1/6/14
Miami Beach FL
Posted by Bill

After doing some work on the boat, we took the dinghy up Collins Canal, a very narrow waterway that runs along side of Dade Blvd, which leads to Miami Beach. There are several places to tie up your dinghy, none of which are really good options. One popular one is a sloping concrete wall where you can tie up the the guardrail. The one we chose was right across the street from a Publix supermarket. It was a small platform that was around 4 feet up from the water level at 3/4 tide. It was not easy getting up on it, but we managed. It took about 30 minutes to walk to the beach, which was between Miami Beach and South Beach. From there we walked south along the beach until Ocean Drive and South Beach started, and then we walked Ocean Drive. It was block after block of places to eat, with seating on the sidewalk like this:


All of the restaurants had someone trying to get you to eat at their place, most of them touting discounts or drink specials, none that were actually real deals.

It was really hot in the sun so we stopped and had an appetizer and adult beverage. When we decided to walk back, we were at the southern end of South Beach and it took us over an hour to get back to Publix. We got some groceries and headed home, just in time for sundowners! When we got back to the dinghy, it was close to low tide and the water level was another 2 feet from the dock. It took circus level acrobatics to get into the dinghy, but no one was harmed…and we didn’t have a safety net!

The people watching on South Beach was incredible. There is a whole different level of crazy here. I guess I have mellowed quite a bit, because, although it was fun to see South Beach, I was much happier sitting on my boat with a 360 degree water view, drinking my own liquor!

It is hard to capture the night time views, but here is the best I could do…Miami at night from our anchorage: