We pulled into the 8 berth “cruising capital of the world” before sunrise (not another cruise ship in sight!). More than 90% of passengers getting off here … and we had to change cabin. So lots to do before we could get off, including of course, entering the USA for the third time …

… Hmmmm … officialdom, security, and law enforcement with a gun on the hip, is certainly big in the “land of the free” …

Anyhow, we eventually got going. A mile walk over the bridge to Big Bus Hop On/Off Central Station … off we go …

First a tour of the city …

… and past some fancy real estate in Coconut Grove, and Coral Gables, where …

… we came upon the iconic Biltmore Hotel … old, huge, glamorous, set in the middle of a golf course … probably costs a fortune to stay there!

… through Little Havana where the primary language is Spanish. Here, a cigar factory, of which there apparently used to be lots.

… and the Freedom Tower … so called because thousands of Cuban refugees were held and “processed” here (right in the city! … take note, Mr Abbott!) after Castro took over in 1959.

Back to Central Station, change busses, across the causeways …

… to Miami Beach …

The beach is huge … wide, and endlessly long … but not exactly the greatest for swimming???

What is more fun is Ocean Drive. Here, 3 of many American icons!

Part driving, part walking we traversed its length … after a destructive hurricane in 1926, Miami Beach was re-built. Result … hundreds and hundreds of Art Deco hotels and apartment buildings just everywhere you look.

Same in the streets back off the beachfront …

It was so much fun just wandering around, taking it all in.

Also time for a haircut for me and pedicure for Jan, and a dose of Starbucks … the coffee is only just, but the wi-fi is excellent … not sure how their business would go if ever they turned the wi-fi off??

Back to the pier past some of the residential islands … houses and boats “bigger than Texas” …

Then with 600+ newbies on board we set off leaving this thunderhead over the Everglades to do its thing.