January 9th – 11th: Miami Marine Stadium, Virginia Key, FL

The wind has been gusting up to 30 knots out of the East (and SE) for the past few days. This anchorage is sheltered from the wind. We can hear the wind whistling through the upper rigging but the harbor is largely flat. There are many boats anchored in here but it is a big space and could fit more. After some of the tight anchorages we’ve been in, over the past few days, it seems capacious. There are a number of unoccupied, derelict, boats. This is a problem we’ve noticed in most of our travels through Florida. Some of them seem like they’d be decent “fixer uppers”.

Virginia Key is connected by a long causeway to Miami. While we can see the city in the distance, there really isn’t much here. On one side we have a peninsula. It has a long jogging trail. Good for walking Olliver. We had to curtail some of his athletic activity. Much of the ground here is broken coral. His pads take a beating when he starts flying through the air.

Blocking the wind…

Please throw it.

On the other side we have a variety of things. There is a big crew installing floating piers for the Miami Boat Show.

Then there is the grand stand for the Miami Marine Stadium.

The stadium was originally named the Ralph Munroe Marine Stadium (a better name in my opinion). Commodore Munroe was the Nat Herreshoff of Florida. He was friends with Herreshoff. For those that don’t follow early yacht design (who does?), these guys were giants. Captain Nat designed sleek, deep keeled, ocean boats. Munroe designed sharpies, suited to Florida’s shallow waters. Munroe was an early settler of Miami and lived in Coconut Grove. Enough about boat designers.

The Stadium was built in 1963 specifically for powerboat races. Many famous performers had concerts here. It was closed down and condemned in 1992. There have been various attempts to restore the stadium.

Next to that is the Marine Stadium Marina (run by the city). We’ve been going over there daily for water, ice, and provisions. Not much in the way of provisions. Mostly beer, wine, and potato chips. They don’t have regular milk but they do have both vanilla and strawberry flavored milk. This morning I had vanilla milk with coffee and strawberry milk with cereal. Probably not the most healthiest choice. They make a great Cuban sandwich.

There is a rowing club whose rowing teams compete in the Olympics. We see them rowing back and forth or jogging on the trail.

Then there is the Miami skyline across the bay.

Today is Saturday so we expect the harbor might get a little wild. We are going to head over to Coconut Grove either tomorrow or Monday when the wind subsides a little.

A big longboat filled with paddlers. The water is very blue, even when the sky is grey.

This little island looks beautiful but it is a popular party spot so we didn’t anchor near it.