Month: December 2010

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The Keys: An Angelfish Christmas

Christmas tree set up

A corner spot for the tree

Gifts? Who needs em. Ours arrived on a flight from Hartford, safe and sound and on time. All that planning, and wondering if we had forgotten something important- well no, all was nearly perfect. We took a city bus to Miami Int’l airport – hey for $2 how else can you experience being a city dweller firsthand? Did we get off at the right stop? No. Did we get saved by an “angel” bus driver? Thankfully, yes. Taking a taxi back to the marina, was almost like cheating, but was so worth it.
Benj unloaded the mail and various gifts he picked up for us at our mailbox. Between those, the laptop, books and shoes, he barely had room for clothes, but he’s a genius at packing it all in and how he can carry the tonnage I’m not sure. Ok, he’s young.  After a long dinner and a rousing game of Rummy Tiles ( also known as Rummikub) played  mostly “our way” we were somewhat caught up on stories and tales from VT , CT and FL. Kudos from our son for decorating were gladly accepted.
Thursday morning we headed out of Coconut Grove, planning to sail as much of the way to Angelfish as possible. The forecast called for west winds of 10-15 with seas less than 2 ft in Hawk Channel. We needed to go in for a few things before departing, including a quick stop at The Fresh Market. As we were getting off the dinghy at the already crowded dinghy dock, a second angel worked her magic for us. She mentioned that she saw that we had mail in the box. Giving her a huge “thank you” and a bigger “how do you know?”, she replied that she’d seen our boat name on some cards. Ok, but how does she know the boat name?  Well, as usual, we were lugging around one of our Ortolan boat bags- gifts from Jack & Kerry last Christmas. We were not expecting more mail at the marina, having picked up two packages at the desk the day before. Turns out that letter mail for transients is kept in a mail slot across the room and we weren’t told about that.  The marina carefully logs and stores packages and has a “boats with packages board”. Nice, but knowing about the mail slot would have been good too. Without our angel saying something- hey how often does someone tell you that you have mail?(not including AOL) and a stranger no less.  Saved again.
Enjoyed a lovely sail to Angelfish, cut short due to the wind dying about 2/3 of the way there. Weathermen tell lies here too. The current runs strong in the creek although it is a good passage between Hawk Channel and Card Sound.
Keeping favorite traditions and starting a few new ones, we readied for the big day by scouting for dolphins ( success), relaxing, baking Babka and cookies, final gift wrapping and card making and enjoying the beautiful weather.

christmas baked goods

Christmas Baked Goods: cookies & babka

Our fickle solar powered Christmas lights went off after a couple hours, but then,  they suddenly turned on full brightness at bedtime. That was a first, and we joked about it being our Christmas miracle.
Little did we know an adventure awaited, with another angel needing to sprinkle a bit of special dust on us.

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Getting Ready for the Holidays

Getting ready for Christmas looks a little different in Miami Beach!
“everything but snow”- that’s the theme here. We’ve got the tunes, the tree (albeit fake & small -well, tiny) and the stockings hung from inside the rooftop with great care. The meals are planned; ones that are not too unlike the ones we’ve enjoyed each holiday. The cookies will be baked shortly and Santa will surely find his way (and his jolly round belly self) down our chimney, also known as the helm seat hatch.
South beach Holiday 2010 Most boats are not decorated much, but some have lights attached on each side of the boat and hoisted up via the main halyard. With the white anchor light at top, it looks like a tree outline. Around Miami, for us that’s been Coconut Grove and South Beach, the street decorations are just about noticeable- nothing overdone. Can’t say the same for the music we hear many nights.
We moved up to- oh did you catch that? Up? For the first time on this trip south, we traveled north- about 7 miles. Needed to be closer to a Publix, so we moved to the Belle Island South anchorage which is just off South Beach. Much like “Christmas in the Caribbean”, it’s got everything but a pump out boat! The nearest Publix is housed in an Art Deco style building with its own parking garage and carts that lock up if taken away from the premises. The Fresh Market is coming to town in Spring 2011, one block away from Publix and we are delighted with that event. Whole Foods is almost one mile away and we’ll walk there for the exercise and pick up a few holiday treats.

Publix: Art Deco Style in Miami Beach

Florida is extremely boater friendly and you find parks, boat ramps, dinghy docks and water faucets all over the place. Makes getting the basics fairly easy.
In this particular spot, we are quite close to land and have a lovely view of high-rise apartments on two sides. On another is the main channel into Miami where the cruise ships dock. Tonight, we watched 4 leave- so slow and steady. The McArthur Causeway blocks the view somewhat, which is a good thing.
Fortunately, they arrive in silence at some very dark early hour. When two or more cruise ships are docked, other boats can not use the main channel and if you are not paying attention, the police or Coast Guard will be happy to inform you of such restriction. The southern, Fisherman’s Channel must be used, which adds to the joy of making your way in or out.