Wednesday, January 30, 2013 – Vero Beach City Marina (Mile 952):

            It was pretty windy this morning, and I thought it was going to be more of a challenge than it really was getting out of the slip and on our way, but the marina dock guy helped us get off and we left Telemar Marina around 9:45 a.m.

            We had a lovely dinner with our Grand Banks friends last night who were also staying at Telemar, and they gave us some great information about crossing Lake Okeechobee and places to visit on the West Coast of Florida.  They also gave us some great places to anchor on our way back home instead of staying in marinas.  We really enjoy anchoring out, and will try to do more of that when we head back north.

            So we left the Banana River, rounded Dragon Point, and turned left in the Indian River and under the Eau Gallie Bridge, then under the Melbourne Bridge.  It was really windy, and there were whitecaps, but the water was really not too choppy until the afternoon.  At R20 you really run out of water and must stay in a very narrow, but well-marked channel.  The landscape looks more like something you would see in the Thousand Islands in Canada instead of Florida.  There are little tiny islands all over the place, but you better not stray out of the channel as it meanders around the little islands.

            One sailboat who did happen to wander out was really hard aground and heeling over.  It did have an anchor out, but it didn’t look like anyone was aboard.  I have no idea how that boat will ever get back in the water!

            We actually caught a glimpse of turquoise water today.  Unfortunately, we weren’t in it ourselves, but we could see it in the distance or certainly what looked like turquoise water!  Another interesting sight happened to be a wedding photographer taking pictures of a bride who had climbed up on a dead tree on one of the islands.  We didn’t see a groom, but got to thinking maybe the photographer was really the groom.   We tooted our horn at them, and then were thankful we didn’t scare the bride and have her fall out of the tree.  She looked rather precarious on her perch!

            We saw our share of dolphins and a couple of eagles but not much else in the way of wildlife other than the normal pelicans and other sea birds always flying around.

            At about 2:30 we rounded G139 just before the Wabasso Bridge and into the marina here.  It’s a city marina, and the facilities are not as nice as the privately owned marinas such as Cocoa Village, but we are pretty close to the town, which is supposed to be very nice.  There are a lot of boats in here including many boats out on a mooring, and some of those boats are actually doubled up.

            Kitty cat still seems pretty content, and as a matter of fact is outside now wandering the deck.  Actually, last night, she decided to be quite friendly and let our guest pet her!  I was shocked!

            We are trying to get a repairman to come out to the boat and replace the display in our microwave oven, which has become unreadable.  This seems to be a bit of a challenge, because they can’t come to the marina until their insurance company faxes all the appropriate insurance information paper work to allow the repairman to enter the marina grounds.  Hopefully, we will get a call from them tomorrow saying all is good to go and they can come and fix the microwave.   The bureaucracy is a bit frustrating, but I remain hopeful.  As we will be here for a few days we plan on exploring the town tomorrow.  All in all, it was an uneventful day – and I am always thankful for uneventful days.

Cruise planning and dinner with a friend

Dragon Point (what's left of the dragon)

Bride in a tree