Up relatively early for us and down stairs for breakfast. Sue and Steve then guided us down to South Beach where we got to put our toes in the Atlantic Ocean. The water was amazingly warm. As warm as the water in northern Queensland. Lots of choppy waves and wind picking up.
We then wandered South along the boardwalk further down South Beach (we are told this is where the South Beach diet was invented) looking for a specific clock. Goodness, there are a lot of posers in this place and some who should think about not giving up their day jobs.
Back to the hotel where Sue told us we had walked 3.5 miles. Was wondering why the feet felt sore as it was all on hard pavement in unsuitable sandals. A couple of the beautifully restored Art Deco buildings that South Beach is renowned for.
So, quick trip to the boat (sorry, that is meant to be ship) via taxi where we gave the taxi driver a good giggle as we were discussing how much we were going to fleece the casino on the boat.
Embarkation was pretty smooth and quick. All the rooms were still being cleaned so we went up to the Garden Café for some lunch. Pretty soon after they called that all rooms were done so went in search of our cabin which is on the 12th floor pretty much up the front near the pointy bit of the boat. It is very spacious with lots of storage area.
Did the usual Fras and Di thing of personalizing it and neatly putting all our stuff away. It was then down to life boat drill in the Irish pub….hmmm….unusual choice. It was super serious for half an hour and we were pleased to hear our captain is Norwegian and not Italian.
Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening acquainting ourselves with the layout of the ship. One of the most surprising finds was that there is no observation deck which is usually at the front of the boat. The boat feels closed in and they have used a lot of dark colours and with very few windows it feels like the whole place is a casino.
We said our goodbyes to Miami and headed out the channel on time at 5.00pm towards the Azores which should take us six days.
Overnight we cruised through the Bahamas and out into the Atlantic. There were quite a few ships around us and we counted six at one point. The wind is strong but the boat has a side to side movement which is very manageable.
Rowkin Rovings Blog 