Happy New Year! This is the first blog of 2014 and possibly the last one written from the USA.
Tonight we are planning to stage to head across the Gulf Stream tomorrow, leaving early in the morning to arrive in North Bimini early in the afternoon. That is the plan anyway. The weather is a huge factor in this crossing and we could abort at any time.
We have spent almost two weeks here at Dinner Key marina mooring field in Coconut Grove, Miami and we've had a good time, but we are itching to get going again. The bimini is now finished so we can check that off the list after a big push by Dave when we first arrived in Miami. As I write this I am doing laundry and Dave is out shopping for fresh groceries. We've been picking away at 'the list' over the past couple of weeks and we're at the point now where if we don't have it that's too bad and we can do without.
As usual, the weather has been a big factor in our days here. The mooring field is quite exposed to long fetches from the north around to the southeast and we haven't had much west wind, so it's been quite choppy most of the time. It's okay on the boat, because there isn't significant current, so we are pointed into the wind, but it can be a wet ride in the dinghy, especially since we are still limping along on one cylinder with our outboard. The first week we were here it was really hot and sunny, right up until Christmas Day but the past week we have seen a lot of rain and overcast day so it was nice to see the sun this morning when we got up.
On the plus side for the mooring field, we have been able to have a shower whenever we want - pretty much every day - and we are a short walk to 'downtown' Coconut Grove where there are lots of good restaurants. We've been out for some great meals since we got here and we've even been to see a movie - a first since we left home. We have found all the grocery stores within walking distance, tried out the Miami transit system - which is very good and quite affordable - $5.65 gets you a day pass to go pretty much anywhere and they have a local bus route that only costs 25 cents.
There's a great hardware store (they serve popcorn) and a good marine store (Crook & Crook, whose motto is "we don't aim to live up to our name") within walking distance, and the metrorail station, which will take you far with few stops, is only a fifteen minute walk.
On Christmas Eve we took the metrorail and the bus to South Beach, where we had a great lunch and even went for a swim before heading back to the marina for a 'big appetizers' supper with Leeloo and Slow Waltz. An unexpected treat was when we discovered a very cool gallery of amazing photographs as we walked towards the beach. The man working at the gallery showed us how adjusting the intensity of the light shining on the photos totally changed what the photos looked like - it was remarkable. At $3000 to $4000 a photo (mind you they are large - about 18" x 4') they are a bit out of our budget, but they were very interesting and beautiful to see.
Christmas Day we managed to pull off a full turkey dinner, complete with stuffing and all the fixings, as well as 'ragout' (a traditional Quebec dish on Christmas) between the 3 boats, Leeloo, Slow Waltz and Romana. Christmas morning we opened presents and then we made stuffing and Dave went over to Leeloo to stuff the bird and get it in their oven (the biggest of the 3 boats) and then we went in to the marina to facetime with all of the kids and grandkids, which was really nice. Along with phone calls to other family we managed to talk to just about everyone we usually do at Christmas. That evening we gathered up our contributions to Christmas dinner and went over to Slow Waltz where we enjoyed dinner with the six of us, who have spent the last couple of months travelling together. If we couldn't be with family at Christmas it was nice to be with friends.
We got lots of nice newsy letters in response to our Christmas email, which really helped us feel more in touch with everyone. We even got a 'Christmas present' from AT&T when I renewed our plan for another month at a reduced rate they gave us a month with the better plan for free! Not that we will be able to use the plan that much longer if we leave tomorrow, but we could always end up staying and then it will come in handy.
We have been treated to fireworks a couple of times since we were here. After a great dinner at a local Thai restaurant we were in the dinghy heading out to the mooring field and all of a sudden Dave spotted fireworks and shut the dinghy engine off and we drifted along and watched them - we're still not sure why they had fireworks on December 23rd, but it was an unexpected treat.
Last night (New Year's Eve) we had a potluck dinner on Romana with Slow Waltz and Leeloo but by 9 p.m. we were all bagged and ready for bed. We went to sleep and then just before midnight Dave woke me up to watch the fireworks. It was amazing - at one point we could see fireworks in 11 different locations - we were definitely in a great spot to see them. They were all pretty far away, so we didn't get the full effect with the loud bangs, but they were beautiful nonetheless.
I even took a day by myself to go and visit the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, which was quite an experience. It is a pretty 'over the top' house that was built in 1918 by a rich industrialist around his collection of Italian art, furniture and other pieces. They even imported a full ceiling from a palace in Italy somewhere. Lavishly decorated, it was almost overwhelming. Visitors the day I was there included a bunch of other tourists (at least 75% asian) and a number of spanish girls celebrating their 15th birthdays getting their photos taken in the gardens with their frou frou wedding dress like dresses.
So it's been a good mix of celebrations, touristy activities and chores over the past week and now it is time to move on. With any luck the next post will come to you from the Bahamas somewhere.
All the best for 2014.