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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.

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Destination Achieved: Dinner Key Marina

Who says we couldn’t do this?   Despite a minimal amount of sailing knowledge and never receiving a thorough education about our boat; we have enjoyed a great voyage south, encountering few self-made problems- you know, like going aground.

The DK mooring field is huge

Why were we worried about Dinner Key Marina being full? Nope, we had our pick of the moorings- maybe they are 33% full. Perhaps the infinitesimally small dinghy dock, lack of Wi-Fi or the surrounding boat wakes are a turn-off, but at any rate it’s not bad here. Laundry is only $1.25/load, the cheapest so far. The pump-out boat is functional, unlike Vero Beach and we’ll be able to get a pump-out before we leave here- nice not to have that to worry about. It’s the small things that bring smiles. Our holding tank is only 10 gals- lasts less than a week. Showers are hot and big, but weird. Danger- a Fresh Market around the corner!  They are loaded with holiday goodies and we spend more than we should. Wait until our son arrives- can the boat hold enough food!?

Cocowalk is roughly two blocks away, which we tried to “walk-by” on our way to the Post Office and West Marine over a mile away. Lunch at Johnny Rocket’s was an outdoor treat and more within our budget.

The forecast proved true and from mid-day Sunday through Tues we bobbed about on our mooring in winds averaging over 22kts and often gusting to 32!  Did we get lots done, you bet.  Russ kept his long-made promise to make pizza and we enjoyed a fresh California style pie for dinner Sunday night. A few tweaks and the next one will be outstanding!

Russ: the pizza man!

For entertainment we watched Sea Tow corral a cabin cruiser that decided to go “sailing” and leave its anchor behind. A couple daring and obviously experienced guys spent a few thrilling hours windsurfing at the far end of the anchorage.  The weather and winds seem to change quickly; on Sat we actually had moments of zero wind. A sailing club that left in 10kts for a nice day’s sail in Biscayne Bay, limped back in with barely a breath of wind and several needed a tow as they got close to shore.

We check in on our various cruiser friends from time to time, via blogs and look back fondly to our time at Vero Beach…before we went our separate ways. Some to Bahamas, some across Florida to the west coast and others, like us toward the Keys. Will be fun to meet up again and swap stories.