And its not really a road, its the ICW, a transportation route of sorts, but we're "takin' it easy." Oh, I kill me....
We escaped Vero Beach, aka "Velcro Beach", by the skin of our shorts. Its not hard to figure out how it got its name. $15 mooring balls, great facilities, free buses to everywhere in the city, and every amenity you could ever need. There is no way you can get bored in Vero Beach. But what really makes this place special is that most of the tenants are transients, nobody feels out of place, and everyone feels like they belong. It would be real easy to get lost in the days.
Vero Beach south mooring field. Vita is in the middle right at the back.
Man she's got big hips, but we still think she is hot.
We rented a car the second day there, as we had to drive to the St. Lucie airport to check in with customs. By the sounds of things clearing in down hear can be a pain, because there are precious few customs offices near the water. The rental car was cheaper than a taxi, and we got to run to Walmart to stock up on cheap beer and a few essentials we couldn't get in the islands.
The following day was laundry and try and get caught up on some sleep after the long crossing.
Saturday we hung out with our new friends on MV September Dream. Rick and Darlene have been following our blog for some time, in fact I received the first message from Rick two days after leaving Trenton, and this is the first time our paths have crossed. See, small world. In fact we ran into a few people we had met throughout the trip down. It really is a small world. Anyway, we followed around on their coat tails all day, having a wonderful Vero Beach experience. Then we dinghied over to their boat for sundowners. They have a Mainship 34, identical to our friends Greg and Marg back in our home yacht club. It is quickly becoming our favorite little trawler. Everything you need, and a very capable little cruiser. Kind of like a power boat version of Vita, only with a living room.
Rick, Darlene, and Serena looking over the mooring field from the bridge. It was quite the view.
The fourth day there we did another load of laundry, got water, and put the boat back to order. It was a long day, but one of the most productive we have had in a long time. On the Monday morning we took the bus down to Walmart and bought a small propane heater for the boat. We are headed home too early, and we know that there are going to be days when we are going to need it. Then we payed our bill and headed out of Vero Beach, sad to see it go, but knowing there are lots of wonderful places along the way.
Back to the ICW, the channel markers have the little yellow square on the green markers, and the little yellow triangle on the red.
We saw this boat in transit. A Bayfield 36 named Serena. How creepy is that.
Our friends on September Dream. They were anchored less than a mile from us on Monday night, left later in the morning, and still passed us long before we got to Cocoa where we enjoyed sundowners together on Vita.
After 10 months, Vita is still a nice little home.
And the ICW has bridges. We hate bridges. But at least up here in the north part of Florida, there isn't many of them.
It is amazing how much wildlife there is here. We had forgotten while in the Bahamas. Over in the islands there is little to no wild life above the the water, animals, birds, etc.... The beauty of nature is definitely below the water. But here in Florida, the skies, the land, and the water are teaming with life and activity. It is wonderful to be greeted every morning by dolphins, and watch the pelicans drift by the boat all day long, It has also made us realize that we love nature's creatures. We can hardly wait to get home and watch the local birds, deer, raccoons, and squirrels.
Anyway, here we are in New Smyrna Beach. There is a norther coming through that is making travel a little tough for a day, we wanted to get our yacht club dues sent away, and visit with Jim and Gail, a cruising couple we met on the way down. We are sitting on the town dock for convenience, but we are not really happy about it. Somewhere along the way we have changed and we now feel more secure at anchor than we do on a dock. We can't pinpoint when that change came to be, but it haunts us none-the-less. Places where wind and wave have little effect, then docks are great. But where there is a chance of becoming stuck on a dock, or trashed because of bad weather, we feel much better on the hook. Too funny really, considering that when we left home we would consider a dock every time bad weather was coming.
So tomorrow we may stay here, but there is a better chance that we will move onto an anchorage a little north of here. We are having breakfast with our friends, and I think Jim is going to give us quick drive to the post office. He offered us a car should we need it, but we are well provisioned and have issues with borrowing other peoples stuff, especially expensive stuff. Amazing though, people we hardly know going out of their way to lend us a hand. I said a long time ago in another blog entry, that if you cruise long enough, the people you meet will restore your faith in the human race.
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