Fort Lauderdale to Miami

Our time at Bernardo's dock in Fort Lauderdale was lovely. We had beautiful views of sunsets from the the cockpit as we sipped wine....

We had a friendly neighbor named "Mr Blue Wiggles" who liked to wear sunglasses. There was volleyball on the beach...

 And most of the beach wasn't crowded at all!

We took our dinghy up the New River one day and saw lots of ridiculously large homes and some odd boats...

Back at Bernardo's, here are the 7 or 8 boats tied up alongside each other, Neverland being the smallest of the bunch, second from the left.

While at the dock we fixed a propane leak. I kept smelling propane in the stern locker where the two tanks are stored, which made me pretty nervous.  A leak can cause a horrific fire/explosion if the propane gets ignited accidentally with a spark. It will blow up your boat and probably kill you. We identified where the leak was by applying 50% dish detergent and 50% water until a little mass of bubbles formed (seen at the top of the photo below) and then bought a new pigtail to replace the leaking one between the regulator and tank. Boats are a constant source of problems to solve. Problems often seem to crop up on weekends or holidays where the places with the replacement parts you need are closed. And those places are often far enough away to require renting a car to get what you need, once the store is open. Or you have to wait to have new parts delivered to you. A big chunk of what "living the dream" is all about is keeping everything working the way it has to.  

One day we went to visit the Bonnett House and Gardens. We weren't terribly impressed with the garden or house but here are a few photos anyway.

This flowering shrub is called "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" because the blooms first appear for one day as deep purple, then the next day turn lilac, then the next day turn white.

 Here is the house - not particularly attractive  :-)

On the way home, as we walked over a bridge, we saw some iguanas sunning themselves below us. This one was about 5 feet long.

We took several dinghy rides on the numerous canals that criss-cross Fort Lauderdale. When I posted this on Instagram as the Halloween Boat (black and orange), our friend Hayden commented "I hate that when my boat blocks the water view from my house"

Some of the catamarans here are so wide they almost block traffic in the canals. We have two captain friends, Ursula and Dane, who delivered a huge catamaran this past year and remarked that it felt like driving a wobbly tennis court. I can believe it.

Eventually it was time to leave Lauderdale, so on a beautiful sunny day with a north wind behind us, we exited the inlet and sailed the short distance to Miami along the coast. We arrived in Miami just as a large barge was making its way out Government Cut. There was a lot of traffic in both directions as we entered the harbor where huge ships are being loaded and unloaded and cruise ships await their passengers.

 Here's the barge that we had to avoid on our way into the harbor.

 And a cruise ship - there were 4 or 5 of these in a row.

We anchored a few days ago just off the Venetian Causeway near Belle Isle, which is pretty close to South Beach. It's easy to get around by dinghy, on foot, and using public transportation like buses and Metrorail. Of course, South Beach is known for its Art Deco buildings, like this one...

 We plan to visit the Wolfsonian Museum - more photos to come for that.

Yesterday we walked through the nearby outdoor space for the Holocaust Memorial, always a sobering experience.

 This is part of the large monument above

 A curved walkway around the central pool has etched names of Jews who died in the Holocaust and etched photos and descriptions of the events that cost 6 million lives.

On a brighter note, we then took a bus to Calle Ocho in Little Havana for an afternoon of wandering through brilliant colors everywhere we looked and and Cuban music at every step.

Lots of shops

 This guy sat all afternoon outside one of the cigar stores, smoking and watching folks go by.

Our favorite place was the outdoor plaza for dominos and chess games. These guys were SERIOUS players!

We had lunch in this bar/restaurant. At the bar, the glasses were filled with mint and all lined up for making Mojitos

 This was lunch - delicious!

 There are lots of murals on the walls along the streets

 A dedication of sorts to Frank in one bar/art gallery

 More murals

And I loved these! Every trash can and planter was decorated with Cuban themes - here are a few examples.

Gotta got help Jim get the propeller free from what looks like a floating piece of cloth that's gotten itself wrapped around the prop in the wicked current here. Never a dull moment.  More to come as we explore more of Miami!