We arrived in Miami with a purpose. The rest of our order from Sailing Services
was due to arrive in Miami. I can not sing the praises of Sailing Services
enough. We are so grateful that companies like this still exist. Their product
and application knowledge is extensive. The level of customer service they
provide is extraordinary. Morgan Jones not only helped ensure we ordered the
right parts, taking the time to question “unusual” sized items to ensure we
were ordering what we needed but she even took the time to meet us at a dinghy
dock to deliver our order. I can not stress enough what an extraordinary company they are. Above and beyond doesn’t even begin to describe their customer service. Working with Sailing Services was absolutely worth the stop in Miami.
Which is saying a lot, because I really don’t like Miami.
The things I admire about Miami are:
How beautiful the city is. The downtown area is absolutely lovely.
People defaulted to speaking Spanish to me on the bus and train. I loved that.
Sailing Services. Adore.
And that’s where it ends. It just seems that the city really, really does not
want transient boats here. Finding anchorages with access to a dinghy dock,
grocery store, etc was no easy task. We ended up having to choose 4 different
anchorages over the week we were there, some due to weather but a whole lot due
to yahoos in power boats circling us trying to throw wakes for fun. The salty
old boats seemed to know the rules of the road, while it appeared that the
newer the boat, the less considerate/capable the driver .
I can not think of a single restaurant, cafe or shop where we had a memorably
good experience, unlike just about every other place we have ever been.
I imagine if you were into going clubbing then Miami would likely be more
appealing.
Miami.
Meh.
Fortunately, it was time to sail to Fort Pierce and up to the Space Coast,
which is the part of Florida my family is from and where I grew up so I am
positively inclined to the area. Time to set the sails and point Ceol Mor
north, in pursuit of staying in a climate between 55-80 degrees Fahrenheit…
