Buy: Boat Miami

Leo, a retired architect from Chicago, decided he wanted both of those days to happen in the same week. He didn't want a yacht; he wanted a "character." He found it on a backwater canal near the Miami River —a 1974 wooden skiff named The Gilded Gator . The seller, a man who smelled exclusively of saltwater and cheap cigars, swore the engine hummed "like a siren’s song."

: Once you have your (reliable) vessel, popular local haunts include Nixon Beach Sandbar and the historic houses of Stiltsville . buy boat miami

Leo bought it on Tuesday. By Wednesday, he was heading toward the Haulover Sandbar. The "siren's song" turned out to be more of a "death rattle." halfway there, the engine coughed once, sighed, and died. As the tide began to pull him toward the Atlantic, Leo realized the "gilding" on the boat was actually just several layers of gold spray paint covering a termite colony. Leo, a retired architect from Chicago, decided he