Hola ! Miami ..

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My husband and I decided to go to Miami for the Thanksgiving holiday rather than stand in queues at the stores to grab the black Friday deals. And I think it was a decision well made. Absolutely no regrets of having missed the deals !! 😉
We planned for 3 days in Miami covering Miami beach and the KeyWest . We were of the opinion that 3 days would be sufficient to spend time in Miami but only did we realise that once you are in Miami you would just lose track of time. Oh ! what a beauty Miami is ..

We took a coach(bus) from Tampa to Miami. We wanted to drive down but were warned by friends that we may end up shelling out more money on parking than anything else. And yes indeed , parking is an expensive affair in Miami !
We boarded our coach ( megabus.com) at 9 am in Tampa and reached Miami at 2:30pm in the afternoon. So we were here in Miami !! We thought of exploring the local public transport to get to our hotel. Well, I must say, this city has got some very good public transport system when compared to most of the cities in the US. May be because its a famous tourist attraction, I don't know ! You have the metro rail , metro movers , trolley buses and local city buses . But mind you, most of these options like the metro and trolley buses are limited to Miami city area and not the Miami beach.

The price of per night stay at hotels on Miami beach may leave a hole in your pocket when compared to that of hotels in downtown Miami. You can get some good deals on Miami beach hotels if you book well in advance. We had booked a hotel in Brickell (near downtown Miami). We took the metro rail from Miami intermodal centre to Brickell. Checked in at the hotel , freshened up and were out on Brickell streets at 4:30 pm. Planned to head towards Miami beach , so booked an Uber share . Oh ! forgot to mention, Uber has a ride sharing option in Miami which will cost you less for a ride. Sadly, Uber Tampa doesn't have one.

We got down near the Ocean drive and walked down to the South beach , one of the most famous beaches. Strolled on the beach for some time and clicked pics covering some amazing views that the beach had to offer. We then walked the streets of Ocean drive. That day being Thanksgiving, most of the shops / restaurants were closed. Ocean Drive with restaurants on one side of the road and the sea on the other side, offers a vibrant atmosphere. The Cuban music , food and the beach are a great combination! You also have bicycles that you can rent and ride on Miami beach. It was past dusk and we decided to head back to out hotel . On our way back in the cab, we could see the colourful Miami skyline which was a treat to the eyes. I bet it is every photographer's dream to capture the beautiful Miami skyline by night in his/ her camera. Back at the hotel, we had to sort out dinner plans. Our hotel receptionist was kind enough to point us towards a vegetarian restaurant. This restaurant, RICE , is located on the 10th ST in Bickell. It is a Lebanese style restaurant and the food - delicious !! We had a host of vegetarian options to choose from and the food was so yum. Our tummies were happy and so were we 😊.

Next day was our day out to Key West, Florida's southern most point and also part of the Florida keys. We had booked the tour online ( http://keywestdoubledecker.us/), so we just had to be at the pick up point on time. We were picked up by the bus at 7:45 am. Our trip guide Marlen was a bubbly energetic lady who gave us a lot of information about the history of Miami , the Florida keys etc. I particularly liked what she said about the founder of Miami - Julia Tuttle - "Miami is the only city in the world founded by a woman. And perhaps that's why it is so beautiful !". She also briefed us about the different activities you could do while at Key West and you could buy tickets from her for those activities. So we had snorkeling , parasailing, trolley tours and glass bottom boat tours to choose from. Well, its up to you to do one of these activities or just walk around exploring the small vibrant city. You also have options of buying tickets online for these activities which would cost you $5 - $10 lesser per ticket. We stopped for breakfast at Key Largo around 9:30 am and my husband and I were still deciding on going for snorkeling. Finally, we made up our minds and bought tickets for snorkeling which cost us $50 each.The snorkeling trip includes a 3 hour boat ride ( 1 hour to reach the snorkeling point , 1 hour for snorkeling and 1 hour to come back) and alcoholic beverages on the boat after snorkeling. Don't worry if you haven't carried any snorkeling kit with you. They provide everything from fins to mask to life jackets.

To reach Key West, we have to cross the famous 7 mile bridge with turquoise blue waters on either sides. There is also an old bridge that runs parallel to this bridge. The old bridge is now open for pedestrians only. No vehicle movement is open on that bridge.

Well, its been only two months after hurricane Irma left its devastation on these islands. We could still see things being cleared up but hats off to the authorities, most of the roads and beaches had been cleared up. Appreciate their effort and hard work. We reached Key West at 12 pm. We had time on the island till 6 pm approx 6 hrs.As soon as we got down, out tour guide guided us to our respective activities' location. Our snorkeling trip was from 1pm to 4 pm. There were so many people waiting including kids ! Around 12:40 ish we boarded the boat with half of them on the first boat and the other half on the second one. By noon , the sky had cleared out and the weather was bright and sunny as compered to the cloudy weather in the morning. The boat took off at 1 pm with the crew on board giving instructions on the 'Do's and Don'ts ' . We sailed to a point in the Gulf of Mexico where we were all ready to jump into the waters and snorkel. Don't worry, if you can't jump into the waters, you could just walk down the stairs on the boat leading into the sea. And once you are in the water, you can start floating.

This snorkeling was a different experience all together; as the one we had done in the Andaman and Nicobar islands( India) was more of the snorkeling guide holding our hands and guiding us through the waters. But here, once you are in the water, you are free to snorkel without anyone's help. However, you will have the guides keeping a watch on you but they will not be with you. I was a little scared as I entered the water but after like 10 mins , I was enjoying floating, snorkeling in the Gulf of Mexico 😉. I could see some fishes and some corals (most of them bleached) but I must say, I was mesmerized by the corals in the Indian ocean ( Andaman and Nicobar islands) in 2012. They were so beautiful and so colourful ! Snorkeling in Key West was a great experience but any day the coral sights are great in the Indian Ocean.

And yes, the corals are getting bleached due to the rise in sea temperatures because of global warming. As the seas get warmer, the corals get stressed and bleach out as a sign of stress! What a pity! Lets stop being selfish and do everything to preserve our nature and its beautiful creatures.

And after an hour, we were back on the boat and it started sailing again towards the shore. Before the boat sailed off, they had a drone fly out to check if there was anyone left out in the sea 😉 How cool is that ! We were served alcoholic beverages as promised and everyone on the boat were relaxed and chatting. We reached the shore after an hour around 4 pm. Once on the shore, we headed towards the southern most point - 90 miles to Cuba . It was a 20 mins walk and when we reached there , there was a long queue to take pictures at the buoy ! After our turn of clicking pictures, we were so hungry that we headed towards a pizza store that our trip guide had told us about - Duetto Pizza and Gelato - a small italian pizza store but the pizzas were so gooood !! It was already 5:30 pm and we started walking towards the bus station where our bus was ready to pick us up. Reached Miami at 10:30 pm and retired in bed all tired and happy about the snorkeling experience 😊 .

The third day was the city tour. We got on the Big bus ( Bigbustours.com)- the hop on / hop off. Big bus city tour offers 3 loops - The beach loop , the city loop and the Museums loop. You can take all the three loops on the same day if you have the day pass. Since we started a little late, we decided to take only the beach loop and the city loop. The beach loop takes you through the Miami beach streets and you can get down anywhere to access the beaches - the south , the middle or the North beach. On the beach loop, we got down at the Rivera stop , strolled on the beach for sometime and walked down the Collins Drive road. Got on the bus again going towards Central station to switch to the city loop. There are guides on these buses who give you live commentary of the city's history , significance etc. One interesting thing I found was the way old buildings in the Maimi beach area are restored / renovated . Well, one can do anything with the inside of the building viz. change the plan, being down the whole interior structure etc. but cannot change the outer look / elevation of the building. This is mainly done to preserve the historical significance of these buildings! Interesting !

On the city loop, since we were running late, we decided not to get down at any stops and just finish the ride. We passed through a lot of interesting areas like the beautiful and colourful graffiti of Wynwood walls , the little Havana - a mini Cuban settlement , the Vizcaya museum and gardens - a 30 bedroom villa (that's what the guide told us :O )now turned into a museum ! If you are interested in visiting sites of historical significance, then I recommend that you take the city loop or the Museum loop first ! Our coach back to Tampa was at 4:30 pm. We got down from the city loop bus at Downtown Miami and boarded the metro towards the Intermodal centre.

Well, Miami, with its high Cuban influence, is a vibrant and colourful city with lovely beaches. Thankgod ! the weather didn't play a spoilsport. You should visit Miami atleast once !

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