Christmas in Miami

As promised, on Tuesday our solar panels arrive in Stuart, albeit, a few hours later than expected.  At 10:30 am they are at the boat, and by noon they are fastened on the framework and we are casting off docklines.  We are off to an anchorage at the mouth of the Lake Worth Inlet, a mere 35 miles away.  The ICW passes through picturesque Hobe Sound with many lovely homes situated between the waterway and the coastal beaches.  

Notice the trellis on the chimney of this house - very attractive

Another beautiful house along the ICW

It seems leisurely until we realize that the bridges that must open for our passage are all timed which causes us to wait for openings at several points.  Sunset threatens as our pace slows down. After all, this is December 18, and our days are painfully short. We have never been through this area before, and it is ill advised to ply the ICW after dark.  It is 6 pm and the last glow of sunset faintly illuminates us as we drop anchor at our planned destination. On shore are the huge mansions of Palm Beach, many spectacularly decorated with Christmas lights. 

The alarm goes off at 2 am. We pull anchor and head out the well buoyed inlet to the Atlantic Ocean.   

What's the attraction of  blue water sailing - how about this sunrise?

We are timing our arrival in Miami to coincide with a favorable tidal current and in this case, our calculations are right on.  

Entering the Port of Miami

 We come into the harbor, make the turn to go through some very shallow water at high tide, and drop anchor in a lagoon between man-made residential islands.  Looking east we can see the buildings of South Beach and to the west is the skyline of Miami proper.  To the south over a causeway are the many huge cruise ships that come and go into the Port of Miami. We have been told there is much to do and see here.  We take the dinghy into a canal that almost bisects Miami Beach.  What we see are graffiti decorated bridges, floating trash, and, to our surprise, three iguanas in a tree overhanging the canal.  

Check out the three iguanas - we thought they were plastic at first and then  one blinked

It leaves us with mixed feelings.  The next day we take our bikes into South Beach to have a better look around.  Traffic is insane, and twice I am almost hit by cars. Latino machismo is decidedly on display. The famous Lincoln Rd., a pedestrian thoroughfare, is packed with people gawking at the exclusive shops and chic sidewalk cafes.  It seems almost everyone is on a cell phone and unaware of other walkers or bicyclers in the congestion.  We hear a variety of foreign languages. It looks like it could be a very interesting place for people watching from an open air restaurant, but something is a little unsettling about the populace, and I keep my purse well protected. There is a lovely bike trail through the dunes that form the Atlantic coast. On one side is a beautiful beach crammed with rows of rental umbrellas and chaises.  On the other side are swank hotels with lush landscaped pool areas. The southern most tip consists of park land (again with visible graffiti) backed by huge high rise condos. 

The view north from the southern tip of South Beach

It is indeed a dramatic contrast of wealth and poverty, tourists and shady looking characters.  

The next day we decide to head back to South Beach and take an audio tour of the Art Deco district.  South Beach is famous for its collection of Art Deco hotels and other buildings.  Since Miami is a relatively young city, much of its growth occurred between the late 20’s and World War II. Architects chose to use different varieties of Art Deco design as it reflected the era’s interest in burgeoning technology and was also an inexpensive way to construct buildings that had a distinctively artistic flavor. 

A private home in the Spanish Art Deco style

A hotel facade that suggests rocket ships of the1930's vintage

An Ocean Blvd. hotel sporting colors popular in the Art Deco era

The interesting and informative tour takes us almost two hours, and when we return to the starting point, the Art Deco Information Center, we find our bikes, which were secured with a sturdy lock in a very open area, are gone.  We rush into the Center, and the receptionist is quite shocked and sends us to the nearby police station.  Within a block we come upon a policeman on bicycle and tell him what has happened.  He puts out an immediate APB and points us in the direction of the station.  When we report the theft, the officer is sympathetic, but his body language tells us it is hopeless – our bikes are gone for good. His parting words are “Stay safe out there”, repeated three times.  We beat a hasty retreat to the safety of our boat.

As much as I want to get out of Miami, we decide to stay through Christmas.  We host a happy hour on our boat for the two other nearby anchored boats, a catamaran with a British couple and a trimaran from Michigan whose owners know some of our past friends from the multihull community.  On Christmas Day friends we sailed with last winter and spring in the Bahamas come over from another anchorage for a full fledged Christmas dinner. This year they will only cruise in southern Florida as they just purchased a home in Vero and will be settling there after seven years as full time liveaboards, selling their beloved boat.  It is a bittersweet moment for them.

The day after Christmas we make a short trip down to Biscayne Bay and No Name Harbor in Bill Beggs State Park, passing by the dramatic Miami skyline. The stylish buildings have a Latin twist making them more interesting than most in big cities.  

Interesting Miami building

Miami skyline looking up the Miami River

Our destination is a place where many people stage for crossing over to the Bahamas, and since this morning the window for making the crossing is ideal, the harbor is empty and we are able to anchor in its protection.  The dinghy is launched, and we spent a delightful and relaxing day on the Atlantic beach.  Something here just feels safer and more comfortable, and the views can’t be beat.

Leaving No Name Harbor we motor past Stiltsville and out of Biscayne Bay.  

Several of the remaining Stiltsville homes

Stiltsville is an historic area in the Bay where people built small homes above the protected waters of the bay.  Many have been torn down or destroyed by hurricanes, but a few remain and are occupied occasionally. There is much ongoing debate over the future preservation of the Stiltsville area. Thus, we begin our “nostalgia tour” into the Keys, anchoring off Rodriguiz Key near Key Largo

Sunset at the Rodriguez Key anchorage we shared with two other boats.

and then making the rest of the trip to Marathon the following day in beautiful sailing conditions. It is blowing 12-15 knots on our beam, the water is flat, and we give our recently re-cut sails a test.  The boat performs as desired, and we are making over seven knots of speed.  This is what Keys sailing is all about, skimming over translucent smooth water, and we have the best sail we have had since leaving the Bahamas. The downside to the Keys for our deep draft boat is the depth.  We arrive at Marathon right at low tide and anchor off the entrance to Boot Key Harbor until the tide begins to rise and other boats passing though the entrance report sufficient depth for us. We get a mooring ball in the deepest part of the harbor and settle down to stay at least until the new bikes we have ordered arrive, as this is a reasonable place to have mail and packages shipped.  And, we call this our “nostalgia tour” as we have spent many wonderful weeks down here over the years, windsurfing and later cruising our trimaran.  We feel like we have arrived at home.

Grinding to a Halt

Thanksgiving Day in Vero dawns with blue skies, mild temperatures, and a pleasant breeze.  This is the day we have been long anticipating.  A record number of cruisers and some land based retired cruisers gather at a first class park pavilion near the marina.  We come bearing an amazing array of potluck dishes to accompany the many donated turkeys and hams – it is going to be a memorable feast. We grab the last available table, joined by our Australian friends, Claire and Andrew, another couple we met at the Annapolis Gam in 2011 and see occasionally along the way, and a couple new to cruising.  

Site of our Thanksgiving dinner on the porch overlooking the water

It proves to be an amicable group as we enjoy the feast and chat about all our sailing experiences.  After dinner we are entertained by musicians on the deck and a raffle of items donated to the cruisers’ Thanksgiving by local merchants.  Claire and Andrew are the big winners, with Andrew receiving a gift certificate for a local seafood shop and Claire claiming a harmonica, complete with neck holder.  Now, Claire has never played a harmonica and perhaps never even seen one before.  We laugh to think of their fellow Australians’ reaction – so, American Thanksgiving includes the distribution of harmonicas?!?  But Claire is a diligent student and within a day she has almost mastered When the Saints Go Marching In. 

The happy winners - cover your ears!

At the conclusion of the day, I am “awarded” a plaque emblazoned with “Regulation Basket Weaving” by retiring cruiser and friend Sue Scheidt.  For years Sue has overseen the basketmaking group in Georgetown, Exumas, and she is now passing on that responsibility to me.  I have to question her judgment, though, as all the baskets I made last year resembled modern art since none were the least bit symmetrical. Woe be it to the poor souls I instruct this year, but I’ll give it my best shot. 

Sue, Prue, and the handover of the awesome responsibility

With Thanksgiving over, everyone is busy preparing to leave Vero.  I beg our musician friends, Bentley and Jim from Salty Paws, to play at one more happy hour at the marina on Friday evening.  Despite the last minute arrangements, we have a huge turnout and people stay well beyond dark.  

Bentley, Jim, and friends provide music for happy hour

Tomorrow most will be heading further south, and it will be a long time before a group of cruisers this size will congregate again.

The next morning we grab Claire and Andrew and dinghy over to our favorite breakfast place on the shore.  We have a leisurely meal, take a walk along the boardwalk, and bid them farewell.   

Claire and Andrew on their way to breakfast in their Australian flagged dinghy

They will leave in the afternoon, heading to the Bahamas and then Cuba as soon as possible as their six month visa for the States is about to expire. After sailing with them off and on during the summer and fall, it is likely we will not see them again as their long range plans are to head across the Pacific to Australia.  That is the downside to cruising – the friendships can be wonderful and intense, but they often come to an abrupt end when boats permanently head in different directions.

So, a day later we head down to Stuart, an easy 30 mile motor on the ICW.   After a night on a mooring ball, we pull into a dock at a boatyard that Mack Sails uses for their rigging customers.  We are excited to get started, but they are a bit short handed, and all that is accomplished before we leave for Ohio is measuring the rig.  We hope to return to find the new rigging installed, but what could we have been thinking??  We’re dealing with the marine industry, and rule number one is to allow double the amount of time necessary to complete a project.  And, what else could we have been thinking? Just like Murphy, if anything can go wrong, it will.  Once we return to Stuart, all the rigging goes up easily except for the forestay and furler.  There is some galling between a cover and an interior piece of metal.  That portion of the furler is taken to a machine shop and repaired. When it comes time to reassemble the furler, it doesn’t go together properly.  Of course it is Friday evening and nothing more will be done until Monday morning.  We move from the expensive dock and anchor about a mile away.   

Rainbow while at anchor in Stuart - did I mention it rains at least a little everyday here?

Monday we return to the dock to find out if we had requested a monthly rate, it would have been much cheaper.  They take pity on us and refund us a goodly sum, and now we can stay at the dock for the rest of the month – fine if your plan is to be in Stuart for a month. Somehow Monday the gods are smiling on us and the furler miraculously goes together.  Loose ends are completed and the job with Mack Sails is done and is quite satisfactory. 

But, we’re not done.  Do refer back to rules number one and two. Burt orders a piece of bent stainless to support the solar panels from another source.  It takes over a week for someone to come out to the boat to take measurements.  Once that is complete we wait several more days for the material to arrive, a few more days for someone to get around to bending it, and an extra day before delivery as the owner (who, incidentally, had worked for many years with Micky Rupp of Mansfield renown) has decided to go duck hunting.  When it finally arrives it is three inches too short, so it goes back to the shop for welding and several days later it show up and is installed.  Now that we have a place to put the solar panels, we are ready to order them from a source in Fort Lauderdale.  It will take a day for them to ship to Stuart, we are told. Friday we anxiously wait the arrival of the panels but nothing shows up, and late in the day we give them a call to find out that their computer crashed and all the orders were lost.  Back to square one, and with a weekend intervening, it will take four more days to get the panels. 

Negotiating the monthly dockage plan now seems like a good idea as we will be in Stuart for almost a month. Now, Stuart is not a bad place.  We are at a nice dock with water and power, although it is a boatyard right next to a very active, noisy railroad line. There are no other amenities at the yard, and it is a bit lonely here as virtually all the other boats are uninhabited.  We can bike just about everywhere, including a huge mall area with all the standard stores, an excellent grocery store, a laundromat that is a bit far, and all the attractive shops and restaurants in the restored downtown portion of Stuart.  We long to get back underway, though, and look forward to spending Christmas in Miami if all goes well. We are decked out with solar powered LED lights around the cockpit and a small artificial Christmas tree (with LED lights, also, as power conservation on a sail boat is a big consideration) below decks. But, it just won’t seem like Christmas until we can rejoin our friends in the cruising community. Thus, we have ground to a halt.