from the train station, we stumbled upon Berries restaurant – perfect! Recharged by burgers and salads, we took the train back to the main Brickell station, got on the Metrorail, and saw what’s new in downtown Miami. The skyscrapers are beautiful, impressive, and seemingly within inches of one another. Tomorrow we’re going to take the Riverwalk loop and hopefully learn about some of the architects and history of a few of these buildings – but first we will tour Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. A busy and fun day ahead!