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We arrived at Miami Beach Thursday afternoon, after transiting another bunch of bridges, although not as numerous as the section north of Ft. Lauderdale! We anchored on the Miami Beach side, just north of Belle Island on the east end of the Venetian Causeway. A nice location, an easy run to a public dock next to a police station with a park, great place to land and take the pups. A bit bumpy when boat traffic peaks, but evenings are very quiet. We spent a few days, there’s lots to see here!
We walked Lincoln Rd., famous for its shops and pedestrian mall, as the street is closed to traffic for several blocks. Lots of opportunity to people watch, we stopped at the Hofbrau House sidewalk cafe and enjoyed a beer and the sights. The arctic cold front that had plagued us for the last week finally pushed off to the east, and we have enjoyed warmer weather since our arrival in Miami.
3742A trip to South Beach “SoBe” was a good walk, and we got to see some of the Art Deco hotels that have been renovated and give the area its famous look. Shops, restaurants, people, quite a busy place! Lots of sleek cars, here’s a new Rolls convertible tooling down Collins Ave. There was another Rolls parked curbside, and we saw lots of other high-end cars, Bentley, Rolls, Maserati, Lamboughini, and a slew of pimped-out Benz’s and Beamers. Quite a concentration of unusual vehicles.
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We also took the dinghy up Collins Canal which runs from the waterway where we were anchored all the way into Indian Creek and North Miami Beach. There is a Publix right next to the canal, a popular spot with cruisers since there’s only a couple of hundred feed trom the store to the canal. Makes schlepping groceries a lot less of a pain!! The canal is unique, not particularly beautiful, since it is a haven for graffitti and homeless, but it was an interesting ride!Ther water is fairly clear, so you can watch fish darting around under the boat, and also see all the trash in the canal. Shopping carts, trash, and the like. Barb saw a $5 bill on the bottom (yeah, right!!) on our 1st trip, and sure enough, on a return trip later, she spotted it again. I watched in wonder as she fished it out with an oar handle. We stopped and gave the fiver to one of the homeless guys who unfailingly waved and gave us a broad smile each time we passed him. He was thrilled!
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Sunday I decided I’d had enough aggravation with the outboard’s hesitation and balking when cold, so it was time to remove the carburetor and see what was going on with that. I was told by the mechanic way up in New Smyrna Beach that the 4 strokes really don’t like ethanol, and despite using an additive, the Yamaha was not liking its diet! So the carburetor came off, and I dismantled it, finding a teensy bit of gunk lodged in the idle jet. It made perfect sense of the rough idle and poor transition to higher rpms. Reassembly and testing followed, bearing out my suspicion that the problem was in fact caused by the fuel, Much improved, it idles much better, and most of the hesitation is gone, only a bit when cold, which is acceptable.
Kelly Krout on 30 Jan 2009 at 11:42 AM #
Stopping in to say “hi.” Still loving your photos, Steve. Our snow from 2 days ago is still frozen on the ground – the roads are clear tho.
Kelly
maerin on 30 Jan 2009 at 5:35 PM #
Thanks! I’ve been slacking a bit since the weather has been warmer. Yet another cold front moved through today, so we were rained out at the beach and it turned sharply cooler again, however no snow in the forecast, thankfully!