Christmas in Miami

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

Well the wind gods have not been smiling down on us as we remain here in Miami Beach and not looking like we will cross until Sunday or Monday.
Can't really complain, it's a fabulous spot to hang out. Very warm and sunny. A short dingy ride into town, all amenities at our fingertips plus beautiful beaches with fabulous shops and restaurants. A very vibrant and active community, tons of fun!
We have been here over a week now at anchor. We are having to run our engine for an hour a day to keep up on the demands. I have turned our fridge into a freezer and it is running a lot more than we had expected. Movie night, most  nights, also is proving to put a strain on our batteries but we are managing. For the second time since we have been here Al's made a very short dingy ride over to fill up our water jugs to replenish our tank.
From our anchorage we can see all the cruise ships docked in Government Cut and were able to catch the fireworks for one of them setting sail the other night. One day there were 7 total at dock, we were told that each ship can turn around a sailing in one day from when the passengers disembark from one cruising, clean restock and load the next sailing passengers then leave that night- talk about efficient!!

Miami sky line from our boat

We enjoyed a fabulous cocktail party for Christmas Eve aboard Amarone (Claude and Bruce) also from Toronto joined by 2 other boats. Al and I spent a quiet morning after opening Santa's gift - a Bahamian Spear Gun for fishing - my name was on it but I think I'll leave the hunting up to Al and I'll just be in charge of cooking it! After a breakfast of Eggs Benedict Al and I took a long walk into Miami and then took a ride on their free rail system (like the Sky Train in Vancouver) to get a birds eye view of the city then made the long walk back to the boat. Christmas day meal, this time aboard Harmonium. We were handed a most delicious Pain Killer upon boarding to start the celebrations, Phil made a delicious Paella (pressure cooker!) and I brought Key Lime Pie. An absolutely wonderful night, again feeling blessed to have made such a great connection  with such awesome people - no money was exchanged for me to write that! Unfortunately Krista's sister Lisa was very under the weather and spent the day in bed missing out on the festivities. She was greatly missed, but I hear she is feeling better.

The sky opened up on us yesterday dumping record amounts of rain across Miami. I thought I could just pop into the store between downpours, a mistake, I looked like I had just got out of the pool by the time I returned to the boat.

  

We are finally going to move this morning over to No Name Harbour setting up for a potential departure on Sunday. Looking forward to a change in scenery. We will stop for fuel, pump out and fill our tanks with water on the way over.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and all the best for 2014!!