turtles

The best thing in Miami is not in Miami (not Miami Beach either)

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Yes, Little Havana is culturally significant, and South Beach Art Deco district is architecturally interesting, but otherwise, as I have said before, Miami does not have that many redeeming qualities. There are curious little stops like Dr. Jackson’s house, The Barnacle and Coconut Grove, Vizcaya, Coral Gables, Winwood Walls, Miami Design District, Little Haiti, Gesú church, etc. This is understandable, it is a young city founded in 1896 -the first city in America founded by a woman, Julia Tuttle.

But otherwise. anonymous skyscrapers (Zaha Hadid’s 1000 Museum is a notable exception) and overrated and overpriced restaurants do not an interesting city make (Joe’s Stone crab is a historical exception).

But how many rivers have you been on that are 60 miles (97km) wide and over 100 miles (160km) long? That you can walk in (the average depth is about 130cm), that you can see alligators, turtles, snakes, and all sorts of birds? Well, go to the Everglades!

I discovered the Everglades -and its brother park Big Cypress in 2016 and fell in love! It really is an environmental miracle, a very slow-moving river (Florida has no elevation!). I have recently started taking tours of the Everglades. Airboat rides are great fun and I happen to know the best! Run by the legendary Miccosukee family the Tigertails.

So if you are in Miami, of course, visit the city, but make sure you experience the Everglades! You are welcome.

Here is a 7 minute documentary on the current situation of the 3 million acre, largest sub-tropical area in the world, what the Miccosukee call the “River of Grass.”

Stuff one finds on the beach.

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As my faithful readers know, my community service this year was cleaning the beach every Sunday afternoon. It was extremely rewarding to help, and at the same time to walk for an hour and to meditate while enjoying the beautiful beach and weather. A three in one: community service, meditation, and exercise.

During the Winter months, the strong winds (I guess) blew in all kinds of trash, sometimes in the course of an hour I had to empty my big bucket (you know, the 5-gallon blue buckets) up to three times! Now in the warmer months there was remarkably less trash. Anyway, that was my highly scientific (not) guess.

Fortunately, I am not the only one on beach cleaning duty, I do bump occasionally into other people cleaning up. The town also has 4 buckets available at the entrance to the beach if you want to grab one and clean up.

On top of all that there is a bit of a treasure hunter thrill, and a fun component to what you find or might find. Here is an incomplete list of things I have found:

  • Bottle tops – this is the most popular trash on the beach ☹
  • Plastic forks and spoons – really people?
  • Bottles – mostly plastic but also glass. All sorts of bottles: drinks, shampoo, oil, you name it…
  • Bits of plastic – from tiny to huge and in all colors. You cannot even tell what they used to be a part of.
  • Flip flops – every Sunday at least one! Usually, barnacle incrusted.
  • Cigarette lighters
  • Deflated balloon
  • Hammerhead shark – dead
  • Comb – I picked it up, not because I needed it.
  • Eyeglasses – no glass and broken, but I do not need them.
  • Lure – with a massive hook I gave it to a dude fishing.
  • Dog Tag – Palm Beach.
  • Part of a propeller – someone surely missed it…
  • Etc. Etc.

Oh, and make sure you do not step on the Portuguese Man-O-War… or their deadly, long tentacles.