Dream Catcher: The View from Vero Beach

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we hope you all had a day filled with good food, lots of laughs and time with those you love. We spent ours with our daughter Courtney, her boyfriend Paolo and their two dogs, Vandenhoff and Gus. We had great food, lots of laughs and a few adventures. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves. (Click on photos to enlarge)

Greg, Courtney, Paolo at Deerfield Beach Pier

Deerfield Beach Fishing Pier

Vandenhoff (Boston Terrier) and Gus (White Lab) worn out.

It was a beautiful, sunny day when Dream Catcher arrived in Vero Beach on November 10th. Since we were two days ahead of schedule, we pulled into another marina, Loggerhead Marina, about two miles north of Vero City Marina (our intended home for a couple months). Loggerhead is lovely with nice showers, a pool and great staff. It is inside the large gated community of Grand Harbor, so when you come and go in a car you have to drive two miles between the front gate and the marina. Plus, it is on the western side of the waterway, making it impossible to get to the beach on foot. But, it was a place we had been wanting to check out and it gave us a chance to get our car out of storage and get a bit settled on land.

Of course, the car would not start - dead battery. AAA arrived in about one hour and got it running, inflated the tires and sent us on our way. Great service with a huge smile and positive attitude! We made a stop at Walmart to get jumper cables, a trickle charger and a large battery pack to jump it again if necessary. After begging a spot near an electrical outlet at the marina and setting up the battery charger, we headed back to the boat hoping it would start again in the morning. Next morning, no go. We discovered that, though we connected and thought the charger was running, in fact, it was not turned on. Darn!

Another call to AAA after a few tries to jump it, we had to replace the battery. Next time, we will disconnect it, or add a solar trickle charger.

Friday the 13th, Greg pulled out of the slip to head the two miles south to City Marina and Sharon drove the car the 10 miles by land. Greg drove masterfully into the slip which will be home for the next couple months. We were greeted by friends we had made last year, Rick and Kay on "Bittersweet", and the locals who hang here all year.

Since we arrived we have been enjoying morning walks and jogs up to the beach, driving around drooling at homes for sale, cheering for the Patriots at local taverns, and sharing special time with friends. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we had a scare. We had dropped the dingy off the davits to lend to friends Pat and Eric whose outboard motor was in the shop. (they were on a mooring and needed some "wheels" to get to land). They had just returned it the evening before and we tied it up to the stern rail, figuring we would raise it back up in the morning. However, the next morning - it wasn't there! OH NO! Could someone have stolen it - here in Vero City Marina - no! So we immediately searched as best we could from land, two friends got in their dingies and searched up and down the area, thinking maybe someone found it and had it tied up, or maybe it drifted to land? While checking in with the harbormaster, we found that a call had come in that a Highfield (our brand) dingy was found wedged under someone's dock overnight. So Tim (Harbormaster) took Greg two miles (!!) South on the waterway in the marina work boat, figuring he would tow it back. Fortunately, it was ours, and we figured it must have come untied in the stiff winds we had overnight. A little worse for wear - the starboard (right) side pontoon was deflated from a hole about the size of the tip of Greg's little finger and the paint on the motor cover was all chipped off.

The dingy came with a very substantial patch kit. So Greg went to work on it, patching the hole and cleaning it up. We left it deflated so the glue would set while we went to Courtney's for Thanksgiving, and inflated it upon our return. A small leak still there, Greg went back at it with the glue and it seems to be fine now. Whew!! That would have been a huge expense if we had had to purchase a new dingy and motor. One more thing to add to our already long list of things for which to be Thankful!

Vero Beach

Sunday night's football game was very frustrating for us, as you might imagine. During the game, Sharon texted her Uncle Willis to see if he was at the game. He and Aunt Helen live in Denver and have Broncos season tickets. We didn't hear back until the end of the game - which of course they thought was a "great game!" Oh well. Anyway, to our surprise, they were not at the game, but hanging out in Miami waiting to board a cruise ship later in the week. So, we got to see them when we met in the middle for lunch. What a nice surprise!

Today we enjoyed lunch with our friends Hayden and Radeen at Waldo's by the sea, a funky old restaurant on the water in downtown Vero. How fortunate are we!