My third day in Miami Beach I spent mainly discovering the
main island by bicycle. After the breakfast in the hostel I made my way down to
5
th Street where the bike rental was located. The shop opened at 10
am so I had to wait a bit after the breakfast until I could get the bike. The
rental agreement was signed quickly and we agreed on 24 dollars for the entire
day. I could even freely choose my ride and got a mountain bike with wider
wheels that also allowed me to ride on sandy ground or unpaved terrain. I first
headed down towards downtown Miami crossing the first bridge from where I could
take some interesting pictures of Miami Beach and downtown. I had tried the day
before to get some shots from the bridge while crossing it with the tour bus
but hadn’t been very successful in that. Now with the bike I could take my time
and got the pictures I wanted. I turned around before entering the second
bridge connecting Miami Beach with downtown because there wasn’t any bicycle
path anymore and I didn’t want to go on the road. I returned to Miami Beach and
started my round trip around the island by first heading down to the south tip
where I had already been the night before. This time I could also enter the
South Beach Pier which had already been closed the night before. I got some
pretty nice shots of the South Beach and the harbor. I then turned north and
followed the trail along the beach for many miles. In between I had to use the
street as the path was interrupted and parts were not open for bicycles but
only for pedestrians. Somewhere around 66
th Street I got hungry and
had lunch. After lunch I continued for another 40 blocks until I reached the
very end of the island. Altogether I had cycled up about 105 blocks. I took
some pictures at the very end of the island before starting to head back. It
was a really hot day, again. On the way back at around 42
nd Street
the rear tire suddenly lost all its air pressure just within seconds and my
bicycle tour around the island ended instantly. This was quite a bad surprise
as the bike shop was on 5
th Street, so I was basically 37 blocks
away from where I could return the bike or getting it fixed. Luckily I
remembered that also the local buses in Miami had bike racks. Before I however
could board a bus I first had to get some exact change. I went to get a
refreshing drink in order to also get the needed change and was then right at
the bus stop waiting for line C. The bus conveniently took me all the way down
to 5
th Street, walking with the bike would probably have taken at
least an hour. The bike shop fixed the tire pretty quickly. I was a bit worried
that they might charge me for the fix but I was lucky and it went on the house.
After the bike was fixed I completed my island round trip and at around 4 pm I
turned the bike in. I walked back to the hostel on 9
th Street and
got my stuff for the beach. I left immediately to the beach. The water was
great and I almost couldn’t get enough from swimming in the Atlantic. I then
rested for quite a while on the beach enjoying the warm sun. It was almost 7 pm
when I finally left the beach. I had gotten quite hungry. As I had missed the
dinner at the hostel I went out in order to get some food. I was back at the
hostel by 8 pm and had finally time to take a shower. I spend the rest of the
evening chatting with my new Cuban roommate, we had some really interesting
discussions on climate change and social justice.
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| Miami Beach |
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| Downtown Miami seen from the bridge |
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| Miami South Beach |
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