Our first night south of Marineland was to anchor for the night at Titusville, FL. We did not get off the boat here, just settled in to a nice quiet evening.
We were up and underway the next morning at our usual 7 A.M. We ran into some heavy rain that day and got a nice boat wash. Bob loves it when mother nature takes care of keeping the boat washed!
By the time we reached Vero Beach, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. Vero Beach Marina (lovingly called "Velcro Beach" by cruisers because you can't seem to leave here), has a few docks, but the rest is all mooring balls protected from the ICW by mangroves. It makes for a very peachful anchorage. There must be about 60 some mooring balls here, and we have seen up to 4 sailboats tied to one. You can do that because the anchorage is so calm here. It is quite a mecca for cruisers coming down the ICW that need a rest. Many leave their boats here and go home for Christmas, then return and continue on farther south to prepare for a crossing to the Bahamas early January.
Many new friendships have been made by this arrangement of mooring ball sharing. Matter of fact, I think it was our second year when we were paired with a sailing cat named Harmony. We have stayed in touch with Lew and Florence, now via Facebook, ever since. Some other people we met two years ago from a town close to our home port here in Vero, happen to be here this year as well.
The town of Vero provides a shuttle that will take us from the marina to a several shopping areas in town, or to the beach for free, however, tips are accepted and appreciated. There is also a group of former cruisers here (now living on land) that help out the cruisers when needed as well. This town and marina could not be more cruiser friendly.
We stop in Vero because this is the location where we pick up boxes of books donated by a local school system to take to schools in the Bahamas. In the past we have taken books to three islands, Staniel Cay, Blackpoint Settlement, and George Town. This year all our books go to George Town.
We have also been watching the weather and it looks like there is a window to cross around Wednesday each week, so we plan to make the crossing around November 30, if the pattern holds. Our friends Rita-Kay and Clay on Carleigh are waiting for us to make the crossing with them them and we hope that friends, Dee and Ed on Sea Fox X, and Vic and Gigi on Oconee will also be ready and in place to cross next week as well. It is always better to cross with other cruisers, but we have done it alone with no problem.
We connected up with Dee and Ed (Sea Fox X) who have their boat in a marina at Ft. Pierce for dinner last night. It was great catching up with them and hearing about their summer. During the last two years they had gotten married and sold both houses and purchased a new one. They have spent last summer "feathering the new nest."
Since the weather isn't going to give us a window this weekend, we decided to stay in Vero Beach for their famous annual cruisers pot luck Thanksgiving. We have never attended this, but had always heard good things about it. Bob made a small turkey and dressing for the huge potluck dinner. The city owns the marina and a couple of party houses nearby. The let the cruisers use one with a large room with round and long tables and a small kitchen. The long tables were set up with all the food. Some tables had to be set up outside because there were so many in attendance. There had to be about 150 to 200 people attending.
Bob contributed a small turkey to the pot luck Thanksgiving dinner along with a bowl of stuffing.
This was just half of the buffet table full of food!
We were surprised to see Toby and Donna, friends that drove up from Fort Lauderdale to have Thanksgiving with the cruisers. Ed and Dee came too as they knew several people at the marina besides us.
Bob and I and Dee and Ed
The inside group. There were about 5 tables outside in the overflow seats!
The weather did not cooperate and we ended up staying at Vero Beach longer than we had planned. We did not want to go to Fort Lauderdale until we are a day or two to a good weather window to cross due to expensive marinas. So we stayed in Vero Beach until Sunday, December 4th, when it looked like Tuesday was a window. Vero Beach Marina is known among cruisers as "Velcro Beach" because cruisers often find that they end up staying longer than they had planned there. We were no exception to that rule!
Vero Beach has a Christmas Boat Parade and this boat came by us in the anchorage.
Our stop after Vero Beach is an anchorage in Lake Worth in West Palm Bay, FL. This is a small area that is lined with large homes, including the home of Jack Nicklaus. It is hard to see the house because all his boats are lined up at docks backing to the lake!
Fancy Party Boat anchored off the ICW we passed on our way to Fort Lauderdale
Iguana that lives on the bridge
House on ICW decorated up for Christmas - wished we could have gone through this area at night.
Our boat reflected in the windows of a house on the ICW.
We arrived in Fort Lauderdale and checked in to the Las Olas Municipal Marina. This is the only marine we have encountered on the ICW that will not come out and help with lines. It is city run. After a grueling time of docking against the wind and current, we finally got ourselves docked.
That evening we walked over to the boardwalk along the ocean and had dinner at Bubba Gumps Shrimp House. We wanted to check out the sea state and we found it fairly calm so expected to leave in the morning for the Bahamas. We talked with our friends waiting at another marina on Carleigh and agreed to a time to leave in the morning. Finally, we will be leaving for the Bahamas.
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