People Watching in South Beach

Blue Heaven Rendezvous #20

We left Fort Lauderdale via the Port Everglades inlet, but before we even reached it, we were stopped by Harbor Patrol for about fifteen minutes due to a barge and another huge vessel entering the inlet. That was okay by me, I would rather wait than meet them in the narrow inlet! Our forty-one ft. boat looks like a peanut next to them!

Once out in the ocean we rolled out our genny (that’s the forward sail for all you non-sailors) for our downwind sail going about 5.5 knots. It was not too bad with the 4-6 ft. waves with the direction we were going. We definitely enjoyed our enclosure once again due to the fact that they had record lows in the lower thirties. We will keep heading south. We got to find warmer weather somewhere. However, I even heard Key West had a record of 55 degrees one day.

The sail was uneventful but enjoyable. We entered Government Cut inlet at the Miami area and anchored off South Beach and Belle Isle in Biscayne Bay. We decided to not go ashore until tomorrow, so Al took the dinghy to talk to another cruiser who was familiar with the area. He found out where to land the dinghy for our exploration of South Beach tomorrow. You can certainly see a different kind of skyline versus some of our usual sunsets.

Al checked our log on the GPS and so far we have traveled 1,159 miles since leaving Oct.18th . We have been gone for 94 days (I did not include the days we returned home for the holidays.) and we haven’t had a mutiny yet!

The next day, Feb. 6th we took the dinghy up the Collins Canal to a landing spot next to the Publix grocery store. Someone has put a chain there so that people can lock their dinghies. (Unlike most other places we go, where we don’t lock our dinghies, we got to remember this is a metropolitan area!)

From there we walked to the Holocaust Memorial not far away. This was a very solemn and moving tribute to the horrific wrongs done to all those, men, women and children.
It sent chills up my spine and tears to my eyes. It was a very well done memorial with a wall of all the names of people who died and the sculpture of the hand with skeleton-like people trying to climb up. It also gave historical background about the Holocaust as well.

We walked onto the Botanical Gardens which were nice but not very large. We went further into town to see Lincoln Rd. which is a pedestrian mall where a lot of restaurants and stores are as well as Ocean Dr. along the waterfront and did a lot of people watching. I must admit there wasn’t one store that I passed that had anything I would want to wear. It was definitely for the young and adventurous dresser. Al was glad nothing was of interest to me, but he was disappointed that the chilly weather caused the young “chickies” to cover up rather than bare their skin as usual.

We had lunch at one of the many outside restaurants, people watching all the while. It is an interesting place. Back to the boat for dinner and reading.

The next day Al ran the generator so we could have hot showers and once again headed into South Beach. This time we caught their local bus for 25 cents and rode around town to see more of it. We got off at the far end of town, so we could walk along Ocean Dr. and see all the art deco buildings, the ocean and once again people watch. While waiting for the bus, we saw police cars blocking off the street and were wondering what was happening when all of a sudden hundreds of people on roller blades came down the street. They were having an in-line skating convention in

town and eventually ended at the park along the beach for their final picnic and awards. We also learned that Miami is the “In-line Skating capital” of the world. (Save that bit of information for your next trivia game!)

When we went back to the boat Al noticed another boat whose captain he spoke to in Ft. Lauderdale. He invited us over for Happy Hour. When we went over, two Maltese dogs greeted us, Rocky and Spike. The two cutest little dogs and friendly as any dog I have met. The one stayed on my lap the entire time I was there. Another young couple came over also, that Randy had invited. This couple was in their late twenties and heading to the Bahamas to get married. Their family and friends were coming in on the 15th and the wedding is the 21st. They are going to be close getting there on time because a good weather window to cross to the Bahamas isn’t expected until Thursday and today is Saturday. Also, the island that they are going to is not the first one at which they will arrive. Oh, to be young and carefree. Did I mention they are going to sail off to far off places afterward!

Al decided we would stay one more day, which we did. About all we got accomplished was three loads of laundry. We packed it all up, took it in by dinghy. We were told to get on the local bus and tell the driver you want a laundry. We waited for a long time and the bus did not arrive, so we walked and we finally found one. We did the laundry and came back to the boat. It took three hours. Then you have to put the clean sheets onto the v-berth. A feat only mastered by the best, Al Mauger! One of these days I will have to take a video of his masterful feat with him on his knees rolling and wiggling from one side to the other. It should make a great hit on the internet!