Beyond NSB



Met this guy on our way out of Ft. Lauderdale.
English Rose in front of us.



We finally managed to pull ourselves away from New Smyrna Beach on January 19.  Headed down to Palm Beach for our exit to the Abacos on Monday, but that weather window deteriorated faster than it appeared!  We had a good trip down to Palm Beach, although we had to fight our way through the weekend idiots on the waterway between Vero Beach and Palm Beach.  Shortly after anchoring in Palm Beach 'English Rose' pulled in.  We met Bob & Janet four years ago and saw them again last year.  They are such a delightful couple to spend time with.  Janet is from England and has that beautiful english accent that I could listen to forever - they have been cruising for about 7 years.  Bob is very sensible and like Jeff, does all his own work on their boat and he and Jeff have lots to talk about.  Bob and Janet are planning to go the Exumas and were planning to leave on the day we were leaving for the Abacos, so were stuck in Palm Beach as well.  The four of us decided to head down the inside passage and slug through 22 draw bridges to get to Ft. Lauderdale and then went outside to get to Miami.  I thought Palm Beach was the land of the rich and famous, but it only gets richer and famouser the farther south you go!!!  The whole way to Ft. Lauderdale I was oohing and aahing over houses and boats.  The trip on the outside to Miami was pretty bumpy - things came out of their place that have never moved before - books jumped out of the bookcase behind our bed and food jumped out of closed cabinets!  We surfed through the inlet to Miami with opposing tide.  WOW! What a ride!!

We've never been to Miami before and were excited to see what everyone talks about.  Miami harbour was obviously dredged and perfectly shaped islands were made and built on years ago when that was allowed - very interesting.  There is a road with little bridged connecting all these islands.  We are anchored with 'English Rose' between Palm Island and Hibiscus Island.  We are the only two boats anchored in here and it is very protected, at least so far.  But, we are definately fishes in a bowl here!  The first afternoon we were here we went over to Monument Island to meet up with some other cruisers we had met in previous years, Jesse & Ginny on 'Wind Dust', and Mike & Barb on 'Goose Bumps', as well as some other cruisers we hadn't met before.  There are many places to anchor in this area and boats everywhere, but Monument Island is pretty much in the middle of the area.

Bob & Janet took us ashore yesterday to see South Beach and the surrounding area, as they've been here many times before and are old hat at finding the hot spots.  Sad to say, we were unimpressed with South Beach itself - not as pretty a beach as we expected at all, especially since it is such a famous beach.  The road that runs along the beach is totally consumed with restaurants/bars/hotels.  I've never seen so many restaurants!!!  And you must walk through each one as the sidewalk runs right through them.  And every one has at least one or two people hussling you to stop for drinks, lunch or breakfast.  Unbelievable!  We did stop at one for lunch and promptly left when we found out the 'happy hour' 2 for 1drinks were going to cost us $12 each.  They flash you cards showing $9 and $10 for lunch, but don't tell you how high the drinks are.  We ate at a place on Lincoln Ave, which is an area leading up to South Beach that is closed off to traffic and just one store and restaurant after the other.  Quite interesting.  In the middle of what at one time was the street, there was a raised beautiful grassy area and Quaker parakeets would fly down out of the palm trees to pick up tidbits that passersby would throw out there.


Quaker Parakeets



Chart of the Miami area - see the perfectly shaped islands?!



The video below is us coming into Miami.

Till next time!!