Miami and Caribbean trip recap
We just got back from our vacation late last night. I got everything unpacked and now have some time to update my blog with pics and brief recaps of what we did in Miami and on the cruise to Cayman Islands and Jamaica. Here we go!
March 23
Woke up super early and got a ride to the airport at 6:30 from Geoff's dad. Flew to Toronto and got the good news that I got a job offer working with the Dept of Family Medicine at the UofC. Job starts next week... more on that later. Flight to Miami wasn't as long as expected and we got in at about 7 pm. The temp at Miami at night is always perfect... about 25-28 C, humid, nice breeze, perfect weather for jeans and a t-shirt.
Picked up our rental car from Hertz (red Chevy Cobalt) and started driving towards Miami Beach to get to our hotel. First impressions of Miami: very glitzy, lots of lights, lots of rich people with really nice cars, lots of cops, very Miami Vice. We took the wrong road and ended up going to South Beach instead of Miami Beach.
Since it was Friday night all the tourists and kids on Spring Break were out partying and clubbing in South Beach. Traffic was a bitch! Plus we had to get to the north part of the island which was surprisingly far away. But the upside was that we got to see the glitz of South Beach on our first night in Miami. Finally got to our hotel room, fought with the shower which fluctuated between freezing cold and scalding hot, then crashed.
March 24
Too tired to get up early to go the Everglades today so we stuck around Miami instead. Went to Bayside Mall on Biscayne Blvd to do some shopping for Leslie and to check out the Port of Miami.
Had lunch (on Les's recommendation) at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company - the Forrest Gump theme restaurant. Was fun and the food was good.
After lunch we went to Parrot Jungle Island (Miami's #1 attraction). Was super expensive to get in. Everything in Miami is overpriced from hotels, to drinks, to admission fees. We went in anyway and got to feed some cute lovebirds, saw an albino alligator as well as other parrots, tortoises, monkeys, and apes.
For dinner we went to another Miami institution - Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House, a NYC style Jewish deli. The portion size was massive! This place was all about character and atmosphere.
March 25
Went to the Everglades today to see some gators!! It was very different than I imagined it would be. The everglades looked very much like the Alberta prairies (especially cuz it was dry season) but instead of solid ground, it's all water underneath. We took a tram tour to the Shark Valley Observation Tower and learned a lot about the history of the place. Every body of water such as a pond or culvert had gators. You could even see gators from your car because the gators also live in the canal running along the highway. We also saw several species of birds, turtles, we even saw a pelican with a dead snake in its mouth!
Most of the animal pics are on my Nikon SLR, so once I get those developed I'll be able to post them on the blog... till then, these will have to do.
After lunch we drove towards Cypress National Preserve but decided to turn around so that we could make it to Monkey Jungle instead.
They had so many different species of monkeys at the Zoo and it was tons of fun to watch them. There were orangutans and gibbons, crab-eating macaques, black-handed spider monkeys, woolly spider monkey, mandrills, Diana monkeys, guerezas, cotton-top tamarins, and ring-tailed lemurs. The macaques got to run around more free than some of the other species while the humans walked through caged tunnels.
March 26
Geoff's 27th Birthday!
We went to the Ancient Spanish Monastery in the morning before we had to return the car. The grounds were very pretty and peaceful. Apparently this is a very popular location for weddings in Miami. We also saw the cutest raccoon here doing a very raccoonish thing: stealing food from the cats!
After returning the car we went to the Port of Miami to get on our cruise boat - Carnival Imagination. Explored the boat a bit and got settled into our room. It was small but cozy and we marvelled over the efficient design of the room. I didn't get seasick and was able to enjoy the great food in the dining hall. Our table mates were Ashley and Ben from North Carolina and they were on their honeymoon! Went to the casino after dinner, lost some money on a game that ate quarters, but won it back on the slots and made about $40 profit. Not bad!
March 27
A relaxing day. Didn't do much except relax on deck, read our books, jump into the pool to cool off, eat, nap, eat more. The 24 hr ice cream machine was killer, we ate way too much ice cream on the trip. Got dressed up for the Captain's Dinner.
March 28
Cayman Islands Day! We wanted to do a tour of George Town on our own plus visit the #1 tourist attraction on the island, the turtle farm. Unfortunately our self-guided tour was cut short because the National Museum had closed down for renovations because of the hurricane and hadn't reopened. Had an excellent lunch at Corita's Copper Kettle, a local Caymanian restaurant. Got the recommendation from a local person because I didn't want to follow the rest of the tourists to some generic restaurant.
Then we took a bus to the Turtle Farm and discovered that admission was a whopping 50 USD/person! We decided that looking at turtles was not worth 100 USD. So we ended up walking towards Hell! There were even devil trees on the road to Hell! Got some postcards (how could we not?) and took some pictures of the black limestone formations that gave Hell its name. The day wasn't a total loss since we got lots of souvenir shopping done.
March 29
Jamaica Day!
We wanted to go horseback riding as well as visit Dunn's River Falls (Jamaica's #1 attraction) and we wanted to do it independently. However the local guides scared us into thinking that the only way to do the horseback riding was to organize it through our cruise excursions. So we ended up having to go back to the ship and signing up for an excursion which is always more expensive than doing it ourselves. Oh well. It also meant that we didn't have time to do both, so we didn't get a chance to see the Falls. We made up for it by going shopping! We bought some Appleton Estates rum for really cheap and also went to a mall to buy some more souvenirs.
The horseback riding was so much fun and I think it was worth the money. We rode for about 45 mins into a nice cove, changed into swim suits, and then rode bareback into the ocean at full gallop! I got the laziest horse named Whiskey for the normal ride, but got a good horse for the ride into the ocean! So much fun!!
After the ride, I tried some jerk chicken for the first time. I was really looking forward to this for the entire trip. It was really spicy but so good... the flavour of the jerk sauce reminded me of tamarind. It was worth the wait! :)
March 30
Last full day on the cruise. We did more relaxing on deck, played some mini golf (I tied with Geoff), gained more weight by eating frequently, and took some pics all over the ship.
March 31
Last breakfast on the cruise and then checked out. Sad to leave our cozy room and the nice staff on the cruise. Got ripped off by a taxi driver to take us less than 2 km from the port to our hotel. Dropped bags off and then did a walking tour of a couple different neighbourhoods in Miami. Took the Metromover which is kinda like a 1 car skytrain, but it doesn't have a driver and it's free! Walked a really long 15 blocks to Little Havana to check out the Cuban scene in Miami. Miami reminds me a lot of Quebec because of the number of non-English speakers. We met many people who spoke Spanish only! It was a quiet Sat in Little Havana and there wasn't much to see. The best part was a little park known as Domino Park where elderly men play chess and dominoes.
We took the bus to South Beach to do some sight-seeing in the ritziest part of town. Got suckered into going to a 1.5 hr time share presentation and found out that it wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought to buy a time share. Of course we didn't buy but we did get a $100 gift certificate for a restaurant on South Beach. Went there for dinner and kinda went overboard... had a couple drinks (almost as expensive as the meal), salad, fajitas, and king crab legs. So yummy! We got a $150 meal for $50! :) Justifies the painfully long time share presentation.
Being Sat night on South Beach, the young and rich were out showing off their nice rides. We saw several Lamborginis, Corvettes, Porsche Boxsters, Mercedes-Benz, and 1 Lotus. They couldn't drive more than 10 mph so it was like a parade of nice cars.
I was feeling land sick all day after getting off the cruise boat so we pretty much went back to the hotel and crashed. Our hotel was in a great location opposite the Bayside Mall but the rooms were so crappy. I couldn't believe how much we paid for that piece of crap.
April 1
Last day in Miami! Here's a view of Bayside and Geoffrey the Gorilla from our hotel room window.
We spent most of our last day in Miami at a couple of museums - Southern Florida Historical Museum and the Miami Art Museum. They were both free on Sundays and also conveniently located right across the square from each other.
For our last dinner in Miami we went to a latin restaurant in Bayside. Enjoyed a mojito, a traditional Cuban drink with rum, mint, and lime and listened to some live music.
April 2
Bye bye Miami! Hello Calgary!
March 23
Woke up super early and got a ride to the airport at 6:30 from Geoff's dad. Flew to Toronto and got the good news that I got a job offer working with the Dept of Family Medicine at the UofC. Job starts next week... more on that later. Flight to Miami wasn't as long as expected and we got in at about 7 pm. The temp at Miami at night is always perfect... about 25-28 C, humid, nice breeze, perfect weather for jeans and a t-shirt.
Picked up our rental car from Hertz (red Chevy Cobalt) and started driving towards Miami Beach to get to our hotel. First impressions of Miami: very glitzy, lots of lights, lots of rich people with really nice cars, lots of cops, very Miami Vice. We took the wrong road and ended up going to South Beach instead of Miami Beach.
Since it was Friday night all the tourists and kids on Spring Break were out partying and clubbing in South Beach. Traffic was a bitch! Plus we had to get to the north part of the island which was surprisingly far away. But the upside was that we got to see the glitz of South Beach on our first night in Miami. Finally got to our hotel room, fought with the shower which fluctuated between freezing cold and scalding hot, then crashed.
March 24
Too tired to get up early to go the Everglades today so we stuck around Miami instead. Went to Bayside Mall on Biscayne Blvd to do some shopping for Leslie and to check out the Port of Miami.
Had lunch (on Les's recommendation) at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company - the Forrest Gump theme restaurant. Was fun and the food was good.
After lunch we went to Parrot Jungle Island (Miami's #1 attraction). Was super expensive to get in. Everything in Miami is overpriced from hotels, to drinks, to admission fees. We went in anyway and got to feed some cute lovebirds, saw an albino alligator as well as other parrots, tortoises, monkeys, and apes.
For dinner we went to another Miami institution - Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House, a NYC style Jewish deli. The portion size was massive! This place was all about character and atmosphere.
March 25
Went to the Everglades today to see some gators!! It was very different than I imagined it would be. The everglades looked very much like the Alberta prairies (especially cuz it was dry season) but instead of solid ground, it's all water underneath. We took a tram tour to the Shark Valley Observation Tower and learned a lot about the history of the place. Every body of water such as a pond or culvert had gators. You could even see gators from your car because the gators also live in the canal running along the highway. We also saw several species of birds, turtles, we even saw a pelican with a dead snake in its mouth!
Most of the animal pics are on my Nikon SLR, so once I get those developed I'll be able to post them on the blog... till then, these will have to do.
After lunch we drove towards Cypress National Preserve but decided to turn around so that we could make it to Monkey Jungle instead.
They had so many different species of monkeys at the Zoo and it was tons of fun to watch them. There were orangutans and gibbons, crab-eating macaques, black-handed spider monkeys, woolly spider monkey, mandrills, Diana monkeys, guerezas, cotton-top tamarins, and ring-tailed lemurs. The macaques got to run around more free than some of the other species while the humans walked through caged tunnels.
March 26
Geoff's 27th Birthday!
We went to the Ancient Spanish Monastery in the morning before we had to return the car. The grounds were very pretty and peaceful. Apparently this is a very popular location for weddings in Miami. We also saw the cutest raccoon here doing a very raccoonish thing: stealing food from the cats!
After returning the car we went to the Port of Miami to get on our cruise boat - Carnival Imagination. Explored the boat a bit and got settled into our room. It was small but cozy and we marvelled over the efficient design of the room. I didn't get seasick and was able to enjoy the great food in the dining hall. Our table mates were Ashley and Ben from North Carolina and they were on their honeymoon! Went to the casino after dinner, lost some money on a game that ate quarters, but won it back on the slots and made about $40 profit. Not bad!
March 27
A relaxing day. Didn't do much except relax on deck, read our books, jump into the pool to cool off, eat, nap, eat more. The 24 hr ice cream machine was killer, we ate way too much ice cream on the trip. Got dressed up for the Captain's Dinner.
March 28
Cayman Islands Day! We wanted to do a tour of George Town on our own plus visit the #1 tourist attraction on the island, the turtle farm. Unfortunately our self-guided tour was cut short because the National Museum had closed down for renovations because of the hurricane and hadn't reopened. Had an excellent lunch at Corita's Copper Kettle, a local Caymanian restaurant. Got the recommendation from a local person because I didn't want to follow the rest of the tourists to some generic restaurant.
Then we took a bus to the Turtle Farm and discovered that admission was a whopping 50 USD/person! We decided that looking at turtles was not worth 100 USD. So we ended up walking towards Hell! There were even devil trees on the road to Hell! Got some postcards (how could we not?) and took some pictures of the black limestone formations that gave Hell its name. The day wasn't a total loss since we got lots of souvenir shopping done.
March 29
Jamaica Day!
We wanted to go horseback riding as well as visit Dunn's River Falls (Jamaica's #1 attraction) and we wanted to do it independently. However the local guides scared us into thinking that the only way to do the horseback riding was to organize it through our cruise excursions. So we ended up having to go back to the ship and signing up for an excursion which is always more expensive than doing it ourselves. Oh well. It also meant that we didn't have time to do both, so we didn't get a chance to see the Falls. We made up for it by going shopping! We bought some Appleton Estates rum for really cheap and also went to a mall to buy some more souvenirs.
The horseback riding was so much fun and I think it was worth the money. We rode for about 45 mins into a nice cove, changed into swim suits, and then rode bareback into the ocean at full gallop! I got the laziest horse named Whiskey for the normal ride, but got a good horse for the ride into the ocean! So much fun!!
After the ride, I tried some jerk chicken for the first time. I was really looking forward to this for the entire trip. It was really spicy but so good... the flavour of the jerk sauce reminded me of tamarind. It was worth the wait! :)
March 30
Last full day on the cruise. We did more relaxing on deck, played some mini golf (I tied with Geoff), gained more weight by eating frequently, and took some pics all over the ship.
March 31
Last breakfast on the cruise and then checked out. Sad to leave our cozy room and the nice staff on the cruise. Got ripped off by a taxi driver to take us less than 2 km from the port to our hotel. Dropped bags off and then did a walking tour of a couple different neighbourhoods in Miami. Took the Metromover which is kinda like a 1 car skytrain, but it doesn't have a driver and it's free! Walked a really long 15 blocks to Little Havana to check out the Cuban scene in Miami. Miami reminds me a lot of Quebec because of the number of non-English speakers. We met many people who spoke Spanish only! It was a quiet Sat in Little Havana and there wasn't much to see. The best part was a little park known as Domino Park where elderly men play chess and dominoes.
We took the bus to South Beach to do some sight-seeing in the ritziest part of town. Got suckered into going to a 1.5 hr time share presentation and found out that it wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought to buy a time share. Of course we didn't buy but we did get a $100 gift certificate for a restaurant on South Beach. Went there for dinner and kinda went overboard... had a couple drinks (almost as expensive as the meal), salad, fajitas, and king crab legs. So yummy! We got a $150 meal for $50! :) Justifies the painfully long time share presentation.
Being Sat night on South Beach, the young and rich were out showing off their nice rides. We saw several Lamborginis, Corvettes, Porsche Boxsters, Mercedes-Benz, and 1 Lotus. They couldn't drive more than 10 mph so it was like a parade of nice cars.
I was feeling land sick all day after getting off the cruise boat so we pretty much went back to the hotel and crashed. Our hotel was in a great location opposite the Bayside Mall but the rooms were so crappy. I couldn't believe how much we paid for that piece of crap.
April 1
Last day in Miami! Here's a view of Bayside and Geoffrey the Gorilla from our hotel room window.
We spent most of our last day in Miami at a couple of museums - Southern Florida Historical Museum and the Miami Art Museum. They were both free on Sundays and also conveniently located right across the square from each other.
For our last dinner in Miami we went to a latin restaurant in Bayside. Enjoyed a mojito, a traditional Cuban drink with rum, mint, and lime and listened to some live music.
April 2
Bye bye Miami! Hello Calgary!
posted by Avatamsaka Monastery Choir at 1:42 PM
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