No internet for a couple of days so this post is late. We crossed Tuesday, leaving Bimini at 5:30 AM under a 3/4 full moon. The gulf stream was quiet, no wind at all we didn't even put up a sail. We entered Miami harbour before noon. Miami harbour is impressive. It goes on and on, full of massive cranes, container ships, cruise ships and luxury boats. It took us more than an hour and a half to get from the entrance to our marina. Love this marina, such nice helpful people and the facilities have improved this year. Brand new front loading washing machines and luxurious showers.
Yesterday we rented a car for a day and took care of topping up our Virgin mobile internet (can't be done online with a Canadian credit card), visited customs and Jose Serrano our friend in the marine office. Unfortunately we were not able to renew our cruising licence until it expires (even a few days early is not OK!), but Jim, our boat partner will be able to do it without us. I had a haircut at the Miami Beach marina and we had lunch over looking the harbour. Tom spent the time waiting for me looking at the fancy boats. We can never get enough of boat watching.
Later in the afternoon we visited the seabird rescue station at our marina. This is a facility that provides medical services to injured or sick seaibirds. People bring them in, or call and the facility personnel will go out and pick up birds. In addition, they feed a wild population of pelicans, herons, egrets, many of them previous patients. They are always scanning them for injuries. As we watched the afternoon feeding they noticed a laceration in one bird's pouch and he was quickly and efficiently taken into the facility. It is entirely funded by donations, so please donate at pelicanharbor.org.
Jim and Roz arrived last evening and we went out for dinner at Boteco, a Brazilian restaurant nearby. That is our second time there and the food is great, inexpensive too. Brazilian steak is better than any other, I wish I knew what they do to it. Nice to see Jim and Roz again, we are so compatible. We are hoping they will come up to Ontario this summer to visit at our new cabin on the French River.
This morning we finished the boat cleaning and then we moved off and they moved on. Always a stressful procedure, just like moving house. It was 1PM before we got away. We have Jim's car and we will drive it back to his mother's place in St.Mary's, offload a lot of stufff into her garage, and pack the rest of our things into our own car. We should be on our way home tomorrow. Another year done, see you next year.