Miami

We are approaching Miami.

What a beautiful city full of boats!  We came through Miami today at a slow pace.  There were at least 10 bridges to go under.  We had to wait for two to open, which added about 40 minutes to our travel.  We need 18 feet to clear a bridge, so we could get under most of them.  There were boats all around us all day:  fishermen, cruisers, water taxis, tours, speed boats - all of them were out enjoying the sun.  We passed the government cut and saw about 7 - 9 cruise ships tied to the wall.

We passed the cut where the cruise ships were docked.  Other boats cannot come through the cut if two or more cruise ships are there.  We heard lots of people being hailed and told to go back out.

As we began our day we heard the Coast Guard responding to a boat that was sinking at the end of the government cut.  We figured it was right where the cut meets the coastal waters.  They rescued two men, and the boat sank.  That was a sobering start.


We followed Hammerhead most of the day.  They are bigger than we, so we passed them late while they waited for a bridge.  Pier Pressure was a trawler behind us.  Even though the bridges have set openings, one bridge didn't open for Hammerhead because he didn't call them.

See the rainbow colored building?  That was our favorite in downtown.

As we got north of Miami, every house had a swimming pool.  Some had hot tubs too.  All had chairs out, facing the ICW.  Wouldn't it be fun to sit in the hot tub and watch the boats go by?  Boat watching is right up there with people watching for us.  I didn't take any photos of the fancy houses.  There were too many, cheek to jowl, to choose one. You can just imagine every type of architecture + every pool design, and you get the idea.

We are now tied up at Las Olas Marina in Ft. Lauderdale.  It's not what we expected, but we will be fine here.  Here are the surprises so far:
1.  They don't have 50 amp power.  I checked the Active Captain description, and it does say there is 30, 50, and 100 available.  However, they only have 30.  So we can only use one side of our power grid at a time.  We will adjust.
2.  We are before and almost under the Las Olas Bridge.  It is noisy here.
3.  It is also bouncy and windy.  We are well tied, but we will be having noisy nights.  The reason we came to a marina is for protection from the predicted rain and wind.

We are headed off for a walk on the beach, and we will explore the area.  I'll report more tomorrow.