Goodbye Miami, it’s been fun.

Mid April 2015.

The last of our long list of spare parts arrived on April 15th, so the next day we rented a car for a final provisioning trip and to pick up anything else that we couldn’t bear to live without. Hitting four of our favourite stores, Home Depot for hardware, Best Buy for electronics,Target and Wal-Mart  for home wares we spent up big and filled our little car ‘till it was bursting at the seams. It’s amazing what can be accomplished in a single day of dedicated power shopping when you know that just fifty miles across the Gulf Stream lies the Bahamas, where next to nothing is readily available.

On the whole, we had a great time in Miami and would recommend it as a good place to stop for visiting cruisers. It’s easy to get around the downtown area and it’s peripheries using public transport, and if you need a car, Enterprise Car Rentals is just a stone’s throw from Dinner Key Marina and the anchorage in Coconut Grove.

Just about every weekend and evening while we were there, there was some kind of event happening. Whether it was the free nightly yoga classes, happy hour food and drinks at the local eateries with friends, fun runs, art expos or walking tours of the upmarket neighbourhood, there was no reason to get bored. City Hall in the grounds of the marina also had bicycles for rent if you didn’t fancy  the 10 minute walk up to the shopping,restaurant and cinema area and the local library offered the use of it’s facilities and also had lightning fast wi-fi. So there you go, Coconut Grove served us well during our two and a half month stay.

 

A change of tack. While in Miami we’ve made the hard decision, and believe me it came with much deliberation, that we will not cross the Pacific this year as planned. We feel that although GWTW is  now totally ready and champing at the bit we, her crew, are not.

If we were to embark on this epic next chapter of our sailing lives within the coming months we would be rushing through places that we want to take the time to explore and we don’t fancy doing that. It’s a  real shame that we won’t be cruising in company with friends from Balvenie and Eye Candy along with many others we’ve come to know since leaving Australia. But the flip side is that we will meet knew friends and that’s the genesis of our cruising life.

So what’s up next? Well when we get a favourable weather window and that looks like it will be in the next couple of days, we’ll be pointing our bows east and heading over to the Bahamas for a few months in search of  new destinations, long sandy beaches and sunny skies.

                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Cruiser Info : Dinner Key cruisers net VHF ch 69 @ 0900 everyday. General Hailing ch VHF 68 includes marina, mooring field and pump out boat

Pump out boat: Free pumpout, provided by the city of Miami for the anchorage and mooring field on Mon, Wed, Fri. Hail on VHF 68.  Call Dinner key Marina pumpout boat. No need to be on board during the pumpout or to put out fenders or lines. Just state your location and which side the pumpout  deck cap is.

Supermarket s: Fresh Market on the waterfront 5 mins  walk north of Dinner Key Marina,excellent for supplies but a little pricy. Milam's

Medical Clinic : Coconut Grove Health Centre , Grand Ave Coconut Grove. Sliding scale of fees dependent on your income. No proof of income required for 30 days.

West Marine and Enterprise Rental Car Rentals are located next to each other on US 1 also known as Dixie Hwy at the intersection of Bird Rd

Public transport : Circulator Bus picks up from the public dinghy dock at the south of the marina and from City Hall. Cost is an unbelievable  25c!. This connects with the light rail system to take you downtown  or to Dadeland Mall.

Local Chandleries: West Marine, Crook & Crook,& Hopkins Carter which is a little further out but very good and way cheaper than the previous two mentioned.

Hardware: Stores: Home Depot on Bird Rd and Shell Lumber on SE 27th .

                                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^