Miami Beach
We started the year on the west coast of Florida and will end the year in Florida. Despite all of the refit time at the dock, we’ve actually sailed the Dolphin 460 quite a decent amount of miles (we log miles, but don't keep a running count) ~ they just took place in big chunks.
Since we bought Reach two years ago in Antigua, we sailed back to the USA via St Thomas & Bahamas to Georgia, around the Florida Keys to Bradenton/St Petersburg, then back around Florida to Georgia for hurricane season, and recently had a salty sail back to Miami to properly initiate us into cruising once again.
Glad to have 2020 and our refit year(s) behind us, we’ll be starting the new year in the Bahamas!
We just got our Covid-19 tests back (negative) and are ready to catch the next weather window this weekend.
Miami Beach has served us well as our launching point to the Bahamas in many years past, including our first visit there in 2008. Minimizing time ashore, we’ve missed a lot of the whimsical scenery this time, but got our fill on the water.
This place would not be complete without a colorful skyline, fast boats, jet skis and loud music! A nice peaceful sanctuary by day becomes a crazy party by the weekend and holidays. Recall that we were there over several holidays!
It made for interesting people watching (from afar), typically not seeing this much humanity when in isolation. I did need to break out the ear plugs once.
Everyone looked like they were super young and starring in a music video, complete with phones in the air, champagne and thong bikinis. It hasn’t escaped our attention that this might just mean we’re getting old…
It’s hard to really capture the scene…but you know it when you see it. By the looks of the parties, there is a fair bit of virus denial going on, unfortunately.
We were anchored on the Ferry tour-boat route. We all became part of their bay tour that mentioned cruising sailboats from all over the world, anchored next to Star Island where apparently, various celebrities have homes (Julio Iglesias, Shakira, J Lo???).
The cruise ship docks were also nearby and there was a lot of action there.
It was hard to tell if they held passengers or were just coming in to dock for crew procedures.
We’re glad to have missed the anchor wars of recent years in Florida and have had a pleasant stay from Thanksgiving to the New Year.
We used this time to wait for our new sail to be delivered from North Sails, which made it into our hands two days before Christmas. They really came through for us (more on that soon).
It was hard to watch a few nice weather windows pass us by. However, by this time we had company with Dustin and Laura on our sistership Elpis, our “bubble” friends from Georgia. It was great to spend Christmas with them share a feast of a meal.
As we got used to the rhythm of days at anchor again, we all fell back into the routines of morning yoga, provisioning and cooking, running errands, lounging, watching wildlife, ever-present maintenance projects, and socializing with neighbors (while getting a dog fix!).
After Christmas, we had another neighbor anchor nearby. Clark swung though on the new m/v Roam, while Michelle joined him soon afterwards. Like us, they have also upgraded to a bigger boat, since the days we joined them on a passage to Bermuda and Nova Scotia.
Currently, we are all in quarantine now for travel reasons, but there will be plenty of time to socialize and catch up on the past few years in the Bahamas. Bring on 2021!