Upside or Downside in Coconut Grove?
30 March 2014
Wo;eu
The “water taxi” guys at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club are very friendly, which is a good thing if your staying there, because you get to see them a lot! We elected to stay on a mooring at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club instead of the huge municipal moorings by Dinner Key because the municipal moorings are very open to whatever seas are prevailing on Biscayne Bay – there is no break wall or other protection of any kind. The municipal moorings are said to be very uncomfortable in any wind over 12 knots.
Ah – our first thoughts about the upside of staying in Coconut Grove: The moorings at the sailing club are tucked in much more comfortably, and have some protection from the wave action from the bay. This is one of the big advantages of staying there. When we arrived a marina manager/dockhand – greeted us in the water taxi and directed us right to our mooring. This was a great service. Additionally, we just happened to arrive at the time that the famous Coconut Grove Art Show was running and were given free admittance since the marina was surrounded by the art show. The weather was warm, sunny, and very welcoming.
Then again – our first thoughts about the downside of staying in Coconut Grove: While we (as we almost always do) found the other transient boats to be friendly and helpful the club members (locals who keep their boats there) were not very friendly nor were they helpful. The bathrooms and showers for transients were filthy – the second worst we have encountered since we left Illinois (only the marina in Dunkirk, New York was worse.) Little pieces of toilet paper on the floor in one of the men’s showers, which I noticed on our first night there, were still present when we spent our last night there almost a week later. It smelled of raw sewage. Merry encountered several large cockroaches – or as they say in the south Palmetto Bugs – on the floor in the toilet stall, which caused her to quickly abandon - EWWW!! using the facilities at the sailing club. The women’s facilities were filthy with the shower stalls coated with inch think black mildew growing along the shower walls. When taking a shower Merry used the 3 sailors’ rules when using public facilities - do-not to breathe deeply, wear flip flops, and do not accidently bump into the walls. Our first or second day we used Dimples to go ashore, and were told by an officious older gentleman that he was the Club’s facilities manager, and that we were not allowed to come ashore in our dinghy to their docks, but were required to use the free water taxi. Though he didn’t explain at the time – the reason was so that the sailing classes could set up their sailing dinghies at the dock with out be encumbered by other dinghies.
The water taxis were convenient and accessible, so it was really no problem. We would simply hail them on our hand held radio and they would quickly arrive. The facilities manager came into use the men’s bathroom a few days later, while I was finishing my morning shower. Apparently, the conditions he observed (unlike the sight of little Dimples tied to one of the docks) did not bother him, as a result it was never cleaned up.
The downsides however are crabby quibbles. We more than liked the “town” of Coconut Grove, which is actually a neighborhood of Miami. The huge art far went on for the first three days we were there. This was great because it took three days to go up and down the countless rows of art booths. Some of the art, including photography, sculptures, paining, and prints was magnificent. Additionally, there were lots of food vendors and being Florida most of it did not hold up to our high Chicago standards. One low point was observing a hot dog vendor putting KETCHUP on hotdogs! These people are animals.
By contrast, we had lunch twice at a wonderful restaurant named Jacquars. We dined outside “sidewalk café style”. The wine, food, and service were wonderful.
The neighborhood also had a small mall, with a multiplex movie theater. This is a rare treat for cruising sailors. Alas, the movies they were showing were either ones we had already seen, or ones we didn’t want to see. We ended up seeing Monuments Men, a badly executed film about an interesting subject – the special US Army unit charged with protecting and recovering great art during World War II.
There is a fabulous little bookstore in Coconut Grove that we visited frequently and Merry even found a hairdresser to “clean her up” – her words not mine! There was a Fresh Market Grocery store nearby, as well as a Starbucks, and really most everything we needed or wanted we had easy access to. The only exception was that the sailing club had no fuel dock so we filled Les Miserables fuel tank from the three five gallon jugs we keep on deck, then I motored in Dimples about a mile or so to a larger marina to refill the cans. I ended up having to make two trips – which I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed.
So all in all, looking back, the upside of Coconut Grove certainly won us over. Should we have the opportunity to return we know what to expect – a good time!