Day 15 – Monday, April 1, 2019 Miami, Florida

We woke up in Miami with it still dark and this Miami skylight was magnificent.

We had breakfast at the Terrace Café. Jim had his usual eggs and bacon and brioche. Patricia had muesli and strawberries.

At 8:00 AM we had to go through immigration in Miami. Afterwords we caught our tour which was Millionaires Miami. There were 43 of us on the bus that our tour guide, Ed, said we were all going to be millionaires at the end of the tour.

We left the port driving through South Beach, Collins Drive and Ocean Drive.

We saw the home where Giovanni Versace was killed which is now a luxury hotel.

We saw places where Don Johnson filmed Miami Vice.

We saw lots of Art Deco Buildings on Ocean Avenue.

We drove by the famous Fontainebleau Hotel.

Fancy cars…

We saw the Miami Heat’s stadium and the Miami Mariners baseball stadium.

We fell in love with the Miami skyline with such beautiful tall buildings.

The weather was pleasant and our guide, Ed, was very thorough with his explanations of the city past and present. He talked the whole 7 1/2 hour tour.

We drove by an old area of town that has been renovated. It is called Wynwood and there are lots of murals painted on the buildings. This area in the past has not been an area that you would feel comfortable walking in because of the unsavory characters but it has been refurbished and is growing into a new up and coming area.

We boarded a sightseeing boat at Biscayne Bay for a relaxing one and a half hour cruise. We passed the port of Miami, where our cruise ship was and there were many other cruise ships. We saw mansion after mansion in the luxurious neighborhoods on Palm Island, Hibiscus Island and Star Island. We saw where Gloria Estefan, Sean P Diddy Combs and Al Capone lives or lived as well as other notable people that are famous in their own right. Some of the boats outside their homes were bigger than the houses.

Fisher Island is an exclusive private island that costs $250,000 to join plus additional annual dues of $20,000. We were told Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, Andre Agassi all have condominiums there. You have to take a helicopter, ferry or swim to get there.

At Noon we went to a restaurant called The Knife which was a Argentinean buffet. There was various salads and many things to eat including chicken, meat and sausage.

We got back on the bus for a drive to visit the Everglades Safari Park and ride an airboat which was loud and fast for a 30 minute tour. We explored nature’s River of Grass on an Eco-Adventure tour. Our guide described to us the wonders of this unique ecosystem and the native and exotic wildlife that inhabit it. We were on the hunt for alligators and found a few to look at.

Afterwards we went into a walking museum that was filled with crocodile exhibits.

We boarded the bus back to the port. On our way back we saw areas that are being rebuilt from the Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina. Some of the houses still had blue tarps on the roofs. Our guide said the area was hit hard and no electricity for 2 weeks where he lived.

At 6:30 PM we left Miami. We found out that there is some weather issues in Cape Hatteras that have 16-20 feet waves accompanied by gale force winds so they have had to revise our itinerary to ensure our safety. We will not be going to the port in Norfolk, Virginia on April 3. We will have a stop in Port Canaveral tomorrow, April 2 and then we’ll be in New York on April 4 at 4 PM.

For dinner we had reservations at 7:30 PM at the Polo Grill. Jim had lobster bisque, but he didn’t like the soup, a Waldorf salad, a 7 oz medium filet charred black which he loved and steak fries. Patricia had clam chowder, tomato and onion salad, mushrooms and blackened salmon with sauce. For dessert we shared a seven layer dark chocolate cake.