Trip #12 Stuart, FL - Miami Beach, FL

Length of Trip: 10 days

Nautical Miles Traveled: 125

Hours of Cruising: 16 hours

Longest Cruising Day:  5 hours, 35 NM, Stuart, FL - Palm Beach, FL

Pleasant Surprise: Pump out at the dock in Ft. Lauderdale

Biggest Disappointment: The weather the first four days of the trip

Favorite Destination:  Palm Beach, FL

Favorite Activity:  City tour in classic car, Miami Beach, FL

Favorite Meal:  Renaldo’s, Palm Beach, FL

It was another nice day and so I decided to go on a long walk down Ocean Avenue and Collins from the marina to the Fontainebleau Hotel where I will be returning for the Miami boat show in March.  The 3 1/2 mile trek was too far to walk for Matt so we made arrangements to meet at the restaurant by the pool, Le Cote, for lunch at noon.  The Fontainebleau opened in 1954 and is considered one of the most architecturally significant hotels Miami Beach.  They have since added two new towers which I thought spoiled the charm and the pool was filled with 20-somethings as it was clearly the place to be with electronic music reverberating throughout the pool area.  I guess this proves I’m getting old.  

After lunch we hurried back for our private tour of South Beach in a 1959 Buick Skylark through a tour operator called American Dreams I had read about on Trip Advisor.  The driver was quite the character and provided lots of interesting facts about the history of Miami Beach and South Beach in particular.  

After a busy day, we had an easy dinner at the busy Monty’s Restaurant right at the marina and just a few steps from the boat.

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Our final day began with a trip back (north) on the Intercoastal to Dania Beach, FL, a city just south of Ft. Lauderdale, where the largest Beneteau dealer in FL has one of their offices and where we will leave the boat for sale. We left early so I could both finish packing and meet the photographer the broker hired to photograph the boat. 

I was able to finish packing up just before the photographer arrived and by 3:00 was in an Uber XL on my way back to the U-Haul to store the final boxes.  With everything packed up on the boat, we decided to spend our final night in a Holiday Inn Express a mile from the Ft. Lauderdale airport.  Fortunately there was a decent restaurant, Dockers, a short walk from the hotel.  It was an early night with our flight departing at 7:30 the next morning.

Our final destination brought us to South Beach Miami.  The Miami Beach marina is just a few blocks from Ocean Drive and the famous Art Deco hotel and restaurant district containing over 900 restored buildings from this period.  Normally Ocean is open to traffic but there was a two day street fair with artists booth lining the beach promenade. 

Choosing a restaurant from the dozens of restaurants with patios along Ocean was a difficult decision but we settled on a Cuban Restaurant, Lario’s on the Beach, figuring we should sample some of the cuisine for which South Beach is famous.  We didn’t know at the time but later learned the restaurant was owned by Gloria Estefan and her husband, one of the early investors in the South Beach revival.  We each tried the Cuban Sampler plate which was excellent and a great way to start our time in Miami.  

The sun was poking through the clouds as we made the short 15 mile run from Boca to Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  Because Matt and I knew Lauderdale well from several past boats shows, we had planned today as our day to pack up the majority of the boat “stuff” that I want to keep and move to the next boat.  We pulled into the Bahia Mar right on schedule at 11:00.  While I began to organize my equipment, Matt grabbed a sandwich at the deli onsite.  Then it was off to U-Haul, our one-stop shop providing the boxes and packing materials, a van to move the boxes, and a self storage unit all in one place just 15 minutes from the marina.  

As usual I underestimated the time and effort involved in packing up the boat and so we were only about 75% done when we needed to leave before the facility closed to return the van and store everything we packed.  It worked out fine because after heading to Miami we will be returning to Ft. Lauderdale to leave the boat at yacht broker’s docks in adjacent Dania Beach and can finish the final packing at that time.  

It was a long day so we relaxed on the flybridge before walking down the beach walk to Wet Willies for a frozen drink prior to dinner at an Italian alfresco restaurant called Spazio we were attracted to by live music playing in the patio.  

We left early from Palm Beach to cruise to our next destination, Boca Raton, FL.  The weather wasn’t bad so we ran the 25 miles from the flybridge.  I was looking forward to this destination because we were staying at the Boca Raton Resort and Club opened in 1926.  After tying up the boat we quickly went to go check out the resort and found ourselves at the Shaka Pool Bar where it was Taco Tuesday.  Between the delicious tacos and Island Oasis churning ou frozen concoctions, before we knew it it was time for us to hustle back to the boat to meet the broker whom I selected to sell the Latitude Adjustment as we look to trade into a used Swift Trawler more appropriate for our next cruising area, the Pacific Northwest.  

After our meeting we took the hotel shuttle to a completely separate part of the resort on the Atlantic known as the Boca Beach Club for drink (the historic part of the hotel is on the Intercoastal). Thereafter there were several options for dinner within the resort and we settled on 501 East for some “casual American fare”.

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As our second day at the Boca resort began Matt and I decided that having done plenty of drinking on our trip to date we decided to atone a bit with a morning workout at the fully equipped gym at the resort.  After our workout the sun was out and so some time at the pool was an easy decision.  When we had lunch yesterday I couldn’t help but notice the FlowRide Wave simulator allowing guests to “surf” down a slope of constantly moving water.  Now I am not one to try new things but I thought between knowing how to water ski and wake surf I might just be able to do it.  After 10 minutes of instruction and watching a few guests I clutched the my instructor as he slid me from the edge and held on to him as I got my balance.  While it took a few tries, the photos are proof even an old dog can learn new a trick.  

My day of exercise was not yet over as I decided to walk to the Beach Club and back and enjoy the beautiful day.  I then met back up with Matt for drinks and dinner at The Blue, a restaurant on the top of a 22 story tower built adjacent to the historic buildings of the resort. 

While the weather was threatening, Matt and I put on a lightweight shell and decided to temp Mother Nature by booking a two hour Segway tour of West Palm and the island of Palm Beach.  While we did not book a private tour, no one else arrived for the 10:30 tour so the tour was just us and our guide.  The tour was fun and we learned a lot about the history of Palm Beach.  As we rode our Segway across the bridge connecting West Palm with the island of Palm Beach we were told our credit score increased 200 points as the same real estate on the island of Palm Beach would be 3 times or more the price of West Palm.  While I found it hard to believe, our guide claimed a few of the homes along the Intercoastal we Segway-ed by sold for in excess of $50M.

After the tour we had a quick lunch at the outdoor bar/restaurant ER Bradley’s before heading to a very Floridian activity, the dog track known as Palm Beach Kennel Club.  Not surprisingly neither Matt nor I had been to a dog track and were pleasantly surprised by the condition of the track.  We went down to the paddock, read the racing form, and made our best guess on which dogs were going to win.  Needless to say, we came away about $50 lighter after the 6 races we watched.  

No trip to Palm Beach is complete with a stop at the Breakers, a hotel built by railroad tycoon Henry Flagler in 1896 whose Florida East Coast Railway connected Jacksonville to Key West and all points in between along the east coast of Florida.  There we had a drink before returning to the boat, changing and walking to dinner at Taboo, another restaurant on Worth Avenue that looked interesting when we walked the Avenue the night before.  Again we were not disappointed.  

Matt and I had a smooth connection through Dallas arriving right on schedule at Palm Beach, just a 45 minutes drive to Hinckley Yacht Services in Stuart, FL where Timi and I had last left the boat prior to heading to Disney World.  We fired up the boat just before dark to make the short 200 yard trip across the Manatee Pocket to the Pirate’s Cove Resort where I knew Matt would enjoy the Tiki Bar just steps from the dock.

After tying up the Boat, unpacking and enjoying a couple of drinks in the Tiki Bar, we grabbed our umbrellas in case of rain and walked the four blocks to the Twisted Tuna, a lively restaurant and bar recommended to us over the food at the Pirate’s Cove.  Unlike the Tiki Bar where Matt and I were the only customers, the Tuna was busy both in the restaurant and bar.  Live music was playing which made for a very enjoyable dinner.  

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The next day we slept in, provisioned the boat and after an early lunch headed for Palm Beach.  The trip along the ICW was restricted to a fast idle for most of the trip requiring nearly 5 hours to make the 35 mile trip.  While the weather was threatening, the slow speed allowed us to make most of the trip comfortably from the flybridge.  We arrived about 4:50 which was lucky because the Palm Beach Town Docks is a municipal marina so we could forget about seeing any staff after 5:00.  A very unhappy dockhand shuffled out to meet us just as a drizzle began.  

I had never been to Palm Beach but knew about the tony Worth Avenue, a street just a few blocks from our dock lined with high end shops and restaurants.  We walked up and down both sides of the street surveying the shops and options for dinner.  We decided on the quaint and elegant Italian restaurant, Renaldo’s and we were not disappointed.