Miami lies at the southern tip of Florida between two National Parks: the Florida Everglades (a very large sub-tropical wilderness to the west) and Biscayne Bay on the east. It the most populous county in Florida with a population of approximately 500,000 living in an area of about 147 square km.- making it the sixth most densely populated large US city. As we entered the seaway to the cruise docking port area at 7.20am, our first view of Miami, from the deck of the Sea Princess, was that of a wide arc of high-rise apartments and commercial buildings, shining in the early morning sunlight- not unlike Australia's Gold Coast but on a scale of a least 5 times bigger. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises.
The Port of Miami, where we docked, is known as the "Cruise Capital of the World", and it is the busiest port, in both passenger traffic and cruise lines in the world.
Some small islands in Biscayne Bay are home for celebrities like Shaquile O'Neal, Gloria Estefan, Will Smith, and Madonna who all have holiday homes on either the exclusive Star Island or Palm Island. Other celebrities have built luxurious penthouses or lavish homes near South Beach and Miami's sub-tropical weather and safe harbour also offer water sporting activities and hundreds of luxury yachts can be seen moored in exclusive areas around Miami waterways. These belong to the rich and famous for their exotic parties or fishing exhibitions and contests.
This Biscayne Bay tour features world-famous Star Island, Palm Island and Hibiscus Island, as well as the six Venetian Islands. Super exclusive, and closely guarded Star Island has only 35 homes. From your luxury yacht charter, keep an eye out for the Star Island homes of Shaquile O'Neal, Gloria Estefan, Will Smith, Madonna, P.Diddy and Rosie O'Donnell. Just west of Star Island are the islands of Hibiscus and Palm. A notorious Palm Island resident was the gangster, Al Capone. Hibiscus Island, located just north of Palm Island, is home to multi-million dollar estates and stunning architecture.
Many of these incredible homes have been restored to their former 1930's condition.
We took a coach tour around Miami city, and learnt about some of its history. We also observed the historical and multi-cultural influence in the architecture, cuisine, music and the lay back attitude of the people. 
History: The Miami area was originally inhabited for 
thousands of years by indigenous Native American tribes
before European settlement, firstly by the Spanish, in 1566 when Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, claimed the area for Spain. Over the following decades Spain and Great Britain successively controlled Florida, until 1821 when Spain ceded it to the United States. However by 1836, the US had built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and the government's attempt to suppress and remove the Seminole indigenous tribe. The Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the several wars with the Seminole peoples. During the slave trade years many runaway-slaves had found sanctity in Florida because the Spanish had abolished slavery in Florida. However, when the US acquired Florida from the Spanish, they not only returned slaves to their "owners" but also legislated, the 'Indian Removal Act, as a means of relocating the various Indian tribes to reservations west of Miami so It was a an attempt at ethnic cleansing for economic (greed) reasons so that 'white' settlers could be encouraged to move to Florida. Naturally the indigenous Indians retaliated and thus began a series of raids and wars over many years – another bit of sad history, which reeks of racial discrimination and white supremacy. During the beginning of the 20th century, migrants from the Bahamas and African-Americans constituted 40 percent of the city's population but their community's growth was limited to a small marshy area of Miami. When landlords began to rent homes to African-Americans in 'respectable' neighbourhoods near the city centre, organised gangs of white men with torches, (Ku Klux Klan) visited the renting families, warning them to move or be bombed. There are still echoes of this discrimination today. The collapse of the Florida land boom of the 1920s, the 1926 Miami Hurricane, and the 1930s Great Depression slowed development until the start of WW2 when Miami became a US defence base against German submarines and its population increased to 180,000. Following Fidel Castro's rise to power in 1959, many wealthy Cubans sought refuge in Miami, and added to the population growth.
In the 1980s and 1990s, South Florida weathered social problems related to drug wars, immigration from Haiti and Latin America, and the widespread destruction of Hurricane Andrew. Racial and cultural tensions were sometimes sparked, but the city continued to develop in the latter half of the 20th century as a major international, financial, economic and cultural centre. Miami is the second-largest US city (after El Paso, Texas) with a Spanish-speaking majority, and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.
Today, Miami is regarded as more of a multicultural mosaic, than it is a melting pot, with residents still maintaining much of, or some of their cultural traits.
Our tour firstly took us around downtown Miami which is a very modern metropolis with one of the largest concentrations of international banks in the United States, and we learnt that it is home to many large national and international companies. Miami is also a major centre for hospitals, research institutes, medical centres, and biotechnology industries. Metropolitan Miami is a major tourism hub in the south-eastern U.S. for international visitors, ranking number two in the country after New York City. There were plenty of cars and tour buses passing through the city with us on this beautiful sunny and warm day in Miami's sub-tropical climate where average temperatures are 25C in winter and 30C in summer. After the city tour we drove over several bridges across the turquoise waters of Biscayne Bay and onto some low-lying sand-bar islands. These were created in 1900 after the mangrove forests that lined the island's edge, were bulldozed and replaced with millions of tons of sand to create Miami Beach's now iconic shoreline. Over the decades this "billion-dollar sandbar" has been damaged by hurricanes, repaired, gone through various building booms with the accompanying architectural changes being reflected in the different styles that have come to define Miami Beach. We drove down Ocean Parade which runs the 20 kilometre length of Miami Beach. On our left, we passed the beautiful palm-lined park which forms a backdrop that stretches the whole length of the beach. Parallel to this recreation area we marvelled at row upon row of iconic Art Deco buildings which line most of Ocean Drive. When these buildings fell out of favour in the '60's and 70's, because of a trend for high rise modern abodes, the Art Deco buildings were destined for demolition. However, public outcry and protests for their preservation were successful and today Miami draws thousands of tourists to the area because of these unique buildings. As part of the tour we were given a running commentary on many of these Art Deco buildings as we drove past them. Many of these buildings have been used in several movies or TV shows like "Miami Vice". For example; the Carlyle building has been featured in films including, 'Scarface', "Bad Boys 2,' and 'The Birdcage'.
What we most enjoyed was the free time we had to wander past many of these buildings and to recall some of the history that we had heard about. These Art Deco buildings which dominated the skyline of Miami Beach were built in the 1930's and 40's as part of a wave of revolutionary modern design that was being adopted by young architects all over the world. Over 40 hotels and many hundreds of residents were constructed in the Art Deco style in Miami Beach during this period. We were reminded that the Art Deco style is renowned for its streamlined curves, window "eyebrows" and a "law of three". The "law of three" meant that no building was taller than three stories, and each was built in three sections, ABA, where only the centre of the building was different, and each side imitated the other. In such a tropical climate like Miami "eyebrow" windows kept out the sun, so air conditioning wouldn't be necessary, and there were plenty of natural elements, like limestone and coral, that could be used in place of more expensive materials.
We also noted that some of the Art Deco buildings had charmingly nautical themes, suitable for a beach setting. These designs employed port-hole windows, rounded edges to resemble ships, geometric shapes and linear lines. Limestone, cement rendering and coral stucco replaced the more expensive and heavy dark brickwork and timber. Art Deco buildings are either painted in pastel shades of spring-hues or vivid sunny colours. We enjoyed these ecliptic buildings and noted that today the buildings are fun, funky and fascinating though we learned that many of these buildings once housed bootleggers and mobsters and became a battleground for high-level drug smugglers. When we were last here in the 90's, Miami was not a safe place to visit so we were pleasantly surprised to learn that throughout the late 90s and the year 2000, the Art Deco District enjoyed a revitalization following a cleansing of the underground world of smuggling, gambling and gangster activities by Miami lawmakers and the police force. Today Miami Beach's reputation as a world-class travel destination is celebrated and we enjoyed the relaxed, safe and peaceful atmosphere where locals and visitors could be seen eating and drinking at its many restaurants, outdoor cafes and curb-side coffee bars
Next we headed to the famous South Miami Beach with its 20 kilometre beach line. Dotted along the sandy beach are lifesaver platforms and hundreds of beach umbrellas and tents that can be rented from 5-10 dollars a day. Since the walk from the car parking area to the open, unshaded beach area is at least 200 metres, this seems a good deal as the shelters are set up each day for surfers and beachcombers. We enjoyed our short walk along a very small section of the beach and found Miami Beach was clean and rubbish free as the council provides regular clean up services throughout each day. Refreshment hawkers also sell drinks, iceblocks and snacks to those on the beach as there are no food outlets on or close to the beach. Whilst it was very hot standing on the beach, there was a lovely cooling breeze blowing across onto the shore and I enjoyed a paddle in the warm water. However there were no "real" waves and definitely no real surf like at North Beach in Wollongong and therefore no comparison with our wonderful surf beaches. For Miamians this is "fabulous" and a relaxing 'get away' from the hub-bub of the city. We only stayed a short time on Miami's South Beach as there were other venues to visit in Miami and our 'free exploration time' was nearly over. Reluctantly we headed back to the coach with a visit to an outdoor artist culture district on the menu. Read about this and other adventures in our Miami-2 blog.