Miami Knows How to Party!

The next day was New Year's Eve and we had made plans to have the crew of Azimuth over; the kids were not expected home for two days. 

First, of course, was work on finding the source of a leak in the engine room that had Gary busy a large part of the day.  It's always something on a boat, or in a house, I guess, too.  He had already replaced the fuel pump to the generator while we were in North Palm Beach.  Every stop of the way has him working on something new.  My next story will highlight (or low light) the explosive effluent activity that almost ruined one of our days in Stuart.

But for now, we'll talk the not so icky stuff.   

Miami is a party town, as you probably already know.  Even though some lights go down, the shows, restaurants, shopping promenades, boating; all that keeps the city very vibrant and awake at all hours.  It was no different on New Year's Eve.

Gary had gone ashore to get black-eyed peas, greens, and potatoes for our traditional New Year's Day meal. 

We straightened the boat, set out hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and welcomed the Azimuth crew over to bring in the New Year.  They had brought a cheesy popcorn that Elliott loved and some root beer for him and regular beer to share amongst the adults.  As always, the repartee was lively and fun.  We just click and it is such a sweet thing.

A lot of boats were still out, vying for position for what we found out would be the City's fireworks, though during the evening we saw about eight sparkly shows.  It was awesome because we were so close.  The tall apartment buildings near us acted as a huge reverberator as the fireworks went off; the first time it happened, we kind of looked at each other like WHAT? 

Apartments full of celebrating people danced to music pulsating with the bass beats.  Another place had what looked like a disco ball that changed colors and the reflection was cast on the water to lend even more color to the festivities.

Small dinghies went by, rowboaters, and of course, in the main channel, larger boats up to the mega-yachts, blaring music complete with people dancing on the bow.  It was like a Miami Vice show or something.  But it was a party night and it was okay.

At one point, we noticed a small dinghy put-putting over to the side of our boat.  There were three guys in this teeny boat laying crosswise.  A blond largish man in the middle with his feet towards us, then two dark-haired men, one by the engine with his feet away from us and the other at the bow with his feet away.  They looked like sardines; they were just missing the mustard sauce.  They said hello, the middle guy had a strong accent, which we found out later was Swedish.  The guy aft was Canadian and the guy forward was American.  I swear this couldn't have been a better lead-in to a joke!

When we asked their plans, the Swede said that after this night, he was going to leave the other two guys on shore and then take the dinghy over to the Bahamas.  Uh, okay.  I think not.  But I didn't want to rain on his parade. 

At one point, they asked whether we'd like a hole in our boat to make it a real adventure; I wasn't too happy with that, but armed with beer from our friend and the promise that there were naked dancing girls if they just followed the green light, they left us alone and put-putted away.

We continued to nosh and talk and, finally, I got the champagne that had been given to us by our cousins who visited us in Hollywood.  I asked Gary to step outside the covered cockpit because champagne was so iffy sometimes and I didn't want to deal with a cork hole in the bimini.  He thought I was being overly cautious, so he ignored me and peeled back the foil wrapping covering the cork.  I flinched and within seconds, the bubbly expelled the cork all on its own and it flew up and hit the bimini and landed under the dodger.  Happy to see there was no new air conditioning vent in the bimini, we sipped on the champagne and wished each other good health.  

Finally,  it was the 10-second countdown to the New Year; hugs all around and good wishes given.  Then the cowabunga episode of fireworks was launched from across the way in the main part of the city; just beautiful.  And then more and more smaller shows on shore, some folks sending out small fireworks off their balconies.

After our guests left, we stayed in the cockpit enjoying residual fireworks and the cooling breeze. 

I saw a little black dot coming toward us and then heard the put-putting of the dinghy motor carrying those three guys back again.  They pulled up along side and the Swedish spokesman said, "You lied.  That's not good." 

"What?" we replied.

"There were no naked girls."  They looked sad and the guy in the bow had taken a bit wave and was soaking wet.

"Sorry about that.  Happy New Year!  Safe Travels!" (I hoped they would get the hint and depart quietly.)

They went away, slowly, and whether they would come back and put a hole in our boat for an adventure was anyone's guess.  But we're still afloat.  And I fully expect to hear about some large Swede taking his dinghy across the water to the Bahamas.  That would be him.  Happy New Year!