Day 184 Dinner Key Marina, Miami

Miami Skyline from "Noah Genda"










Tom at Monty's









Diann at Monty's










Monty's











Diann at Chart House Restaurant









Tom/Diann at Chart House entrance










Miami City Hall, Coconut Grove, FL adjacent to Dinner Key Marina










Coconut Grove Sailing Club from clubhouse upper deck restaurant










Marina Office









We arrived at Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove around 12:00 on Friday afternoon for a 3 night stay. After getting secured and plugged in we washed the grimy salt off the boat and then relaxed and had some lunch on the back of the boat looking at the hundreds of boats in the harbor. After lunch, the sky turned very dark and threatening and soon it was a windy and a heavy downpour. We were so happy to be in a slip in our nice dry boat.

This is the largest marina in Florida with 582 boat slips and 225 mooring balls. For the amount of boats docked here and since it is a week-end, we are surprised at how quiet the harbor is. A neighbor on a sailboat next to us said people can no longer afford fuel. We do see a few sailors going in and out of the harbor, however, and we have sat at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club to observe all the activity. We enjoy riding our bikes around the boardwalk which extends several blocks due to the large number of piers.

The slip fee here at Dinner Key is $2.50 foot with no WIFI and cable is available only if you are in a slip where the connection isn’t broken. The laundry only has 6 washers and 4 dryers for the large amount of people but it hasn’t been a problem to find one available. Cocowalk Grove Village is a short distance away with many upscale stores and restaurants. It seems no matter what time of the day there is always great live music on the second balcony. Today Tom needed a cable TV splitter to provide us cable TV from our kind next door neighbor, Court. Court drove his boat down from Connecticut in February to live on board while he works here in Miami. He offered to take Tom to Home Depot and West Marine. I’ve enjoyed the stay here but it’s time to move on tomorrow to Los Olas Marina in Ft Lauderdale.

We rode bicycles around town, stopped again at the sailing club for a beverage and watched the action in the harbor, rode to “Fresh Market” for provisions and also onto Monty’s to look at boats, harbor and restaurant facility. Nice place.
Noah Genda is sitting where we can watch the airplanes come into Miami International Airport. Tom has timed it to where every 2 minutes we see another plane arrive looking like it is moving in slow motion.

I couldn’t decide whether to have dinner tonight at the Elegant Chart House Restaurant or take our chances on a birthday dinner in Ft Lauderdale. We are both tired from the daylight savings time change and from all the bike riding today so I elected to make enchiladas for dinner and elected a birthday dinner on my birthday. I tried a new recipe out of the cook book Tom purchased before our departure written by a Michigan boater, Sandie Parker from Elk Rapids, Michigan for recipes specifically on board. The title of the book is “Recipes From Sandie’s Galley” and has proven to be a very worthwhile contribution to our Galley.
Happy Birthday to me tomorrow.