Saturday, December 15, 2012

My My It's Miami


     We were able to find a very nice spot to drop our anchor in an area called Belle Island.  It is at the end of Collins Canal, a main waterway for dinghy’s traveling the city of Miami Beach.  From this anchorage you can see several large cruise ships leave daily for the Caribbean.   They leave every afternoon at around 1600.  At night you can see the Miami skyline lit up with different colors of lights on the tall buildings.  Very beautiful !!!!
     I forgot to mention that while in Fort Lauderdale we ordered more medications as we had some due to renew before we switch to Medicare.  They didn’t arrive before we left but did the following day.  Bill and Terri on Second Option brought them to us as they had rented a car to drive home.  We met them at a place called Burgers and Beer, just a short walk from a dinghy dock by the Marine Police station.  The following day we and Sweet Chariot took off for a long, over 7 miles and  2 ½ hours, dinghy ride thru the canal system of Miami Beach.  Later that day I went to Publix for our final grocery shopping before we left for the Bahamas.  That evening we met with Laura and Graeme to decide when to leave the following morning and head to a place called No Name harbor for the night.  During the night Lynn started to develop a rather high fever and was having shortness of breath.  We carry an oxygen generator on the boat and promptly started it up along with doses of Tylenol.  We listened to a local Weather Guru called Chris Parker in the morning as this guy seems to be the one people rely on for accurate forecasts.  If there is such a thing as an accurate forecast !!!!  He said that the window to cross to the Bahamas was closing and to do it now or wait at least a week.  We radioed Sweet Chariot and told them that Lynn wasn’t feeling up to leaving and they made the decision to leave by themselves.

Wildlife on the canals on Miami Beach

    After 4 days of feeling lousy and using all the meds we had on the boat that were supposed to treat Lynn’s condition, we decided to pull into a marina.  This way we could plug the oxygen generator into shore power instead of running it off our batteries and also be able to turn on the air conditioning.  Two days in the marina and Lynn’s still not feeling well.  Time to seek professional medical advice had arrived.  We took a taxi from the marina in Key Biscayne and went to Mercy Hospital in Miami.  After 4 hours in the emergency room she was admitted.  If this flare up runs it’s course she will be in for 5-7 days.
     We have decided to cancel our trip to the Bahamas and at this time aren’t sure what we will do after she is discharged.  Options are to stay in Florida where medical assistance is readily available, should it be needed again, or to find a place to leave the boat for the winter and drive home.  We, or I an another able body, would come down in the Spring and take it back north.
     I’ll be posting more as soon as we have figured out what we’ll finally do.  If I don’t send another post before, we would like to now wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

1 comment:

  1. We'd wish you a Canadian Christmas, but right now that would be sloppy wet snow and 30 degrees & you don't need any more challenges. So Pam and I will wish you a Canadian Christmas hug in hopes it will provide support & strength.

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