On to Miami Beach

Waiting and waiting so we did a few last things in St. A.  Waiting through the tornado watch, waiting for the right weather and doing essential repairs.
    I realize all these pictures do not show the lousy windy cold weather because when I took pictures on those days they came out blurry with the movement of the boat or my shivering hands.

 Watched the changing of the guard as they marched down the street to Government house.

 Slept in a couple of mornings. (Mazu and Drew)


  We took down the wind generator off the stern davits. Me (hair pulled back in ponytail) sitting up on the davits to help lift it down to Drew.

 It wasn't working at all.  We sent it off  to Tampa for repair that took a few days.  Now it's working and spinning with all these big winds we're having.

The Bridge of Lions all lit up.  During our last few days this drawbridge stopped working.  No one with a mast higher than 25' (ours is 55') could go north or south.  We had to wait 2 days for them to fix it before we could go outside for a sail and head to Miami.

Low tide at St. Augustine waterfront. muddy, full of muscles.

 Drew coming up the companionway to see a beautiful sail for a few hours before the wind changed and came straight at us from the south.
    Our nightly entertainment is the sunset.  They've been spectacular.
   We took 64 hours to sail and motor to Miami from St. Augustine, about 276 miles.   [Mazu went once the whole time.]  I made sandwiches and had food ready that we could grab: yogurt, cheese sticks, chicken stew warmed up, crackers, zone bars.  With 20+ k of wind there is little cooking in the galley for us.  I always put on the transdermal patch behind my ear for the trip and have no problems the whole way rocking and rolling.  Still, I'd always rather go outside and get to sail once in a while.  We miss a lot of historic sights not following the ICW but we are eager to get to warmer weather. Still haven't taken a swim.

We arrive in Miami.  Water is 75 degrees.  The first night we spent at a marina right at the entrance to Government Cut (no picture).  I love Miami - very friendly, beautiful unique architecture, fun, colorful.  Below is our anchorage, love the blues.

 I love the colors with Miami (not Miami Beach) in the background.  You can see other boats also anchored here.  We finally anchored off of Belle Island just north of Government Cut where we came into this fairly well protected area.  The tall buildings at night were so impressive, so many colors.  The winds continue to blow.  I can only take pictures when it's calm otherwise they are all blurry.  I have also used more pixels for these pictures so they are clear.  May take a while to download.  This is the Miami Beach side.

  

 The Disney Cruising ship docked in Government Cut.
 Note the Micky Mouse on the smoke stacks.  It was very impressive as we headed down Government Cut to our anchorage.

 Miami Beach has a wonderful canal with bridges over it.  We could get everywhere because there are little docking areas for dinghys along the route.  When we shop we lock up the boat with a heavy chain.  It's a  very boat and animal friendly town.  Here is our first trip. It's easy to go at night because everything is lit up.








Earlier in the day while Drew did marketing I walked the dog up to the Holocaust Memorial in the center of town.  The hand sculpture is in a pond with water lilies.  Climbing up the arm are people.  It's very sobering.

Tomorrow I'll go to the Miami Botanical Garden on the other side of the Memorial.

 I've never seen this kind of tree with white blobs of "flowers" hanging out of a pod.  Looks like palm but not.  The trunk was not typical palm either.

Tonight I played a solo game of Bananagrams on the table in the salon.  Used all the letters.































Sadly we found out today that our holding tank needs to be replaced.  We used our new endoscope (a $37  50' cable with a tiny camera at the end with a light that can reach places that are not in direct view.  It plugs into the computer with photo booth to see.)  We looked under and at the side of the tank and found it has a leak  : (   a huge expense.  It involves cutting out the floor in the fore cabin to remove it in pieces then installing a new one made out of a better, longer lasting material.  Fortunately, there has been no odor because of Odorloss, a liquid that is put into the holding tank.  This cruise is becoming the shake out cruise where we fix all the kinks.  Somehow it seems never ending.
  Hopefully the work will be done while we are away in February and overseen by this terrific guy, Craig Olsen, we met at the Miami Beach Marina who does Boat Systems Maintenance and Repair.  We met him while we were doing our laundry.  Lucky.  He knows the previous owner of our boat.  It's a small Island Packet world.
  Tomorrow, if it's sunny, I will do a little video of the area.
   Of course there are terrific Cuban restaurants and we'll visit one tomorrow recommended by AJ.  Today we ate at a terrific French cafe with THE best croissants and crepes, A La Folie Cafe.  They let Mazu sit at our feet.  I had poached pear, brie and walnut crepe  ooh la la good.  The city is beautiful, clean, warm, international, fashionable. We hear many languages as we walk down the streets.  We are having a great time now that we're warm.  Again it is a place where they are experiencing one of the coldest winters.