Early February: We finally left old and new friends at Vero Beach and started south. We’re traveling with our friends George and Jackie who are aboard Sea Otter II, and plan to cruise with them for the next several months.

We stopped for a weekend in Palm Beach Gardens before continuing to Miami Beach. (Slow boats like Dory and Sea Otter II don’t travel much on weekends. The hot shots on their “go fast” boats are all over the waterways, and they care little that their high speed wakes will rock other boats tremendously.)

There is some conspicuous consumption here. In a 45 minute walk from where we landed the dinghy to a nearby ocean beach park, we were passed by three Rolls Royces. We also wandered by the first grocery store we’ve ever seen that had valet parking and a courtesy golf-cart shuttle from the parking area to the grocery store entrance — all of 100 feet. 

The sights along the waterway from Vero to Miami are amazing. There are homes that rival small hotels in size, and odd decorations every where we looked.

Doesn’t everyone have a full-sized model of a helicopter on their roof?

Below: I guess these two decorations might represent love and hate. We’re not sure who the owner of the second statue might have been mad at.

Late February: We anchored in Miami Beach, and spent the better part of two days seeing about 1/3 of the boat show. We also met up with Mojo, Vagabond, Longtayle, Rusty Nail, and a few other cruising boats we’d met earlier.

Take a look at where we anchored in Miami Beach, at about the middle of that photo.

We stayed in Miami Beach for a few more days, completing minor errands and waiting for good weather to move on.