Miami Beach

We planned two days of our trip to explore Miami Beach and South Beach during our trip to the boat show. We had a great time.

From Strictly Sail Miami .

The skies were bright and sunny both days. It was warm...in the 80's each day.

We arrived about 10 each morning and wandered up and down the beach with our "toes in the water and our ass in the sand, not a care in the world, a cold beer in our hand." Well, maybe not the cold beer on the beach.

Suz wanted to start her summer tan so brought along her swim suit and beach towel. She played in the surf and laid in the sun while I took pictures and people watched.

I saw all types of people: young kids and old couples; tall and short; thin and not so thin; some young ladies that looked great in skimpy (or one piece) bikinis and some who should have worn a big t-shirt.

Several sailboats sailed by, as did a flotilla of little boats. A couple of para-sail rides toured the area each day. Container ships and cruise liners come an went.

Three hours of sun was more than enough for us. We explored the little shops and galleries of South Beach before heading home.

We had a late lunch on Sunday at the old Waldorf Hotel on Ocean drive. They had tables on the patio. We ordered a Hawaii pizza and Suz had the "small" margarita. We laughed when we got the check...$13 for the pizza and $18 for the margarita. :-) Suz said it was worth it!

From Strictly Sail Miami

We may not be able to attend Strictly Sail Miami each year, but it was sure nice to enjoy the sun for a few days.

Strictly Sail Miami

Brrrr....it's cold here in Missouri. I looked at my frequent flyer miles and discovered Suz and I could fly to Miami for the Strictly Sail Boat show. It was over the President's Day weekend, so Suz had an extra day.

From Strictly Sail Miami

We flew into Miami early Thursday morning with plenty of time to attend the boat show in the afternoon. Many of the same vendors were there is were at Chicago. The big difference was that the boats were in slips in the marina. Beneteau, Catalina and others were there as in Chicago. But Hylas, Passport and the big catamarans were also there.

A Hylas 70 (center cockpit) was one of the first boats we visited. It was huge! The wenches were the size of a 5 gallon bucket and hydraulic powered. The master stateroom was as big as our bedroom. It even had a climate controlled wine cabinet. I was surprised to see it had a roller furling main as did all the really big sailboats at the show. The owners (wife and husband) sailed the 70 ft boat with just the two of them unless they were crossing blue water and overnight passages. Then they had at least one other crew member. We were amazed they could sail a boat that size with just by themselves.

Passport had 50 and 60 ft sailboats on display. They were beautiful. The Passport 60 had three large cabins and a huge galley. We would be happy to sail the world in either of these.

We were surprised to see a center cockpit Tartan 5300. It had a great "utility room" built in with a stacking washer and dryer, wet locker for wet suits and storage for dive gear including 4 tanks. A compressor was included!

We toured several big catamarans and decided they had lots of room, but were not what we wanted.

Dinner at Lombardi's Italian ended a great first day.