64 miles to an anchorage in Lake Worth

I'll do a real blog tomorrow, complete with pictures we took today (and maybe tomorrow...).  This is just to catch you up - dad is doing well and went home from the hospital today.  We have arranged for someone to be with him for the next 24 hours or so just to help out and keep an eye on him.

More tomorrow but we left for Miami (about 20 hours) but cut the rougher-than-expected trip short by 9 hours and came into Lake Worth for the night or so.  I am a little seasick and definitely tired.  Time for a little relaxation and an early bed time.

Terrible blogger....

I'm so sorry - I've been a terrible blogger for the past few days.  I'm not sure why, but the days seemed to zip past. 

The unruly dinghy motor was picked up on Monday by a wonderful repair guy, repaired, rejuvenated, and returned to us the same day!  That's not an easy task, as it weighs over 100 pounds and is a pain to get on and off of the boat.  But it was successful and at a very reasonable price, I might add. The motor purrs like Smokey now.

Luke did get a great shot of evening at the mooring field.

Rental car on Tuesday so we could provision Latitudes with the rest of our groceries prior to setting sail for the Bahamas.  While we had the car, we decided to drive a bit into the state and what to our wondering eyes should appear but orchard after orchard after orchard of orange and grapefruit trees.  Never knew there were so many!  The picking process is interesting....some one leans up against the tree branches, shakes the heck out of them, the fruit falls, and is then loaded into huge open topped trucks.  Not a great picture, but it was taken at 60 mph...note all of the little orange dots!

Then, a nice evening with local friends Marina and Dave, along with Marina's cousin Laney.  We had great pizza and then a few hours at the Disney Resort, listening to buddy Bernie play and sing.   He's been working on the Disney Cruise Lines for the past two years and just now back to Vero for a while.

Today ---- the big news is the our chart plotter returned from the manufacturer's repair efforts. 

Happy Luke with the revamped chart plotter!

And, the chart plotter installed and WORKING!

 

 

Shortly after Luke finished programing the plotter, the rains came.  We are lucky that we have only rain, not the awful ice and snow that is paralyzing a lot of the nation, even in northern FL.  We will happily wait out the wind and rain in our dry, warm boat.

 

 

Received one of "those calls" this evening - my 94 year old dad fell today and is in the hospital in NC for observation.  No broken bones apparently, but very sore.  We will certainly need to be sure that dad is ok before we cross to the Bahamas.

 

 



shorts!

We finally wore shorts today; briefly, but we wore them!  80 tomorrow...mmmmm.....happy!

Long time friends Ange and Ray visited yesterday.  She is a wonderful cook and brought home-made soup and cake, along with cheeses, crackers, and beers. Ange, we finished the soup last night and the cake today!  thanks!

Again, no pictures...we are slipping.  I need to be more diligent about taking pictures.

Today, laundry and showers.  Clean linens and clothes and bodies are always nice.

Unfortunately, our ever faithful dinghy engine has been misbehaving lately.  It just doesn't want to start or run smoothly (or at all).  We've always managed to get back and forth to the boat, but there is definitely a problem. Today Luke changed the fuel filter and spark plugs to no avail.  Looks like a call to a service technician tomorrow is due.  Oh, well, I guess that will just have to happen while we are awaiting the return of our chart plotter.  Always something...

FL in January - and friends

SO, it's January in Florida...thought it would be warm by now... it's always warm in Vero;  we usually wear shorts...

But tomorrow promises to be 74 and  Sunday - 80!!!  whoooo hoo!!!

Yesterday boating friends Conny and Alvin drove over from Sarasota for the day. We met them un the Bahamas last winter, and visited them in British Colombia last summer when we were RV'ing.  They are spending this winter on land but plan to resume their cruising next fall.  It was great to see them.  I can't believe I forgot to take any pictures!

Today, neighbors from home drove over from western FL to visit for the day.  Ali and Charlie have a new winter home in the Sunshine State and are here for the winter.  We managed to get pictures this time!

My super short hair has actually grown a lot in just a week - I may learn to like it.  It's certainly easy to care for!

Lined up on the beach below us, facing the wind, was this flock of Royal Terns.  A few seagulls had hidden in their midst.  The wind was blowing hard and these guys had no intentions of flying.

I think they are waiting for that warm, calmer weather tomorrow and Sunday.

We have finished a few of our projects while we are here waiting for our chart plotter to be repaired and returned.  Luke has replaced our dead microwave and a dead float switch in one of the shower sumps.  I've made a list of provisions yet to be bought.  Smokey has slept or watched the world from the safety of her little world.

Hurray for wonderful dentists!

The wonderful dentist that saw me to day was able to repair the tooth with a new filling.  well, a big fat new filling, a stem, and whatever, but the tooth is repaired without an extraction or the need for an implant.  I am a much happier and so is my tooth. 
No sightseeing today, just a long dental visit.  Overdue "housework" tomorrow.

Vero Beach at last

Vero Beach - "where the tropics begin"!  That is a horticultural fact based on latitude.  The climate allows tropical plants to grow here; plants that can't survive even a few miles north.  It's the place that WE know as where we can always finally wear shorts in winter!  Not today, but before we leave, I bet.  Today was nice - around 70 and sunny, and 48 tonight.

Vero Beach seems like a cute little FL town, but the reality of it is that more retired Fortune 500 CEO's live here than any other place in the world.  The town has the 4th highest concentration of wealthy households in the US.  That is amazing to us as we sit here in our little boat in the modest city marina.  But it's a busy marina!  These moorings often have 2 or 3 boats on each one of them.  Fortunately, we have a mooring to ourselves.

Smoke likes that - she is comfortable in her little world.  A bath after a long day of travel.

Here is Smokey demanding a noggin rub from the newest crew member, "Bob".  Yes, that used to be me, but after the scalping I got instead of a trim at a shop in St. Augustine, I look more like a Bob.  It's shorter than it looks in the picture.  That's a lot of wee little short wisps of hair.  Luke's hair is literally longer than mine.

We were excited to see an anhinga in the mooring field!  Never seen one here before and have actually seen only a very few in the wild.  This beautiful bird looks a lot like a cormorant, but their necks are longer and they appear more snake like. In fact, they are called "snake birds" because when they swim, only their necks and heads are above water. Like penguins, anhinga "fly" underwater to fish.  They pull their long wings in to their bodies, swimming at high speed with their shortened wings.  In an underwater pursuit, the anhinga darts it's long head forward and spears a fish, then bringing it to the surface to swallow. Like  cormorants, they spread their wings to dry in the sun.  Unfortunately, I couldn't catch this fellow drying his wings, but you can see the white feathers that spread like a cape when the wings are open.

The long neck and chest of the female anhinga are brown.

Wish I could have caught a picture like this one of a male anhinga!


Here is a link to read about the birds and see more pictures. (click on link)

We will be here a week or more.  There are a few packages coming in for us to pick up, we have friends here to visit, and, then, there is that dental work...

Catching up

Not very eventful days, but we ARE 120 miles further south!  and it's warmer down here!

We left St. Augustine at the crack of dawn on Friday, only to realize that another Hunter sailboat was out at the same time.  So, we met Carla and Daniel of C-Time, first time cruisers who are headed for Columbia, South America!  Talk about an ambitious first cruise!  Actually met them when we docked in New Smyrna Beach and had a great time getting to know each other. C-Time, under sail..

En route, we went under one of the many Daytona bridges.  Love the art work on this pilings on this one...

Today dawned bright and crisp (I hate "crisp" but not as much as I hate"frigid"").  Our goal was Cocoa, southward through the Haulover Canal.  One of the spoil islands just beyond the canal had several rosette spoonbill birds, but unfortunately, we didn't  get a picture of the bubblegum pink beauties.

Further, and the sun and water play optical tricks - is it a flying saucer? - a floating bridge? - a bridge too far?...

Our goal had been the Cocoa anchorage, but we made such good time that we continued another 18 miles to the southern end of the Indian River.  Tucked up in a narrow river, houses on both sides, Luke completes the setting of the anchor.  Our first anchorage of the season!

Dolphins are everywhere in this anchorage.  They blow, squeak, and call to each other.  It is wonderful. Smokey sat on the boat edge and listened curiously.

So, it is a quiet night at anchor.  Tomorrow we have only a few hours to get to Vero Beach.  We will be glad to get there for a variety of reasons.  Packages and parts are coming in, friends will see us there, and unfortunately - I get to see the dentist.  A chunk of back molar broke off this morning, leaving me with only the rough edges of what used to be a tooth.  Thanks to a reference from a good friend in Vero, I have an appointment with a dentist/oral surgeon on Tuesday.  As much as I dislike going to the dentist, I am definitely looking forward to this appointment!