Gym's Ramblings: Finally Back in the First World

In the quiet pre-dawn hours of April fools Day, as Gym slept like a stone, the ship sailed into Biscayne Bay and quietly docked in Miami. She was so expertly handled as it tied up at the cruise ship terminal on Dodge Island, that our travelers did not stir. Normally, our hero and his lovely wife enjoy watching the progress of the ship entering a new port. But they were totally oblivious on this particular occasion. Gym was first to recognize that the ship was completely still. With his dear wife still slumbering peacefully, Gym slipped out of bed and opened the curtains a tiny bit to see where they were. The scene laid out in front of the ship was the stunning skyline of Downtown Miami - a welcoming sight, in a special part of America. The intrepid couple had returned to the First World, after steaming 2500 nautical miles along the mostly third world nations of Latin America.

Why does Gym think this is a special place? Because in recent years, Miami has become a second home of sorts. It can be explained by Gym's rekindled affair with the Miami Dolphins. Gym and his son Chris, an even more rabid fan of the team, have actually flown to Miami on several occasions in recent years to see the team play. And when the team is losing, how fortunate that both father and son have picked to be fans of the team located in the city with the most agreeable winter weather. These annual pilgrimages are great father-son bonding occasions, that also provide a reliable escape from the Canadian winter, whether the 'Fins' win or lose. Sometimes they take Mom on the annual trip and sometimes they don't but for father and son, Miami is a special place. Gym can honestly say that he has spent more time in Miami than anywhere else in the United States.

On this trip, Gym and his lovely wife would not be able to walk the boardwalk in South Beach, see the Art Deco along Oceanfront Drive or visit their favorite restaurant, Cecconi's. They would only be there for a day and wanted to try something new.

Neither of our travelers had ever been on an air-boat and they had signed on to tour the Everglades in just such a craft. This would mean crossing Miami in a motor coach and returning to the same highway that father and son had driven to go fishing, on the far west side of the Everglades, just a few weeks before. The tour company was located about halfway across the Everglades in perfect alligator habitat. And if seeing alligators was the goal, they were very successful indeed. They saw a whole lot of alligators and some other cool stuff too. As for the air-boats though, both of our heroes were somewhat disappointed. These boats held dozens of people and although they operated like the smaller boats you see in films, the ride was not that special. They went off about 10 minutes south of the highway into the seagrass, made an abrupt u-turn and headed back to the highway where the less-than inspiring tour guide/driver collected his tip money and got ready for the next boat-load of tourists. All was not lost though, as the mediocre boat-ride was followed up by a kind of neat alligator variety show. The guide in this case, really knew his stuff. He educated us on everything-alligator, called some alligators by name and let us pat a baby alligator. At least that latter part of the excursion was worth the bus trip.

During our stay in Miami we learned of a change in itinerary from the Captain. Yet again mother nature would cause us to have to miss a stop that we were really looking forward to. This would be the third cruise on the same ship where this happened. Because of a big storm off Cape Hatteras, we would miss a planned docking in Norfolk, Virginia. At that port we had planned to re-visit Williamsburg, Virginia. That stop was scrubbed for the next night and we would instead inch up the Florida coastline and spend 24 hours in Port Canaveral to wait out the storm. Then we would make the long run to our final destination in New York City. The last leg would be one long passage up the eastern seaboard chasing the storm. The intrepid couple was very sad about Williamsburg, a magical place that Gym had taken his dear wife on a business trip some 20 years before.

As Cape Canaveral was just a parking place the next post will be about NYC.