January 12th- Miami Marine Stadium to Coconut Grove, FL

Saturday night in the stadium was entertaining. It basically turned into a big party zone. We had about 1/2 dozen boats rafted up near us. They all had similar but different dance music playing. It was all over by 10:00pm. The rest of the night was quiet.

Ollie had a great time at the stadium.

We needed to get provisions (healthy food) before heading further south so we took a short sail over to Coconut Grove. It’s part of the city of Miami. We had a choice of grabbing a mooring at the City’s Dinner Key Marina. It has good moorings but they are somewhat exposed to the wind (still blowing around 15 to 20). We took a chance and called the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. They have limited transient moorings available to sailboats only (under 40′). We got lucky. We were escorted into a really protected mooring field right in The Grove. It is one of the tightest mooring fields I’ve ever been in. Comparable only to Vineyard Haven (inside the breakwater). If Catalpa were a few feet longer we wouldn’t fit. I was informed they were turning away most other boats due to lack of space. I had to push a boat out of the way while Lynne tied to the mooring.

A sea of masts.

January 13th and 14th- Coconut Grove, FL

We’re feeling quite cosmopolitan. The sailing club has 24 hour launch service to bring us to shore. Lynne and Ollie have been going to a cafe in the morning (the Captain has been sleeping in). We’ve toured much of Coconut Grove. Had more conch chowder and shrimp. We even had our laundry done. To clarify: we didn’t do it!

Coconut Grove was also the home of yacht designer, Ralph Munroe (mentioned in a previous post). His home (The Barnacle) is now a national park. I now have a Barnacle hat.

The workshop.

Marine railway for hauling boats out.

A gazebo with a proa on the ceiling. A proa is a South Seas sailing canoe. This is a replica of one Munroe built. Apparently they are very fast.

We toured the waterfront of course. Miami City hall is surrounded by a park and Dinner Key Marina. It used to be the Pan American terminal building for sea planes.

What the hell is that??? I must not be in New England any more!

There are many parks in the area. Ollie had a ton of exercise and met many people and dogs.

We saw a lot of sailing going on. A nice change. These were the smallest. They are remotely controlled models.