Government Cut

Government Cut is a man made shipping channel between Miami Beach and Fisher Island, which allows a direct access to the Port of Miami in Miami, Florida. Before the cut was established, a single peninsula of dry land stretched from what is now Miami Beach to what is now Fisher Island, and boats destined for the port at the mouth of the Miami River had to pass around Cape Florida, to the south of Key Biscayne.

Opened in 1905, the cut across the peninsula that is now Miami Beach was authorized by the U.S. government (hence the name), in order to provide a direct route from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the seaport on Biscayne Bay to the west, without having to take a detour southward. The cut across the mangroves and beach at the southern end of the peninsula created Fisher Island, which, except for the extreme northeast corner, is part of unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida. The now famous South Beach is to the north of the cut.

This shot taken at 5:33PM today is from South Pointe Park. I got robbed and was charged US $25 to park in here where it should have been a free parking lot... Well, I was tipped to come here today to take a shot of a departing cruise ship so I was not about to be denied of this privilege for a mere $25! And here it is... The Carnival Valor was sailing out of its port of call via Government cut. You see Fisher island with its expensive condominium on the other side of the ocean water. If you are really interested to know where I was sitting, feed 25.7665,-80.136167 to http://maps.google.com. So, where does this big boat go today? It was set to deliver a 7 Night Exotic Western Caribbean Cruise to its riders, going to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. Here is its schedule:

Day Location Arrival Departure
1 Miami, Florida -- 04:00 PM
2 Fun Day At Sea -- --
3 Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands 07:00 AM 04:00 PM
4 Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan 12:00 PM 07:00 PM
5 Belize City, Belize 08:00 AM 05:00 PM
6 Cozumel, Mexico 08:00 AM 05:00 PM
7 Fun Day At Sea -- --
8 Miami, Florida 08:00 AM --

Thank you, Gary, for your suggestion for my blog of today. It was worth the $25 parking fee.