Fun on Biscayne Bay

Miami is a beautiful, cosmopolitan city with many exciting adventures awaiting visitors.

Stiltsville, a group of wood stilt houses

located one mile south of Cape Florida

on Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

www.stiltsville.org

Boca Chita Key is an island north of the upper Florida Keys in Biscayne National Park.

 It is in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It is located in Biscayne Bay, just north of Sands Key.

Boca Chita, sometimes called Boca Chica,

 is located 16 miles south of Key Biscayne, Florida.

Overnight camping and fishing are permitted.

Enjoy your visit!

Boating Safety

Boating and activities involving watercraft are almost synonymous with South Florida.  Most residents and visitors have been on a watercraft at some point.   Florida's waterways are beautiful, appealing and offer a variety of exciting activities.  It is important to respect and follow appropriate safety precautions while enjoying our glorious waters.
Please visit the following sites for more information:

1.  www.rentalboatsafety.com 
•  Watch a Rental Boat Safety Video
•  Get educated on Boats you can rent
•  Print a safety checklist
2. www.uscgboating.org
• Official website of the U.S. Coast Guard's Boating Safety Division
3. www.boatsafe.com
• Basic Boating Safety Course - Take this course on your own schedule and at your own pace. Help is available via email.
• Coastal Navigation Course - This navigation course is a combination of home study materials, sample and real-time chart work, and online testing, help desk and discussion board.
• Boating for Kids - Young boaters (and young-at-heart boaters) - start boating safely and smartly.
• Site also offers information on: anchoring, boat operation and handling, boating checklists and logs, marine communication, and much more.

A multitude of websites are available with boating safety information and online courses.  There is no excuse for going out on our waterways without following proper safety precautions.  Please take the time to become aware and keep our waterways safe. 

Have a great time out there!!!

 

South Florida Summer Deals

For South Floridians wanting a vacation, there's no place like home.

As the summer travel season draws to a close, South Florida hotels and restaurants are targeting locals with specials.
Deals abound all over South Florida:
• A five-day stretch of shopping discounts in downtown Coral Gables kicks off Monday.
• Miami Spice lures foodies until the end of September with three-course lunches for $22 and dinners for $35.
• Miami Spa Month offers deals on pampering through the end of August, and a Broward version, Lauderdale Spa Chic, started Sunday and lasts until Sept. 30.

MAKING A DEAL

In an April 2010 travelhorizons survey by travel research firm Ypartnership and the U.S. Travel Association, 9 percent of U.S. adults said they planned to take a staycation between May and October because they couldn't afford to travel. In the same survey, 8 percent of adults said they had taken a home-based vacation instead of a previously planned out-of-town trip in the prior six months.

That's down from the previous July, when 14 percent of U.S. adults had staycationed in the previous six months rather than going away.

About 75 percent of this summer's business has been from within Florida, Roth said.

Copied from Miami Herald article from August 15, 2010.  Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/15/1777739/for-locals-wanting-vacation-no.html#ixzz0wmMhCKct

Fun in the Sun

 It's been years since we spent so much time in our condo in Miami Beach as this summer.  Usually my children have so many social obligations and extracurricular activities that we can hardly spend any time there.  This summer we made it a point to stay at the beach and enjoy our condo as much as possible.  We've had a wonderful time! 

We were able to do minor updates and renovations which will prove beneficial and convenient to all who use the space.  We've also had so much fun and enjoyed each other's company tremendously.    Some friends have come over to spend time with us and enjoy the beach, but mostly we enjoyed spending time together.  We wake up leisurely in the morning, have breakfast and make beds, etc.  Then we pack up our "Wonder Wheeler" with towel, coolers, boogie boards, and anything else we might need that day and head to the beach.  On the weekends, when family and/or friends come over, we take the 12 x 12 pop up canopy and set it up with all the comforts of home.  The only thing we are missing is a bathroom and a/c.  During the week,  there are plenty of umbrellas to go around so we grab some beach chairs and an umbrella or two, and lay by the ocean to read.  That is one of my favorite things.  The children read for awhile and then go in the ocean to swim, play catch, ride waves on boogie boards, catch fish with their nets, or anything else they can think of. 

We stay out for hours.  We take lunch, snacks, and plenty of water.   We go back to the condo around 5 p.m. for a little bit, we have dinner and then we go back for our evening walk and kickball or soccer game on the beach.

Since the sun sets so late we stay out for 1 to 2 hours.  Afterwards we head back, take showers and then spend the evening playing board games. 

As simple as this vacation has been, I'm sure we will remember this summer fondly.  I look forward to many more summers of enjoying the beach and our condo with my family.