2009.12.22 Vero Beach

They do nickname it “Velcro Beach” as it often is difficult to tear yourself away….and it is living up to its reputation!

Yesterday morning, Monday 21, we cast off at 0700 and as soon as we put any load on the engine I heard the squealing of a belt, told David and he saw no RPM reading on the tachometer.

It was out of the question to leave on a 9-10 hour trip with possible belt problem, sooooooooo back to our buoy with Indian Summer having turned around also right behind us.

Steve came on board and the guys armed with a crow bar and ratchet set went at our belt and tightened it, the consensus though that we would feel better if it was checked by a mechanic.We called Atlantic Mobile mechanics and Danny came within a couple of hours, he is the nice young man who had changed our raw water pump last year.The belt was still too loose so he tightened it some more as well as the fridge compressor belt…. Now, we had just had all these belts changed in St Augustine and did not know that new belts can stretch.

We dinghied to shore and went for a nice walk and lunch and over cocktails planned on leaving the next day subject to weather.

This morning, again, we were all gung-ho and ready to go, we put our long johns (yes you heard right and this is FLORIDA!!!) made some tea and turned on the SSB to listen to our weather guru Chris Parker at 0630….well, it was all gloom and doom, winds 25 to 30 from the North , choppy waters 5 to 6 feet waves.

David called him and we were told that today was “the least bad day” to cross but we were not in position still one day away from our jump off point in Lake Worth, from then on the weather was deteriorating ….so it looks like it is going to be Xmas in Vero Beach this year.

Sharon and I took the bus (it is free all over Vero) and went shopping. In the bus we saw a couple of ladies, obviously cruisers, so we started to chat.

One of them said “You are Catherine from Solitaire1” …Sharon was very impressed hanging out with a celeb! This lady was Jeanette from Myosotis, we had shared a mooring ball last year and she saw us coming into the harbor and of course dug up our card and knew my name. The cruising community is so friendly, we keep running into the same people, “We saw coming in from the ocean at St. Augustine Inlet” . Then they told us there was a Fresh Market in town…my favorite food store, so Sharon and I made a bee line for it …it was torture as we wanted to buy everything in sight, it all looked and tasted so delicious,but we had 2 problems, have to carry it back on the bus and the dinghy and have to stow it away. We managed to ward off most of the temptations…but it was hard as we are planning Christmas dinner on board at a mooring…that will be a first for us.

Last year we had Xmas dinner with Harriet and Skip (Moondance) Angie and Mike (Lady of Lorien) and Joe (Onward) as well as Harvey and Mary Helen (Gone Away) in Westend, Bahamas.

We came home and went for another walk with Ruger to the bank …RBC USA has a branch near the marina, very handy and I was able to use my card and did not have to jump through loops to get money like I had to in Savannah.

Meanwhile the boys were busy launching our dinghy, getting fuel but mostly solving the problems of the world and talking about …you guessed it BOATS. They were so busy sitting in their dinks and talking that they did not hear our phone calls asking to be picked up at the dock with a bag of ice that was melting and a big dog that wanted to get home.
Hopefully fishing 101 taking place!!!