Waiting and waiting....and waiting for a 'window'!

We've been in Florida for a month now and haven't got very far! We're now at a dock in 'Dinner Key Marina', Miami. When we left our dock at Fort Lauderdale we spent a very peaceful night at lovely Lake Sylvia, and took the dinghy up to eat yet more oysters at the 'Southport Raw Bar'. The sunset was beautiful that evening and there were only six other boats at anchor around us. The next day we set off down the coast to Miami - we can't use the Intra-Coastal Waterway for this part of the trip as our mast is too high for one of the bridges. It was a peaceful trip. We hugged the coast, and the beach scene at Hollywood Beach and South Beach was quite fascinating - high rise buildings of every shape and size, and people to match! We anchored for two nights just north of Miami's 'Government Cut' beside Venetian Causeway. There is a large anchorage here and boaters can use the facilities of the Miami Yacht Club for a small fee. We had a drink there one night and took the dinghy up to the South Beach area the next day to do some provisioning. After three nights at anchor we decided to head to Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove. We spent some time here last year and enjoyed exploring the area. 'Dinner Key' is a large 600+ boat marina situated where the old Pan-Am Clipper flying boat basin was in the 30s - 50s....when flying was for the lucky few, and everyone wore their best clothes and drank martinis at take off! No $6 plastic hamburgers and warm water.....and no waiting for hours at check-in for the pleasure of being thoroughly (and I mean THOROUGHLY!!) frisked!
There has been a big change here since last year - and for the better. The old anchoring field, which was full of rotting and abandoned boats, has been cleaned out, and now this area has become a wonderful mooring field. There is even a tender to pick you up or drop you off at your mooring! Our friends, Wendy and Tony from Delta G., came in on Saturday and have taken one. We, however, are luxuriating at a dock....and pleased to do so at the moment as the strong winds and now torrential rain of a cold front have made the moorings seem a little less attractive at the moment!
On our first night here we had dinner sitting on the sidewalk of a restaurant called 'Greenstreet' at the corner of Commodore and Main. What attracted us to this restaurant was the large board which advertised 'Ladies Night - free champagne'. The waiting staff just wouldn't stop pouring the stuff....even Bill qualified to get the free drinks! So we sat on our plush velvet couch looking out at the Friday night scene (which was very lively and young!) and watched the full moon rise over Coconut Grove. It was very pleasant! Yesterday we met my Isle of Wight schoolfriend, Sue and her husband, Jean, at Monty's Raw Bar and ate my favourite delicacy of this area...stone crab claws! (The crabs 're-grow' the claws evidently!) Now we are in a holding pattern waiting to go across to Bimini and further, to eventually end up in Nassau and the Exuma Islands of the Bahamas. I am writing this in the library as we cannot get any internet on the boat still. Bill has just arrived here from a shopping expedition soaked to the skin! A huge storm has been raging for about an hour now and the rain is torrential and tropical! It doesn't look as though it's going to let up for days!!! Maybe 'Southern Vectis'will float away without us. Or maybe we will take off for the Bahamas tomorrow. Who knows!