January 3 & 4

January 3 & 4. Long frustrating day of motoring dead into the wind. On the bright side though, it was straight south and not like so many days we’ve spent meandering through South Carolina and Georgia.

We stopped about 1600 hours and dropped the hook in 8 feet of water in the lee of the Melbourne Bridge. There were several boats anchored at the other end of the bridge and they were more protected from the wind. Our chosen spot was only large enough to protect a few boats from the wind and as we were the only 2 boats there it worked out perfectly. The reason Jon favored this end of the bridge was that directly in front of us was the public library and we were able to grab their Wifi signal from the boats.

Free Wifi, protected spot, easy dog walking and a West Marine within walking distance. Cruising Nirvana.

On the fourth we were up and on our way at 0730. The dog walking was extra special this morning as we were surrounded by dolphins while taking the dinghy to shore.

Today was a lot like yesterday as we motored straight into the wind all day. The good part about today was that it was a short day as we were stopping in Vero Beach for a couple of days. We were in the anchorage by 1330 hours.

There is no room to anchor in the protected basin as the entire area is covered with mooring balls. This anchorage is so popular that it’s not uncommon for 3 boats to hang from the same mooring ball. On the radio the harbor master told us that there were no empty moorings for us to share together so they sent Non Linear in search of mooring # 43 to raft up with whatever boat was already there.

We were sent to ball # 44 to raft up with a boat named Adios. When we both reached our respective moorings we found them both unoccupied. Awesome. Evidently both of the boats had left without checking out so for the time being we both have moorings to ourselves.

Cruisers are quite fond of staying in Vero Beach as so much is in their favor here. There’s an awesome free bus line that runs during daylight hours and you can travel anywhere in town. There’s a West Marine, food stores, post office and everything else you can think of. The mooring balls cost 10 dollars a night. So the bottom line is that it’s cheap, clean, the weathers beautiful and it’s easy to get around. Its so cruiser friendly that the town has the nick name of Velcro Beach because once you’re here you can’t seem to tear yourself away.

Of course my introduction to town went a little differently. The moment we stepped off the dinghy we start up the path from the dock to land some old man stops his van in front of Christy and says “You’re not in New Jersey anymore so make sure you clean up after your dogs”. I had to ask her what he said because I couldn’t believe anyone could be such an ass. So the dogs do their business and now I’m carrying the bag around as we stroll hoping to run into Joe Welcomecenter one more time.

Next up, Christy and I walk to the dock masters office and while she’s inside checking in I’m outside standing there with the dogs. An older guy walks up, pets them and says to me that their too skinny. I tell him that their both the ideal weights for their breed. He looks me in the eye and with a scolding aire tells me that I don’t feed my dogs enough and wheels and strides away. I’ve been here 10 minutes, been bitched at by 2 strangers and standing here holding a bag of dogshit. Welcome to Velcro Beach. The next old man that speaks to me better be telling me I won the lottery or something.