Enjoying Miami means staying in Miami Beach. While there are a number of decent hotels downtown, this is not where the action is, the area is unattractive and has little to offer except Bayside Marketplace, a collection of small shops and restaurants flanking the Marina. I stayed in Central Beach and not the most popular, bustling party place South Beach which suited me well. It’s easy to walk down south and stroll past Ocean Drive during dinner time when the area is packed with attractive people lounging and showing off. In addition, the entirety of Ocean Drive is by then filled with sports cars moving at a very slow pace, allowing for some good spotting. I saw some nice Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s and a McLaren that I’d never seen in the wild. It’s a fun experience however don’t expect much value for money when you sit down for dinner or a drink.
March is a great month to be in Miami Beach as the weather is just about right for the beach and the city hosts the Music Week, bringing together artists and DJ’s from all over the world. The beach is beautiful and it’s easy to spend long days in the water and on the beach chairs that most hotels offer. However, there are also a number of nice activities to do from Miami and almost every hotel will be able to book them for you. The Everglades National Park is relatively close as is the Marina from where a number of boat operators depart that offer trips past the houses of the rich and famous as well as to some other highlights. Other popular activities are 2-3 days cruises to the Bahamas or a drive past the Florida Keys, an archipelago of over 1700 small tropical islands connected by the Overseas Highway to the south of Miami (including well known Key Biscayne, Key Largo and finally Key West, only 150 km from Cuba). These islands are great for scuba diving because of the many shipwrecks, pirate treasure myths and many tropical fish and other marine life.
I opted for the Everglades tour as that was a place I had wanted to visit for a long time. Pick up is in the morning at the hotel and drop off early afternoon, leaving enough time for other things. I always thought the Everglades Park was a swamp-like area, the way it’s portrayed on television but in reality it is a 100 km wide slowly moving river. On arrival we were ushered into a large covered airboat (with fans at the back), which was a bit of a disappointment as I had wanted to do one of the more original smaller open airboats that are so iconic. They were shown on the brochure so it’s something to check when you ever plan on doing this. The smaller boats are probably more expensive though and there was nothing wrong with the large boat.
The guide took us past large patches of water covered with lilies and sawgrass and explained some survival techniques for when you find yourself stranded in the Everglades for some reason. He pointed out birds that were supposedly rare and I’ll take his word for it, but there sure were a lot of them together. Eventually we found what the trip is mainly about, the alligators, of which there are many. They are not the most dangerous animals in the Evergades, that distinction goes to the pythons and spiders. The alligators are difficult to spot at first but the boats will go in very close (float right into them is a better description) and the animals do not seem to care. All in all a very nice trip.
No visit to Miami is complete without visiting a Miami Heat basketball game in the American Airlines Arena and on Monday evening they happened to play the Denver Nuggets. I’m not a fan of basketball or the Heat but it is nice to go with the enthusiasm of the locals. I bought a Dwayne Wade home-jersey for too much money and thoroughly enjoyed the vibe of the game and fans. Taxi’s to the Arena are expensive but busses go to and from Miami Beach and the tickets for the match can be bought for as little as 30 dollars. It was no problem getting tickets at the Arena booth an hour in advance but this may depend on the importance of the game or opponent.
