In trying to maximize our time in South Beach, I booked us on a 6AM flight out of Boston. I soon realized that it was not that great an idea :-) It meant getting up at 3:30AM to make sure we had enough time to get to airport, check in, and get through security. It also meant we had to take the car instead of a taxi...Central Parking at Logan Airport is not bad, but it's not cheap neither. New rule...no flights before 10AM :-)

We love staying at the Richmond. The rooms are reasonably priced, there is a pool, direct beach access, and is just far enough away from the main drag that one can actually get some sleep at night :-)

We arrived just at the tail end of a few days of rain... the clouds cleared by noon and the temperature started to climb above 70. Since we got there early, we strolled around and waited for our friends Jay and Lisa to arrive.

We noticed a lot of new hotels along Collins Avenue. One new one that caught our eyes was the Catalina Hotel & Beach Club located directly across from where we were staying.

They just opened in December. We took a quick look inside. We liked what they have done to the place! We may stay there next year and report back with our impressions.

South Beach has lot of other wonderful things besides the luxurious boutique hotels and the beautiful people. One of those things is of course the delicious food!

We ate at a lot of different places over the course of four days... local cuban take out, trucks on the beach, tourist places on Lincoln Road, and restaurants away from the beaten paths.

One place of note was OLA Miami. Jay was hoping to find a restaurant with a good selection of ceviches. OLA did not disappoint! We also had some really yummy ribeyes and a tasty chocolate cigar dessert!

So after a few days of lounging around the pool, drinking mojitos, and eating our way to the credit limit... another Spring Break vacation bites the dust. For sure, we'll be back next year!

We have been heading down to South Beach for the past several years around February or March.

The best time for us is the weekend just at the start of Spring Break.  You can feel everybody there is getting ready for the influx of Spring Breakers...but the craziness has not shifted into high gear just yet.