Vero Beach FL

Day 67 & 68
March 7 & 8, 2016
Mon & Tues
Vero Beach FL

Day 67    3/7/16
We left Jensen Beach anchorage after a windy night and headed to the north. We picked Vero Beach because it let us get a mooring ball cheaply and have access to all the perks of a marina.  We knew it was protected because we stopped there last winter. We were able to sail part of the day and were really moving along with 15kt winds but we came to a bridge that had an inspection crew under it on scaffolding rigging and the bridge tinder made us take our sail in. We had to wait for the inspection team to get off which cost us all the time we gained by our speedy sailing up to that point.  

We got to Vero Beach City Marina and rafted up on one mooring ball with Journey. That was much easier than I remembered from last year. The guys went in to pay and get maps and bus schedules and Martha and I stayed on the boats. Tomorrow we will go ashore too and get the lay of the land. 


Day 68   3/8/16
Moored in Vero Beach.  We gathered clothes and went to shore to do laundry. The dinghy dock is nice and not to far from the laundry. While the clothes washed and dried I loafed in the lounge and watched TV and Martha raided the swap library. She walked away with a bunch of good books that looked new.  I landed a Chesapeake Waterway Guide 2008. 

While we were there Martha checked out the business cards on the bulletin board and found a motor mechanic and called him. She explained their dinghy outboard issue and he said he could get to it tomorrow. Every other inquiry had gotten 2 weeks maybe to get to it.  She called Mitch and he talked with the man and arranged to have the outboard picked up this afternoon at the marina office. The guys had caught the bus to the beach and were exploring for marine stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, and restaurants. 

When the guys got back we were just finishing laundry. We took our laundry to the dinghy dock and waited. And waited. And waited. After an hour and a half they finally came and picked us and the laundry up.  While we were waiting they were trying to get the motor off. The key would not open the lock and eventually they cut the lock to get the motor off.  Then Mitch waited for the mechanic because he wanted to talk face to face with him before he left with the motor.

 Mitch stayed on shore and Lee took Martha and me to the boats with the laundry. Then we returned to shore to meet Mitch and take a bus to the beach to eat. While we were waiting on the bus Mitch struck up a conversation with a woman also waiting. She happen to cook at the Riverside Restaurant which was within walking distance so we all decided to walk there and skip the bus. She recommended the fish and chips so that is what everyone except  me. 

Full and satisfied,  we towed Mitch in his dinghy back to the boats. Unfortunately Lee's method of towing left Mitch fishtailing (in a hard shell dinghy) bouncing off large power boats in slips. After he finally got away from anything he could hit Lee got us all back to our boats. Mitch was up for a card game but Lee and I were beat and Martha's back and mine were none to happy so we declined.  We hit the hay early.  I was too tired to sleep, strange as that sounds but I did rest.