Port 41 Miami, Florida

A little after 4 AM on Mar 23rd, 2022, we entered Miami’s harbor. A tug was connecting to us to act as an emergency brake. In the distance another cruise ship was coming in. This one was strangely colored with red lights on all of its decks!

This is day 94 on our 196-day ATW itinerary. So strange to be back in Miami almost halfway through our trip. We were supposed to be somewhere in Japan now.  We’re now deep in the harbor, past Fisher Island and beginning the turn to Pier J. All of the other cruise ships go to the other side to find their piers.

Sure enough, as we approach our pier we can see that red-lit ship on the other side. Joy is able to read the sign on the stack – this is a Virgin Cruise Line ship!

Sunrise breaks over the oval-shaped NCL terminal on the other side of the shippping port The pointy Royal Caribbean terminal is next to NCL. Our view of the port area is trashy.

The only excursion offered in Miami is an airboat ride on the Everglades. We did this before and had no interest in doing it again, so we’ll spend the day doing some more shopping! This is the last US port for the remainder of this journey.

We catch a shuttle to Bayside, then start our walk from there. I am surprised to find this statue of Jose Artigas in the middle of Biscayne Blvd. He was a Uruguayan leader likened to George Washington, and many of his statues have been given to states and countries as a symbol of the bond between Uruguay and the recipients!

After shopping downtown and grabbing lunch in Bayside, we took a quick journey to Miami Beach, and on the return I found this view of downtown Miami with the FTX Center in the foreground.

We get an up-close view of the Virgin cruise shhip. Every balcony has a hammock, in red, of course. Every balcony has a red light that gives it the red glow we saw early this morning! While I love gray and red together, the gray and red motif on a cruise ship doesn’t work for me, and this becomes my least favorite cruise ship so far.

Back on board we get a tug assist for leaving the dock.

The tug pulls us around 180 degrees. This is helpful because you can see how narrow this channel is – the green channel marker is just behind the tug.

Now our veranda has a lovely view of downtown and the lowering sun hiding behind the buildings!

I catch my last shot of the Bayside area which is hidden behind the Miami Hard Rock Cafe and the Skyviews Miami Observation Wheel. The FTX Center looks like it is right there, too, but it is 1/4 mile back, behind a marina and the Port Blvd. It’s just so big it looks really close!

The sunset continues to get prettier and prettier as we leave the harbor. The tugboat stays with us as our emergency brake until we hit the final cut to the ocean.

Next to Fisher Island the tug disconnects and turns home.

One thing I forgot about is people on Fisher Island are cut off from the mainland! They have no bridges to drive across. Several car ferries are dedicated to taking residents to and from the mainland. Pretty interesting way to live, having to time your life to the ferry schedule. I know this isn’t the only place that does this, but I forgot that we have a place like this in Florida! These ferries are really cool!

We pass by Miami Beach as we exit the channel and enter the Atlantic Ocean! It’s pretty sparsely populated now, but it is late in the day.

Soon the sun disappears and dusk settles over the city. These deep sky colors are lovely!

We say farewell to our last US port of call until the trip comes to an end in New York City in July!  Next stop – Bermuda. No, they just announced due to high seas we are not going to Bermuda. Instead we are going to the cruise line’s private island, Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas!  Whirled!  Next stop – Stirrup Cay!

Mar 31 Update: Here is our itinerary for this leg, Miami to Athens

The changes that were made so far is Bermuda on Mar 26 was scrapped and replaced with Stirrup Cay on Mar 24. And Tangiers, Morocco, was replaced with Gibraltar. We’ll now have two Gibraltar visits since we already have one in the next segment. Istanbul is at risk due to the Ukraine situation, but hasn’t been cancelled yet (as of Mar 31).