Vero Beach 16th December 2011

Nearly a week has passed since I wrote the above and life has continued peaceably enough.   We left New Smyrna Beach as promised at 0730 hrs on the 11^th headed for Cocoa Beach and had a very uneventful trip getting to Cocoa Beach at 14.00 hrs .  We could probably have continued on to Melbourne but chose not to as we have been to Melbourne and never been to Cocoa Beach.

Nice marina, perhaps a bit cramped on the inside where we were, but very protected,  and  very comfortable facilities right in the centre of old Cocoa Beach village.  That evening we went out for dinner to Thai Thai where we had one of the best Sushi appetizers that either of us have ever tasted .  It was named Love of the Sea and was absolutely delicious..  The 12^th was not a Florida advert day, cold, raining and very windy, so we stayed put enjoying the facilities of the marina and village.  The 13^th was windy again but reasonable, however we were too comfortable perhaps, read lazy,  and stayed put yet again, spending part of the day wandering around the village and the balance fixing little items on the boat.

Such a good feeling when you can fix things …!!   We had been plagued by the fresh water pump going on briefly when there was no tap running, meaning that we had a small leak somewhere.  Catherine found it, tightened up the clip and voila ..  no more leak and no more pump cycling.   The air conditioning heat pump was not working, so we tried  cleaning the intake filter…..  it was clean as can be, but in putting it back together we refilled the filter to the top, tightened everything up switched it on and lo and behold a great gob of mud came out and water ran perfectly.  We are not sure whether there was an air lock in the water system, which disappeared when we primed the filter, or whether  there was yet another mud dauber nest somewhere higher up within the system.  Must remember to plug all inlets and outlets before we leave the boat in the spring !!   

Lastly we cleaned out the raw water intake for the engine and what a surprise that was, absolutely clogged with all sorts of weed and grasses, so we cleaned all that out and what a smell…..  dead fish and ozone …. not  pleasant !

Back on the water on the 14^th at 08.00 hrs leaving Cocoa Beach and heading for Vero Beach aka Velcro Beach ‘cos some people arrive here and never leave.  Had a grand day on the water motor sailing with first a full genny, which rather overpowered James, meaning hand steering, so then a reefed genny which James handled happily.  I am too used to James handling the steering chores!! We were tied up to the fuel dock at 14.45 hrs and were met by our friends on “Iolar” Walter  and Lynn, so after taking fuel and water and having a pump out we retired to buoy No. 8, alongside “Iolar”, which is where you will find us now.  Yesterday 15^th was a shopping day and we now have all the fixings for Christmas , turkey, cranberry sauce etc etc, all we are missing is the brussell sprouts but we do have beans in their place.  Catherine also managed to find Christmas pudding and hard sauce, not a large pud but half a dozen small individual ones … delicious….  We are not going to starve !!

Today we managed to speak to Chris Parker our weather guru who is calling for the possibility of a Gulf Stream crossing on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of next week, so we need to be in position to take advantage of that window.  It likely means that we shall leave here on Monday for the West Palm Beach/Lake Worth area , spend Monday there and aim to leave on Tuesday or Wednesday morning for the Abacos .  Judging from many of the comments heard around the marina there may be quite a few biats heading over during that time period, the weather does not seem to have been cooperative so far a gulf stream crossings are concerned recently. 

Who knows where we shall be for Christmas… HopeTown doubtful, Green Turtle maybe …….  stay tuned !!