Sailing in Miami and the Keys - May 2012

"The Album Cover"

We had discussed booking a sailing trip around the Greek isles with some of our friends.  However, Shawna gets sea sick quite easily so before we spend a ton of money on this trip, we decided to do a trial run on a shorter trip to see if she could survive a sail boat by using the patch.  We booked a 4 day trip leaving out of Miami for 6 of us (Keith, Shawna, John, JoAnna, Kim, Jonathan) and a captain on a 52 foot sail boat, called the Knight at Sea.

Accommodations:
Hyatt Place - We arrived late on Thursday evening and stayed at the Hyatt Place near the airport. 

Sail Boat - The boat sleeps 6 people quite comfortably.  Kim and Jonathan had the bedroom at the back of the boat, while Keith and Shawna had the bedroom at the front of the boat and John and JoAnna had the bunk beds right outside our bedroom.  The captain slept on the sofa in the common area.  The common area had a small kitchen with a table that easily sat all of us for dinner.  At the top of the boat (where we spent most of our time), we had space either in the front or the back of the boat for sunning and drinking - two coolers were always packed with drinks for us.  There was also a covered area where we could escape the sun and where we often ate breakfast and lunch.  The boat also had snorkeling equipment for all of us and two kayaks.

The Knight at Sea Boat

Activities:

The Stash

Keith was already in Miami for work so he bought all of the goods for our trip.  The captain (Captain Conrad) already took care of food and soft drinks so Keith stocked up on beer, liquor, some snacks and a ton of sunscreen!

We boarded the boat on Friday morning at the Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove and after a quick safety briefing, we set off sailing.  With beer in hand and sunscreen applied, we settled into relaxation mode, reading, napping, sunning, chatting and laughing with the occasional dolphin sighting.

We stopped a few places for swimming and snorkeling including Garden Cove - Key Largo (where we also spent the first night), North Dry Rocks/Christ Statue (where we saw a statue of Christ that was sunk in the water), Rodrigues Key (where we spent the second night), Molasses Reef, and Caesar's Creek - Islandia (where we spent the last night).  We saw lots of cool fish and Kim and Jonathan spotted a sting ray.  On the final day, before we returned to the dock, we stopped at Nixon Beach Sandbar in Key Biscayne where there were a ton of boats docked with people partying. 

Aaahh..relaxing!

In the evening, after dinner, the women were tortured by the men kicking their butts while we played Catch Phrase.  While the women didn't like losing (in particular JoAnna), we did laugh at some new words that we formed: ass certain (was supposed to be ascertain) and snap city (was supposed to be velocity).  This is what happens after a day of baking in the sun and drinking!

Nixon Beach Sandbar in Key Biscayne

In all, the trip was amazing -- truly relaxing and beautiful.  And Shawna was stoked that she never got sick!  I guess this means we are going to Greece!

Power Floats or Noodles?

Restaurants:
Sail Boat - We ate all of our meals on the boat.  Breakfast consisted of bagels, fruit, and yogurt.  Lunch included chicken caesar salad, sandwiches, shrimp salad and burgers.  We had plenty of snacks including watermelon, chips and salsa, hummus and cheese and crackers.  And dinner included steak with mashed potatoes, fish with rice, and chicken with risotto.  We also had dessert every night which was either red velvet cake or apple pie.

For more photos of this trip: