Hi everyone! I haven't been around much lately (too much work!) but I still love this site and I'll ...
Hi everyone! I haven't been around much lately (too much work!) but I still love this site and I'll be back as soon as I can!
Member since:05.03.2001
Reviews:21
Members who trust:21
On the 24th of November 1992 I headed to Miami, Florida for what I now refer to as my first honeymoon, considering I am happily divorced and getting married again in June.
That was the second very long flight in my life (I made up to the Far East when I was twelve, but didn’t quite remember what that was like), and apart from that, where I came from the temperature was 25 degrees below zero, so when we got off the plane and stepped into the humid and hot air (not exactly into the air, but this is what the sensation was) outside the airport, we experienced the difference of temperatures of about 50 degrees).
The taxi driver was chatting all the time, and the taxi had air-conditioning, so we were quite happy going through the town for a while, before we started asking ourselves where exactly we actually went. We were heading North, leaving the lights of the big city far behind. “It must be a mistake,” the unfortunate guy said, but it wasn’t. Trying to get a bargain, he got accommodation in a place which was really anti-honeymoon.
The Waikiki Oceanfront resort (18801 Collins Ave) is situated past North Miami Beach, near Ojus, and represents something
between a two-star hotel and a motel. It was full of French and German elderly couples, actually faced the beach and was quite old and not very comfortable. Everything was old: the curtains was old, the sheets were old, the neighbours were old, and even the staff was not very young.
Deceived by the accommodation, we decided to plan our guided tours. The first idea was to take off for Bahamas, which was finally turned down, - sniff). We booked the trips to the Everglades Alligator Farm, Key Largo and Key West.
I decided to submit this opinion in the Miami section, because this is what our destination was and from there all our tours started. The sites I used to check some information were all Miami and Miami Beach, and I hope my experiences can be of some use to a traveller who would decide to take some guided trips starting in Miami.
The Alligator farm offers airboat rides, and this is what we took. An airboat is unsurprisingly a kind of a boat with an engine which makes a very loud noise. From the boat tourists observe alligators: grown-ups in the Breeding Ponds, the ones from one month to four years old in the Grow Out Pens. In the Crocodile Pond you can see two types of crocodiles: the North American crocodile, which can be found only in Florida and is now in peril of extinction, and the South American caiman, which is quite abundant.
Apart from the airboat rides, at the farm you can watch alligator shows, snake shows and alligator feedings. The only one I saw was an alligator show and I was sure the poor beast was just saving the guy for late lunch, but finally nothing horrible happened, or maybe it just wasn’t its lunchtime yet.
We couldn’t see any of the Everglades National Park properly (the farm doesn’t form part of it). What I saw of it represented a desert of sorts with a few tired little trees, very dry and helpless-looking, which is certainly not what it actually is. Now I know we could follow one of the popular trails which meander “through a shaded, jungle-like hammock of gumbo limbo trees (Bursera simaruba), royal palms (Roystonea elata), ferns, and air plants” or “through a forest of pines, palmettos, and wildflowers”. We could watch alligators, turtles, anhingas, herons, egrets, and many other birds, but we didn’t, so I just describe what I did see. You can find useful information about what we could and didn’t do at Everglades at http://www.nps.gov/ever/home.htm
Our next trip was the one to the Florida Reef, at the John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park. We took the glass-bottomed boat tour, for no particular reason. If you go, take the snorkeling tour, or the guided scuba dive for me; it must be much more exciting and snorkeling is only slightly more expensive. Scuba diving is clearly more expensive, but affordable (about 40$, though now it could be a little more). As the name of the tour we got tells you, the bottom of the centre of the boat is made of glass and you look through it, which is not exactly the same as finding yourself face-to-face with an exotic fish. You can see the reef though, which is a curious structure, “composed of millions of minute coral polyps extracting calcium from the seawater and growing from one to sixteen feet every thousand years” and some marine life too, which the Roughguides describe as “lobsters, angelfish, eels and jellyfish, and shoals of silvery minnows stalked by angry-faced barracudas” (I can’t tell a cod fish from a goldfish, that’s why I have to quote). I don’t know if we weren’t lucky or it was the boat that frightened the main part of fishes, but I am sure I would recognize a lobster if it’d passed by, so I presume it didn’t. Key West is home to luxury and rest. One of the things you must see for me when you go are its spectacular sunsets. According to our guide, the museum, at that time of year, was full of “snowbirds” – New Yorkers on vacation. But it was calm and splendid in the bright sun. If you want some sightseeing, take the Conch Tour train, that will take you to the Hemingway House and Historic Seaport. You don’t stop at Hemingway House, though. Key West is also famous for its Little White House (Harry Truman’s place), the presidential Museum: nice place, original furniture and decor intact.
It was a long week. I went on an excursion to the South Beach, but only saw it from a bus window, and did not, at the time, really appreciate the famous art deco buildings, “stream lined and marzipan hued”. I can't tell you anything articulate about the Palm Beach. I was getting tired of luxury, heat alligators and palm trees. The husband was sunburned and my eyes ruined (don’t forget your dark glasses and sunblock cream!) Fairchild Tropical garden is something else I missed. I didn’t eat in Cuban restaurants in Little Havana or danced salsa and merengue at famous Miami Clubs. I saw the dolphins in the Seaquarium, but I didn’t see the Monkey Jungle or Parrot Jungle and Gardens. After seven days, I was tired and I wanted home. Yes, I hate to admit it, but I wanted to return where I belonged as soon as possible, which I did. But I hope my brief description of what I do remember will make you want to know more about that beautiful land, the one I now desperately want to visit again, and most certainly will not be able to. But I hope I will, and if I don’t, you will. Enjoy your holiday, and make it unbelievable. If you don’t, it’s scarcely probable anyone else will. Even in the best of lands under the sun.
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: Gorgeous beaches, fantastic nightlife, amazing weather, kids clubs are excellent, great weather Disadvantages: (you don't want to leave!!), food at hotel is not so good.
Mar 27th, 2001
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (3%):
