Greetings from Vero Beach, Florida. Nicknamed 'Velcro Beach' because once cruisers get here they tend to stick around for a while, we are spending some time here doing some major provisioning to get ready to leave the US and head for the Bahamas. Since we got here the pace has been exhausting. I am at the point where I don't ever want to see the inside of a Walmart store again and I am wondering when we will get to slow down and 'smell the roses'. But I can't complain about the weather. Seeing photos of snow and reports of temperatures well below zero from friends and family in Canada (and even from further north in the States) I am glad that we are finally experiencing consistently warm weather. I have to admit that on our first night in Vero Beach I almost complained that it was too hot when we went below after supper to get away from the no-seeums and turned off all the lights to keep the cabin as cool as possible.
The trip from St. Augustine to Vero Beach made me feel a bit like a rat in a maze. We did the entire trip in the ICW and most of it was in the Indian River, which is a huge long river that runs down the ease coast of Florida separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of land. In most parts the river is quite wide, but it is very shallow almost everywhere except in the marked channel, so we found ourselves motoring from channel marker to channel marker for mile after mile in long straight runs, when all around us was miles of water which was unaccessible to us unless we wanted to go for a spin in the dinghy. After a while you lose any sense of where you are relative to anything on a large scale. The chart is just a long strip of water with land on both sides and it is difficult to see the big picture. Luckily the navigation is not very tricky as long as you can see the next mark. To defray the monotony a bit the dolphins have been phenomenal in Florida and the water birds add some interest to the trip as well.
We started out on Sunday with our buddy boats Leeloo and Slow Waltz from St. Augustine in heavy fog, which didn't lift until around lunchtime, making for a long morning. It was extra long for the crew of Slow Waltz who led most of the way. We managed to get a bunch of fuel pumped back over from our port tank to the starboard tank along the way, so the captain was pretty happy about that, as it means we have now tested the port tank and it works. We got to Daytona Beach that night and anchored for the night but didn't go to shore.
Monday we had a relatively short day to Titusville so we were able to dinghy in to the marina there and go for a walk to stretch our legs. We had a nice wind that day, but unfortunately we still didn't have our furler back, so we couldn't take advantage of it and sail (the main wouldn't have been terribly practical in the narrow channel). Just before we arrived in Titusville, all three boats were boarded by the 'poop police'. A couple of guys from Fish and Wildlife (carrying guns but we're not sure why) boarded us with some fluorescent dye, which one guy put into our head and pumped while the other guy watched to see if anything showed up in the water overboard. We passed the test with the forward head and got a 'bye' on the aft head, as it is 'inoperable' because of the holding tank project, and they sent us on our way.
That night after supper we were both feeling hot and sweaty, and I had been splashed with salt a few times when salt spray from the waves had blown into the cockpit, so Dave suggested we try our new on-deck shower. It was fantastic having hot pressure water, and the shower head is very well designed with a shutoff button so you only use the water you need. It is the little things that can make all the difference! So there is another project that was well worthwhile.
It was an even shorter day on Tuesday from Titusville to Indian Harbour Beach, where we anchored in relative protection in anticpation of some strong north and northeast winds. When we got to the anchorage there we saw tons of dolphins and a couple of manatees. The dolphins were all over the place and when we went for a row in the dinghy to have a look around we got a really close look at three of them who jumped out of the water together. That night it was so warm we watched a movie in the cockpit because we didn't want to go down below.
Wednesday we pushed on to Vero Beach and arrived just after lunch. The marina here is run by the city and it is a cruiser's mecca. It is well protected, they have reasonably priced moorings (although they do expect you to raft with other boats if necessary, which we don't mind at all as we often raft up on moorings or at anchor at home, but some people who have never done it are uncomfortable), laundry, a free bus on weekdays and Saturday morning that takes you to the beach or to shopping, wifi (not the fastest but it is probably pretty bogged down with everyone trying to use it), showers, water, pumpouts and lots of opportunities to meet other cruisers.
Dave had arranged to have the furler shipped to the marina at Vero, so when he checked in, he picked it up and the first order of business was to get it installed (with help from Mario) and we put the jib back on. Check that off the list! On Thursday we took the bus to Walmart (about an hour to get there, on two buses) and starting stocking up for the Bahamas. This turned out to be the first of many trips, as we ended up renting a car with our two buddy boats, so we wanted to do our major provisioning while we had access to a vehicle.
Provisioning for the Bahamas (and beyond) feels a bit like planning for the apocalypse - you buy all the non perishables you can fit on the boat and then you start stowing them wherever you can find room. Taking inventory so a) you know how much you have on board and b) you know where it is adds a bunch of time to the endeavour. Compress all of this into three days where you have access to a car and it becomes a non stop activity. You may wonder what the big deal is, but since everything is more expensive in the Bahamas and some things are impossible to get, it is worth stuffing the boat full before leaving the US. When I was at the dinghy dock feeling worn out by the whole thing a fellow cruiser commented "you may be tired now, but you will be happy you did it when you get over there".
Contributing to my exhaustion is the fact that after getting over my cold a couple of weeks ago, I got some water in my ear when I was in the shower (maybe I forgot how to take a shower because it had been a while?) and I had been having difficulty hearing and it was uncomfortable. When I woke up on Thursday it had started to hurt, so after our trip to Walmart I decided to go and seek medical attention. I was able to take the free bus to a strip mall about five minutes from the marina, where I went to a Walk In clinic. I wasn't sure what to expect, but my experience was very positive - the place was clean and well managed and they took all my vitals before a nurse practitioner saw me (they triage between her and the doctors and obviously an earache was something she could handle easily) and had a look before prescribing an antibiotic. Total cost for the visit $135. They told me I could go across the street to Publix, because they don't charge for certain antibiotics, which was a very pleasant surprise, and sure enough I walked out of Publix five minutes after I got there, antibiotics in hand, no charge.
Thursday night we walked over to the beach with the crews from our buddy boats and had supper at a restaurant near the water and then for the next 3 days it was go, go, go. Dave continued the work on the aft holding tank project, and finally got the lid on. One casualty of that project was my kitchen scissors, which were used to cut fibreglass and ended up covered in epoxy. Luckily they were easily replaced. Dave was really pushing to get the tank done so that he could start filling the cockpit locker (where the holding tank is located) with cans of coke and seltzer. We made numerous trips to Walmart, Publix and the liquor store and every time we came back with a full dinghy we had to stow and inventory. Somewhere in there I did the laundry and took care of some financial stuff but it has been non stop and we need to slow down.
The last major job to do before we leave the US is to get tubing for our bimini. We will head further south and try to sort that out somewhere closer to Miami. Then we have to provision fresh food and the last of the meat and we should be on our way. And somewhere in there is Christmas. But that is another story...
The trip from St. Augustine to Vero Beach made me feel a bit like a rat in a maze. We did the entire trip in the ICW and most of it was in the Indian River, which is a huge long river that runs down the ease coast of Florida separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of land. In most parts the river is quite wide, but it is very shallow almost everywhere except in the marked channel, so we found ourselves motoring from channel marker to channel marker for mile after mile in long straight runs, when all around us was miles of water which was unaccessible to us unless we wanted to go for a spin in the dinghy. After a while you lose any sense of where you are relative to anything on a large scale. The chart is just a long strip of water with land on both sides and it is difficult to see the big picture. Luckily the navigation is not very tricky as long as you can see the next mark. To defray the monotony a bit the dolphins have been phenomenal in Florida and the water birds add some interest to the trip as well.
We started out on Sunday with our buddy boats Leeloo and Slow Waltz from St. Augustine in heavy fog, which didn't lift until around lunchtime, making for a long morning. It was extra long for the crew of Slow Waltz who led most of the way. We managed to get a bunch of fuel pumped back over from our port tank to the starboard tank along the way, so the captain was pretty happy about that, as it means we have now tested the port tank and it works. We got to Daytona Beach that night and anchored for the night but didn't go to shore.
Monday we had a relatively short day to Titusville so we were able to dinghy in to the marina there and go for a walk to stretch our legs. We had a nice wind that day, but unfortunately we still didn't have our furler back, so we couldn't take advantage of it and sail (the main wouldn't have been terribly practical in the narrow channel). Just before we arrived in Titusville, all three boats were boarded by the 'poop police'. A couple of guys from Fish and Wildlife (carrying guns but we're not sure why) boarded us with some fluorescent dye, which one guy put into our head and pumped while the other guy watched to see if anything showed up in the water overboard. We passed the test with the forward head and got a 'bye' on the aft head, as it is 'inoperable' because of the holding tank project, and they sent us on our way.
That night after supper we were both feeling hot and sweaty, and I had been splashed with salt a few times when salt spray from the waves had blown into the cockpit, so Dave suggested we try our new on-deck shower. It was fantastic having hot pressure water, and the shower head is very well designed with a shutoff button so you only use the water you need. It is the little things that can make all the difference! So there is another project that was well worthwhile.
It was an even shorter day on Tuesday from Titusville to Indian Harbour Beach, where we anchored in relative protection in anticpation of some strong north and northeast winds. When we got to the anchorage there we saw tons of dolphins and a couple of manatees. The dolphins were all over the place and when we went for a row in the dinghy to have a look around we got a really close look at three of them who jumped out of the water together. That night it was so warm we watched a movie in the cockpit because we didn't want to go down below.
Wednesday we pushed on to Vero Beach and arrived just after lunch. The marina here is run by the city and it is a cruiser's mecca. It is well protected, they have reasonably priced moorings (although they do expect you to raft with other boats if necessary, which we don't mind at all as we often raft up on moorings or at anchor at home, but some people who have never done it are uncomfortable), laundry, a free bus on weekdays and Saturday morning that takes you to the beach or to shopping, wifi (not the fastest but it is probably pretty bogged down with everyone trying to use it), showers, water, pumpouts and lots of opportunities to meet other cruisers.
Dave had arranged to have the furler shipped to the marina at Vero, so when he checked in, he picked it up and the first order of business was to get it installed (with help from Mario) and we put the jib back on. Check that off the list! On Thursday we took the bus to Walmart (about an hour to get there, on two buses) and starting stocking up for the Bahamas. This turned out to be the first of many trips, as we ended up renting a car with our two buddy boats, so we wanted to do our major provisioning while we had access to a vehicle.
Provisioning for the Bahamas (and beyond) feels a bit like planning for the apocalypse - you buy all the non perishables you can fit on the boat and then you start stowing them wherever you can find room. Taking inventory so a) you know how much you have on board and b) you know where it is adds a bunch of time to the endeavour. Compress all of this into three days where you have access to a car and it becomes a non stop activity. You may wonder what the big deal is, but since everything is more expensive in the Bahamas and some things are impossible to get, it is worth stuffing the boat full before leaving the US. When I was at the dinghy dock feeling worn out by the whole thing a fellow cruiser commented "you may be tired now, but you will be happy you did it when you get over there".
Contributing to my exhaustion is the fact that after getting over my cold a couple of weeks ago, I got some water in my ear when I was in the shower (maybe I forgot how to take a shower because it had been a while?) and I had been having difficulty hearing and it was uncomfortable. When I woke up on Thursday it had started to hurt, so after our trip to Walmart I decided to go and seek medical attention. I was able to take the free bus to a strip mall about five minutes from the marina, where I went to a Walk In clinic. I wasn't sure what to expect, but my experience was very positive - the place was clean and well managed and they took all my vitals before a nurse practitioner saw me (they triage between her and the doctors and obviously an earache was something she could handle easily) and had a look before prescribing an antibiotic. Total cost for the visit $135. They told me I could go across the street to Publix, because they don't charge for certain antibiotics, which was a very pleasant surprise, and sure enough I walked out of Publix five minutes after I got there, antibiotics in hand, no charge.
Thursday night we walked over to the beach with the crews from our buddy boats and had supper at a restaurant near the water and then for the next 3 days it was go, go, go. Dave continued the work on the aft holding tank project, and finally got the lid on. One casualty of that project was my kitchen scissors, which were used to cut fibreglass and ended up covered in epoxy. Luckily they were easily replaced. Dave was really pushing to get the tank done so that he could start filling the cockpit locker (where the holding tank is located) with cans of coke and seltzer. We made numerous trips to Walmart, Publix and the liquor store and every time we came back with a full dinghy we had to stow and inventory. Somewhere in there I did the laundry and took care of some financial stuff but it has been non stop and we need to slow down.
The last major job to do before we leave the US is to get tubing for our bimini. We will head further south and try to sort that out somewhere closer to Miami. Then we have to provision fresh food and the last of the meat and we should be on our way. And somewhere in there is Christmas. But that is another story...