Arrived at 9.00 and off the ship before 10.00. It is looking like a hot day and as we don't have a tour arranged we thought that we'd get going before it got too hot. Well it already was, so we managed to find some some shade as we walked along the waterfront to Battery Park. It was then a stroll up King Street, which has all the historic houses - beautifully maintained I must add. Interesting that the street was lined with garden maintenance vehicles - old habits, no one does gardening themselves.
As usual coffee was calling, but as with New York, Americans do not seem to "do" the cafe scene. Vivian enquired at a health shop and was pointed in the direction of either the hotel (which was the whole block), or just around the corner. We elected to go around the corner to this great french cafe, Cafe Framboise, and yes the owners were French. The pastries and cakes were to die for and the coffee was good too, but out of "to go" cups.
We had established that there was a free shuttle bus and thought that that would give us a better overview of the town. Well, by the time we walked to the bus stop and waited 20 minutes for the bus we may as well have just kept walking. The area we travelled through was uninspiring and nothing like the area we'd been through.
It was only 10 minutes back along King Street to Market Street and thankfully many of the shops were airconditioned, with doors open! The markets take up 3 blocks, running straight back to the ship. Very crowded and there was nothing that we were at all interested in, so we exited halfway through and found a lovely bistro, where we indulged in traditional crabcakes and a glass of wine. Suitably recharged, we made it back to the ship around 3.30.
We have been to Charleston before and did the "slave trade" thing and had no desire to repeat. Funny thing is that I had a feeling that there was more of the town to see but today confirmed that it is pretty compact and what we've seen is as good as it gets. Although we were the only ship in port, the place was packed with tourists - predominantly Americans on their short vacations. Local entertainment by way of a 5 piece bluegrass band in the Princess Theatre before they were kicked off as we sailed away at 11.00.
Day 79 - 18 August - at sea
Another glorious day at sea, with the sea like a lake most of the day. It is hot however and we are thankful for the breeze on our balcony. It was also nice to be able to sleep in a bit, with bridge back to 1.15.
Day 80 - 19 August - Miami
Although we were all docked by 9.00, it was almost 10.00 before the local authorities gave us clearance to disembark. Miami is touted as the world's biggest cruise ship base - I say base, rather than terminal, as there are numerous terminals for individual cruise companies. While they can take 6 cruise ships nose to tail, we were only 3 today, with Norwegian & Carnival ships already berthed when we arrived.
The terminal facilities are nonexistent, with no tourist information, no maps, no shops, no shuttles. We were a bit put out when we only found this out last night. Clearly it is just an (dis) embarkation port and ships such as ours are a rarity. Incidentally both the other ships had sailed before 5.00pm. Our thoughts were that we'd catch a cab and do Miami by taxi.
With a degree of luck (& good planning), we were with the first 100 or so to disembark and as we exited the terminal the Big Bus Co. were still selling Hoho tickets, including a shuttle back to the ship. Although we had originally dismissed the idea, when we looked at the map we could see that this option would enable us to see everything we wanted - mainly the Vizcaya museum & Miami Beach, which are miles apart.
There were 6 buses waiting at the terminal and fortunately the one we got on was doing the "red" route through Miami town (as I call it to differentiate from Miami Beach). It was a bonus that it was Sunday, as traffic was not really an issue. We had a drive through the various districts that make up the city - most of them have Cuban roots and it would be fair to say that these areas have not developed to the same extent as much the exclusive coastal areas we later went through.
Wynyard walk - street art area
Part way around the loop we got off at the Vizcaya Museum house & gardens. We were the only ones from our bus to get off at this stop, so clearly most others planned to do the whole route. The property is the remaining part of 180 acre farm and Viscaya was the winter estate of Chicago businessman James Deering. The main house was built between 1914-15 inspired by Italian estates. The formal gardens were added in 1922. Being a seaside property on Biscayne Bay, it has seen its fair share of hurricanes.
As a general comment, clearly Miami is very low-lying and *very* exposed to the elements, particularly hurricanes, which have regularly devastated the area. There is still evidence of the most recent Hurricane Gita, but to be fair they seem to accept these things and get right on rebuilding, even if they know that the next hurricane season (about now!) could reap devastation again.
As luck would have it, we only had to wait for less than 20 minutes until the next bus arrived. So we completed the circuit through Coconut Grove (expensive) & Little Havana (more traditional Cuban), back to the depot in downtown Miami. By now it was around midday and we had to wait another 20 minutes in the heat for the "blue" bus to Miami Beach.
Going to Miami Beach involves traversing the causeway and bridge adjacent to the port. I only comment on this as the wind in exposed areas was extreme, but still the sun shone strongly. South Beach was an eye opener, with crowds thronging the cafe/bar area, causing massive traffic holdups. This is also the area of the greatest number of Art Deco buildings in the world (according to them! ). We were unable to see the waterfront from the bus however and had to wait for the first stop, a couple of blocks back (city rules).
We walked back to the main road and had good lunch & a beer - they don't do wine here, just massive cocktails! Oh yes, expensive, massive cocktails. We were pretty well the only Europeans in the place and I must say that it was rocking and everyone was super friendly. Concious of the time, we skipped across the road, through the beach activity area, through the sand dunes and onto the beach. Wow, white sand, sea (no surf) and people as far as the eye could see in both directions. Of course most had rented chairs, umbrellas and little shade tents, so we just had to walk down through the throng to get to the water's edge.
No, we didn't dip our toes in, which was just as well as we got back to our bus stop with less than 5 minutes until the bus arrived. We completed the circuit, heading north through the extensive/expensive hotel district until we turned around and followed the waterway towards the causeway. This area overlooks the palatial estates of the rich & famous as well as their super boats.
Heading back to downtown Miami, I was keeping my eyes on the ever increasing black clouds and being aware of the inevitable afternoon rain! We were really lucky, as none eventuated and we hit the main depot right on 5.00, which happened to be the time the shuttle took off for the ship (on the hour only 3.00 - 6.00). It has certainly been our best experience of a Hoho and we achieved far more than what we had hoped to.
Day 81 - 20 August - Key West
We were due in at 9.00, but Captain came on the PA and reported that we'd be an hour late, due to the unusually strong Gulf Stream. He had previously changed our departure time by 2 hours for the same reason, but obviously the current is actually even stronger than anticipated. We had nothing planned for the day, but are aware of numerous transport options on shore.
So off the ship not long after 10.00 and there is no terminal here, just some booths selling tours & activities. We are really berthed right in town, unlike Miami yesterday. All we were looking for was a map! Eventually got a map from the Hoho trolley people, but baulked at the cost so headed down to the Conch train, who had a better product for us. Not surprisingly the cost was more than quoted on the website before we left home 😐. International tourists!!!
The little train trip through Key West took 90 minutes and we were very happy that we saw all the major attractions/buildings etc. We also got to the southern most point of mainland USA - just 90 miles from Cuba. We did not feel the need to get off at any time and in any event, the whole of the old town is very walkable-and many did just that. Walked through lower Duval Street (main street), which is full of cafes/bars etc. Good to see one entrepreneurial bar was flying both NZ & Aussie flags.
Carolines seemed a reasonable place, so we grabbed some (much cheaper) food & drink. Vivian had fried prawns & I had a Cuban sandwich, followed by a shared Key Lime Pie - obviously we had to have the local dish. After lunch, in the heat of the afternoon, we headed back but Vivian needed to buy a new diary. She had found out that the pharmacy, a block away from the ship had stationery, so in we went.
We had been in a similar pharmacy in Charleston, so knew that they stocked "everything", so in addition to the diary, we picked up a couple of bottles of wine. Must be good for us, because we got them from the pharmacy! The odd thing was that they had mainly NZ white wines, which even the Aussies were buying. We topped up with reasonable Caifornian red however
Under our revised timetable we were scheduled to sail at 9.00, with all aboard at 8.30. Well at 8.35 the Captain advised that we were still 3 passengers short. Thankfully they turned up by 8.50 and it must have been the quickest ever pull up of the gangway, as we pushed off exactly at 9.00. So goodbye USA.
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