|
Day 1 -5, June 17th to 21st
Miami South Beach. This typically would have been strictly a "Bahamas 2005" adventure but alas alac, in our inimitable fashion, plans never materialize the way we plan them. We were actually, trying to begin this adventure on June 1st and of course, that too did not materialize - work got in the way - I hate when that happens! However, we were finally able to get out of Cape Coral on Friday, June 17th with the truck loaded to the rafters, new freezer and all. We will be heading off to Bahamian destinations that will not be as "touristy" as others we have been to in the past, meaning the restaurant experience will be less than what we are used to and with that being said, we needed to buy a freezer for our storage room (supposed to be a third stateroom - yeah right, if you were a 5 year old child or Salty). We lug this freezer over to Miami Beach only to discover it is too big, not only to get into the storage area but to get into the main sliding cabin door! So, never mind, we'll just put it back in the truck and go buy another one. Why didn't we measure first? Another "never mind". We arrived in good time on Friday, unloaded the truck in stages (it was storming, of course) and so we began our "vacation" - just being on the boat is a vacation in itself!
On Day 2, Saturday, Barry was gone for several hours trying to track down a new (smaller) freezer and managed to get one that fit but managed also to get the drift of what it would be like to live and "shop" in Miami….very busy spot where you have to stand in line to pick out your item, stand in line to buy your item, stand in line to pick up your item and ultimately, sit in line and drive away with your item. This process can take up to four hours depending on what that item would be! We spent the next several days buying bits and pieces for the boat and ourselves in order to get ready to head out. We had originally planned to try to "cross over" on Sunday but quickly realized on Saturday that we were no way near to being organized enough with supplies, groceries, etc. to do that…not to mention "weather". Yup, the weather was not going to cooperate and in fact on Friday when we arrived, we both looked at each other (and the weather channel) and said, no way in hell are we getting out of here on Sunday with the storms they are predicting, so we were then focused on leaving on Monday and that gave us another day to get our act together. We had a great dinner on Saturday night at Joe's Stone Crab House, internationally famous and rightly so. Salty ate well the next morning!
Day 3, Sunday proved to be every bit of a weather-nightmare as was predicted and we planned on going to Radio Shack, Publix, etc. and have lunch somewhere - in the rain….no, POURING rain. We also had to adjust our departure date, yet again, to leave probably on Wednesday because of the low pressure system heading our way. Oh well…. we managed to make it to Radio Shack then lunch at "Mojito's" which is such a trendy, funky little place nestled into one of the many Southbeach courtyard streets that we only found by sheer luck and coincidence as we were looking for Radio Shack on Washington Blvd. So, we went to Mojito's and had a wonderful lunch and a cocktail (or two) and then the "torrential rains" began. This café is mainly outside seating (with awnings of course) and over-stuffed, Victorian style chairs and sofas. We were forced to move to a great couch along the outside of the Café providing us with more shelter, a great view of the happenings on the cobblestone walk, street, shops and people being plummeted with what seemed to be a waterfall cascading from the awnings. We were also forced to consume several more cocktails while we waited for the rain to stop or at least subside….damn, I hate when that happens! It was actually a very fun and entertaining day. Needless to say, we never did make it to Publix. Anyway, we head off back to the boat to a wiggling, waggling Salty Dog who has already gotten far too used to being with us ALL the time.
Day 4, Monday proved to be much the same as Sunday except there was a hint of the weather getting a little better. Salty and I did manage to get to the beach early in the morning - he loves, loves, loves the beach and running up and down chasing waves or birds or whatever. We have to get there early because once the lifeguards get there (or cops sitting in their cars having coffee and donuts watching the waves roll in), we would get chased off the beach as dogs are not allowed. What they don't realize is Salty isn't a dog! He's told me more than once he's a person for cryin' out loud and not only that, the son I never had. I have to say, judging by most of the people I've seen on Miami Beach, Salty is much more refined, polite, politically correct and much more handsome! We did manage to get a huge order of groceries for the new freezer, booze for medicinal purposes of course and so we were pretty much set for whenever we could leave - but we are ready! We were feeling pretty good about ourselves and the boat until the Air Conditioner started to act up - one of the most important things to have in the Bahamas in the summer is A/C, so this needs to be resolved ASAP! We checked and cleaned the filter which we need to do on almost a daily basis when we are out on our adventure; it was dirty but not that bad and cleaning it did not resolve the problem. Rick Brown, the mechanic seemed to think there was a blockage in the line or an air bubble so we had to drag the hose down into the engine room to flush out the line - that didn't work either. As luck would have it, there were divers on the next boat over and Barry asked them to go down to see if anything was obstructing the outflow and lo and behold, there was a nice big plastic bag attached to it - YAY it's working now!
Day 5, Tuesday was much of the same (except without the A/C problem) …rain, reading and getting ready for tomorrow and the big cross-over. We went back to the same restaurant we were at yesterday (Mojito's) because we just liked it so much and had an awesome dinner - the presentation was just as great as the meal itself. Early to bed and early to rise.
|
.
