Time has been flying by (doesn’t it always)! We’ve moved, unpacked, Rich should be out of the boot from the scooter incident very soon, and we took the longest vacation we’ve certainly ever taken.
The vacation wasn’t intended to be scooter-centric, but I just light up when I see scooters in the wild!
Miami
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen a photo or 2 from Miami. We were only there 3 days before the cruise, but I was surprised to see so many scooters! I mean, after all, the coastal town I live near just doesn’t have that kind of scooter population!
Don’t get me wrong – there are still way more cars, but seeing so many scooters was neat.
There seemed to be pockets of town that had more scooters than others. Our hotel was around Surfside, and there weren’t as many as I saw down in South Beach or even closer to downtown Miami.
I realized at some point that quite a few scooters were being used for delivery services. I walked up to my hotel & saw an Ice Bear with a DoorDash order, and I placed my family’s lunch order to get a delivery on another scooter!
I was quite shocked when the scooter pulled up with my food carried by a passenger on the back. I have only delivered with cases, and with all of those lights on the main road….Yes, my food was cold.
I think it must be common to carry food without insulation because I saw lots of scooters afterwards with bags in the floorboard between feet.
Another surprise for this safety conscious rider – so few helmets! While waiting for a trolley, we saw a cyclist. My son mistook it for a scooter when it was far out, so we had a conversation about the rider, and while on the trolley we saw the poor guy had been hit along that route. The road biker DID wear his helmet thankfully. We did not see a scooter incident thankfully.
I saw some of the Revel electric scooters near the cruise terminal & shopping center right outside of it, but I did not see anyone actually riding them the 2 times we were in that area.
Aruba
Again, this was not meant to be a scooter based vacation, but it was cool to see some scooters here & there.
On a tour, the guide mentioned gas was over $6 US dollar, and he mentioned that there was lines on that day for gas because the prices change weekly (the next day) & had been jumping ~.30 each week.
It was a relatively small island, and while I saw several car dealerships, I did not see any scooter ones. Maybe more will happen on the island with the gas price & other inflationary issues. I don’t love that a bad economy drives the scooter love up, but I do love seeing more scooters on the road!
We saw this postal worker on an official scooter riding off at the last stop of our tour of the island.
I did see that there is a place to rental a 125cc scooter (among other vehicle options including ATVs with some neat places to explore on both), so if you find yourself in Aruba with time to kill, check out Aruba – Motorcycles & ATV Rentals – georgecycles.com
Dominican Republic
Missed Port & La Romana
We missed the port slated for Bonaire because of weather, and we didn’t get off the ship at the next port. There is always one port per cruise we skip, and with Rich’s limited walking ability, this is one we decided to skip.
I did get off of the boat to explore the gated terminal area solo, but there was no scooter action to report.
BUT
When hanging out on deck, I saw some scooters parked in the employee area for the terminal! There were hidden through trees from the passenger area, but I found them. Luckily.
Amber Cove, Puerto Playa
The kiddo & I did get off the boat for a tour around Amber Cove, DR.
Now that place had a ton of scooters & crazy drivers to boot!
The tour guide mentioned that scooters exploded during the pandemic, and gas was over $6 per gallon here, too.
I didn’t realize what was happening at first, but the explosion of scooters is also related to using them as taxis! If you see someone in an orange vest, they act as a taxi service for your errands. They hang on corners, outside of shopping centers, and will ride around that can be hailed like you see for traditional taxicabs. But mainly they liked to hang out in the shade when not riding – understandably!
I know scooters are used much more elsewhere in the world, but seeing it was neat!
I do have to admit there were more motorbikes than scooters, and there were certainly more Honda’s than any other brand. Tons of SuperCubs in particular. I did see a healthy amount of PGO models (the manufacturer of the beloved Genuine Scooters for the US market) along with some Yamaha of the brands I recognized while on a tour bus.
I DID see more helmets here than I did in Miami by a long shot.
Here are some of the interesting ways scooters were used that I had never seen before myself:
The scooters mainly traveled in the side shoulders like the above photo for the most part with lane filtering and such where needed.
Traveling is a way to see how others live, and it was neat to see how others use scooters. I didn’t capture much in the way of the creative ways scooters were loaded up with household items (including a propane tank!), but it was fun to see the joy in the faces of the riders!
Be seen & be safe, scooter friend! ♥
