It was a good choice to stay along Ocean Drive in South Beach. What’s not to like about SoBe? It is reputed to be one of the hippest neighborhoods in the US. There’s the breeze coming in from the ocean, coconut trees swaying in the wind, delicious food in the sidewalk cafes, plus the ultra-iconic art deco architecture in this district.

The Art Deco District of Miami beach has the largest concentration of 1920s and 1930s resort architecture in the US. They exude a sense of carefree retro-esque fun with their candy-colors, neon lights and smooth geometric and floral lines and motifs. You can’t come to SoBe without appreciating the unique atmosphere!

Colony Hotel - A classic old-timer here

Essex Hotel - Another retro hotel 

Classic car

 Another classic car

Miami is the southernmost city of Florida, USA. The name conjures up images of sunny beaches, tanned people, coconut trees and loads of fun and great food. Coming from chilly New York, Miami’s all-year-round sub-tropical weather was a big welcome. It was really nice to see trees and greenery everywhere instead of endless streets of skyscrapers.

Ocean Drive along South Beach

The Venetian Pool in Coral Gables is a charming, one-of-a-kind swimming pool. It is formed from a coral rock quarry in 1923 and has coral rock caves. Its recycled water comes from the subterranean aquifer that flows beneath it.

Soaking in the atmosphere at the Venetian Pool

After the Venetian Pool we had a look at the Biltmore Hotel. This legendary hotel, which was built in 1926, has seen guests such as Al Capone and was used as a set for the movie Bad Boys.

The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables has the largest swimming pool in the continental United States.

Travel Tips:

• Statistically speaking, Miami is the most likely major city in the world to be struck by a hurricane. The most likely time for Miami to be hit by hurricanes is during the peak of the Cape Verde season which is mid-August through the end of September. So try not to go during the hurricane season

• Many restaurant wait staff don’t speak or understand much English - not surprising considering Miami has a large Spanish-speaking population. It helps to know a few spoken phrases in Spanish.

• If you don’t want to have to rent a car, it’s best to stay in South Beach where cafes, restaurants, hotels, clubs are aplenty.

• Taxi rides are quite expensive. Almost all cab companies in Miami have fixed rates for travel into the barrier islands of Miami Beach and other beach and nightclub communities. A map showing the cost per location can be seen inside the cab. For example, we were charged the fixed rate of US$32 (excluding tips) to travel from the Miami airport to our hotel in South Beach and the journey took only 15 minutes. The charge is the same regardless of the pick-up location.

These days we have been extremely busy with work, that’s why we haven’t been updating the blog as frequently. Now we are in Monterrey, Mexico but we won’t be talking about that yet. We want to share with you the wonderful experience we had in the Florida Everglades last Wednesday while we were in Miami, USA.

The Everglades is a unique wetland ecosystem in southern Florida, USA, and it is one of the world’s largest and slowest moving river. It was formed over thousands of years from the overflow of heavy rainfall into Lake Okeechobee and covers 5,000 square miles. It is known as the River of Grass because of its predominance of sawgrass. The lush vegetation of the Everglades also consists of mangrove, cypress, palms, pines and hardwood hammocks. The Everglades is known for its rich wildlife - hundreds of bird species, alligators, crocodiles, black bears, the endangered Florida panther, marine life can all be found here. It is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles can be found to co-exist together.

Airboat

We went on an airboat ride through the Everglades and found it to be a great refreshing change from urban cities. The airboat is a good way of exploring and observing the wildlife - the propeller is situated above the boat so there’s no harm to marine animals as it moves along the slow-moving swamp.

Adult and young alligators, turtles, various species of egrets, herons, including the great blue heron - we saw them all here in the wild. It would have been great to be able to stay in the Everglades for a few days to absorb all the beauty but the only accommodation there was destroyed by a hurricane two years ago.

There are over 200,000 alligators in the Everglades and 1.5 million in the state of Florida. The American crocodile is given an endangered status here while the alligator is classified as threatened.

The great blue heron is the biggest wading bird in the Everglades

Wild alligator

Big white egret

We’ve spent only a short 3 days here in Miami and today we’re flying off to Mexico. Since it’s been such a short time we haven’t had much time yet to put together the videos of our stay, but we’ll prepare them as soon as we get more time.

While here we got to see some of the neighborhoods in Miami, took a cruise around the different islands that make up Miami, went out to see wildlife in the Everglades, and got to witness a total lunar eclipse! Here are a few photos and look out for our video in a future post.

Beautiful heron in the Everglades

An Art Deco lifeguard tower on Miami Beach 

Lunar Eclipse