December in Miami

We arrived in Miami at the beginning of December, and docked in Matheson Hammock Marina for the month. We had to move off the boat while we were there, since the Marina was in a park which closed at sundown and did not allow anyone on the premises after that. So we had to move off the boat, and found that this was not easy. The best thing about being land based was that it allowed us to spend a lot more time with family than we had been able to in the past and did give us certain conveniences, such as access to cars, shopping and the internet. The biggest disadvantage was that we had to battle the birds, who considered any boat left alone for any period of time to be theirs. Into The Blue has never been cleaned so often and so thoroughly as it was over this month.

Being in Miami with a boat to care for gave us a different view of the city than we had in other visits. We drove through parts of Miami we had never seen before, and found our way to less expensive marine stores, the existence of which we learned about as we explored, searching for economical places to buy the things we needed. At Sailorman we learned about Sailing Services, at Sailing Services we learned about Shell Lumber (an unexpected source of marine hardware as well as lumber), driving to and from Shell Lumber we discovered Crook and Crook. We did pass West Marine from time to time, and realized that there were three stores very close to each other along US1. We met another Alberg sailor, who was waiting to have the hurricane damage to his boat fixed, and talked about racing on Biscayne Bay and the habits of birds.

Ah yes, the birds. There were pelicans, and cormorants and anhingas and starlings and terns and gulls. The pelicans had taken over one of the hurricane damaged boats sitting a couple of docks down from us, and roosted happily on its deck and superstructure. The cormorants were happy to roost on the pilings, plus any convenient mast, spreader or pulpits. The terns had taken over the bimini on one of the powerboats, and were resting there in groups. The gulls landed anywhere, including sailcovers and dodgers. The starlings went where the larger birds did not go, landing all over any boat. All the birds except the starlings were eagerly waiting for the arrival of boats returning from fishing expeditions to the launch ramps not far away. And they all left their calling cards behind wherever they roosted. After the first time we went back, we covered the sail cover and deck beneath with tarps. At least we did not care if they were damaged.

On this visit we were very aware of hurricane damage. From the blue-tarp covered roofs to the piles of debris still waiting to be removed to the trees just recovering their greenery, the evidence of what had happened was everywhere. It was odd to see some trees and houses seeminlgy completely untouched close beside others which were damaged. Some of our family members were in the process of repairing damaged fences and shoring up surviving trees, while others had more to deal with.

Christmas was a reason to celebrate, to finish up repair work and put up lights and decorations. The Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade was in this spirit, and a lot of people turned out to cheer and enjoy the spectacle - including us. By Christmas we had finished cleaning out residual mildew from damp, cold days, and the boat was presentable enough to take out those family members who were interested and had the time. Then it was time to re-provision and get ready for the next part of out trip...