Thursday, January 31, 2013 – Vero Beach:

            Yikes! What happened to our weather?! We “sailed” in here yesterday under a somewhat cloudless sky (cloudy in the morning but clearing up as the day wore on) and the temperature feeling like it was 85 degrees and hot.  But in the middle of the night, we were awakened by howling wind and rain pelting the boat.  So we scrambled up and hurriedly went around and closed all the portholes, and I tried to convince myself that this was just a gentle patter of rain that would be nice to fall back asleep to.  We woke up this morning to cold and more rain; the temperature feeling like it had dropped 30 degrees.  It is 58° right now at 9:30 a.m.

            Kitty cat thinks that since we seem to be on the move again, she wants the bed made right away so she can dive under the covers before the engines turn over, and she yowls at us if we don’t make the bed immediately after she has had breakfast.  Well, I told her that we were going to have breakfast first since we weren’t going anywhere today, and since it was such a “yucky” morning, I decided it was a perfect day to make bacon and eggs.  I think she got the idea that the boat would be stationary for the day because she decided to do a deck walk since she wasn’t going to get her way about the bed. 

            The microwave repairman called us back this morning, and he is coming to look at our microwave tomorrow, hopefully in the morning, so we don’t have to waste the day hanging around playing the waiting game.

            Sometime during the middle of the morning some friends called who were driving down to Key West.  They happened to know we were in Vero Beach and they suggested we look up some live-aboards who they had met on their last visit here.  It just so happened that these people were tied up in a slip at the same dock where we were, and they were on board, so we stopped and chatted with them for awhile on our way to lunch.

            We waited for the weather to warm up which it did, and we walked around to the Riverside Grill which is just a short ways from the marina.  It’s a real sports bar with about 30 TVs (I’m not kidding – maybe more) covering the inside walls.  We really want to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday (c’mom, the Ravens are playing!), and we can’t get the local channels here on our boat.  We have DirecTV, and pay and arm and a leg to watch worthless television, but because of some stupid FCC regulation we can’t get the local channels.  We have begged, pleaded and threatened letters to the government, but since the government is controlling this, we aren’t having any luck.  There is a TV in the “boaters’ lounge”, but it is about the size of a frying pan, and has been attached to the wall near the ceiling.  I think my grandparents had a larger TV when I was little!  Well, anyway, as we were having lunch at this restaurant, I decided to ask what time we should arrive if we wanted to watch the Super Bowl.  The nice waitress told us to check with the seating hostess because she normally didn’t work on Sunday, and wasn’t really sure what to tell us.   So I found the seating hostess, and she told me that we would be strongly advised to make reservations as that’s what most people were doing, and they were almost booked up!  So I said we would definitely like to do that.  So she looks through her book, and tells us sadly that the only table for two is the one where we are sitting, and would we like that one.  WOULD WE LIKE THAT ONE??!!  YES!!  As it is surrounded by about 20 TVs and I am already thinking of the great junk food and beer we can consume amongst 50 million screaming people who are, hopefully, all Raven’s fans as we are on the east coast!  This will certainly beat getting a stiff neck while staring at the ceiling in the boaters’ lounge stuffed in like probable sardines!

            Bob has reserved a rental car for the weekend also, as Enterprise offers these great deals on the weekend, so we can explore the area, and drive to the restaurant.  I wasn’t really looking forward to walking back to the boat at 10:00 p.m. or so in the pitch black dark.  So I’m thinking this is going to be a great stopping point on our journey south!

            Back to the boat after lunch (which was really dinner as they give you enough food to feed an army) for some serious card playing, reading, and possibly a nap.  Dinner tonight will be some left over spaghetti if we ever get hungry again.

            This afternoon Bob worked on our cruise itinerary.  We are in a quandary as to whether to go to the Keys or to try and head across Lake Okeechobee.  There seems to be some potential bridge work that may hamper our plans to cross the lake, but Bob is researching this.  So our final destination is still up in the air!

            I can’t believe where the days go.  It is already 6:30 p.m., and I have no idea where the day went.  I guess that’s a good sign – must mean we ‘re having fun!

Finishing his meal

Pelicans sunning themselves on the dock

Bird looking for a meal

Riverside Grill where we'll go for the Super Bowl