Departed Vero, Miami Bound

Well, it's been awhile since our last blog entry! We reluctantly prepared to leaveVero Beach near the end of January. We love Vero so much! At the same time, we were ready to move on and see new sights and enjoy some sailing!

During the last week in Vero, our nephew, Mark Page, stopped by for lunch on his way to Puerto Rico! He and his wife, Jen, had planned six weeks this winter on the northwestern shore where the surfing is apparently stellar. Mark drove his two dogs to Miami to ship them to PR! Pet love! He had to drive past Vero, so we were happy to get together.

We also enjoyed Boston friends Kevin and Kitty's invitation to join them for a couple of New Engand Patriots games. Thanks guys! Lots of fun!

We had a couple of lovely get togethers with John and Grace, and Carey and Julie. More enjoyable times...thanks!

We had the pleasure of having John and Grace for dinner aboard Dream Catcher before we left Vero. Cocktails and lots of discussion led to dinner, then dinner led to after-dinner aperitifs. Do you know about Nassau Royale? This little vanilla-and-spice-based sipping rum is hard to find. But, it is the perfect finish to a wonderful evening with friends. We found Vero Beach as a result of a suggestion from John and Grace, who spent a winter here on their beautiful boat, Frances, a few years ago. They also introduced us to Nassau Royale, and we have shared it with them several times since. We now have a bottle secured in our larder to bring north in the spring for them! More fun times!

Pulling out of the slip on Friday, January 29, Greg quickly discovered the boat was not moving very fast, even though he was revving the engine to 2800rpm, our cruising speed.  Our dock mates who helped us disembark could see water boiling under the keel.  That meant there was a prop issue.  Into the fairway we went,  immediately dropping the hook, to assure we stayed put.  Then, Greg donned swimsuit, fins and mask and headed into the water, even with the chilly air temp of 60 degrees.  With chisel and putty knife in hand, he scraped away at two months of barnacle growth.  This was the first year he did not paint the prop with anti-fouling paint - as an experiement! OK, next haulout the prop gets paint! Reappearing with bloody fingers and blue lips, we were good to go.  So off we went, heading south.

Lake Worth anchorage

First night was a quiet one in the north end of Lake Worth.  Next day, after 12 opening bridges, we dropped the hook in Lake Boca, just off the resort where we stayed last year. Our daughter, Courtney, and her boy friend, Paolo, just bought their first home in Boca. We were thrilled to stop here for a couple of days to see their house again (after the home inspection visit) and enjoy dinner and good times with them. They are a very special couple with a wonderful life ahead of them.

We then motored from Boca to Miami, where we stayed for a week enjoying a five day visit from Sharon's friend, Pat. We had the good fortune to have nice sailing weather for two days. So, we sailed across Biscayne Bay to the western shore of Elliott Key for a night, then back to Coral Gables the next day.

Miami Skyline from the South

Sailing Biscayne Bay

We wanted to find a spot protected from the blustery north and west winds and were happy to locate the Matheson Hammock Marina and Park.  Another Florida municipal park and marina, this is mostly occupied by many varieties of fishing vessels, but there were a few masts sticking above the decks.  It was light on the amenities, but also light on the wallet.  Plus, it was a quick Uber ride to downtown Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and not far to Miami Beach. We took great advantage of Uber and hit  Miami Beach twice, Coconut Grove and walked a total of 52,000 steps in three days (thanks to Sharon's Fitbit)! We saw beautiful Miami art deco buildings, modern hotels, sandy beaches and lots of people (especially Lincoln Ave). And we had great meals at the Naked Taco in SoBe, LuLu's in Coconut Grove, the exquisite Setai Hotel (well, we only had a coffee drink there to warm up), the renowned Fontainebleau, and great pizza at the NYC Pizza place in the Grove. We're now officially spoiled - except for those 52,000 steps!

Pat and Sharon and margaritas at Naked Taco


Pat and Sharon at Loew's Miami Beach 

We also had the good fortune to be near the Fairchild Botanical Garden, a two mile walk from the boat. The orchid garden and butterfly house were standouts here.  Just amazing!  And Greg is still enamored with bamboo, so here are many photos of the day.

Click any photo to enlarge

Butterflies feasting on grapefruit

Salaca Magnifica!  Click any photo to enlarge

Can you see those little plantains at the top?

Palms and Bamboo

Lipstick Palm!

Puntingpole Bamboo

Borassus Madagascareinsis

Bottle Palm

Bambusa Textilis

Bambusa Oldhamii

Bambusa Malengensis

Dendrocalumus Minor

Copericia Derterdana

Sable Palm

Both are Eukanuba Palm, like your car wax!

After saying a fond farewell to Pat on Monday night, we finally left the marina in Coral Gables  Tuesday morning the 9th, with the promise of northwest winds, clear skies, and temps in the high 60s. We sailed a very fast 30 miles south to Key Largo as the wind was 20-25 kts the entire day. The boat was averaging 8+ knots - fast for us! We intended to anchor behind a small island at the northern tip of Key Largo, but the wind was so strong that this anchorage was untenable. Instead, we sailed across Card Sound (jut south of Biscayne Bay) to the western shore and dropped anchor there in eight feet of water in the lee of the shore, protecting us against the strong NW winds.  We have a reservation at Harbor Cay Club in Marathon, but not until Monday the 15th. We were hoping to take advantage of some of the fabulous snorkeling in the Keys, but so far it is too cold and we do not have wetsuits.  The forecast, however, is for air temps in the mid 70s and water temps in the high 60s. So...

 'Til next time -

We had a wonderful visit to McKee Gardens last week. But, first a quick note about our weather!

It has been unusually wet and warm this winter. The high humidity is stifling when the temps are also in the 80s. So, we felt lucky over the past few days as the temperature dropped to the 60s and low 70s. But, today the water element returned with a vengeance....a heavy rain storm that lasted all morning. We used the time to get a lot of office work done, and Sharon made a new batch of granola. Yum! Sharon also noticed that our barometer, which had been high, dropped considerably before and during the rain storm.

The chart below illustrates how to interpret a barometer's inches of mercury reading. This provides a reasonably accurate forecast for the next 12 to 24 hours.

Barometric Reading	- Forecast
Over 30.20"
Rising or steady	- Continued fair
Slowing falling	- Fair
Rapidly falling	- Cloudy, Warmer
29.80" to 30.20"
Rising or steady	- Same as present
Slowing falling	- Little change
Rapidly falling	- Precipitation likely
Under 29.80"
Rising or steady	- Clearing, cooler
Slowing falling	- Precipitation
Rapid falling	- Storm

So, our barometer was displaying 31.00 inches of mercury: high and not moving much until this morning. Then it dropped to 29.68, very low! The drop was quick and you can see what that meant in the chart above. Stormy weather!

On to the good stuff! 

McKee Gardens in Vero Beach is an old botanical garden open to the public. One section is devoted to bamboo, which Greg finds very interesting for their beauty and the diversity of the plants here. We had some time today and visited McKee for the first time this season (after a few visits last year) just to spend time in the bamboo garden. Not all plants are labeled, so we don't have the names of each one. But, we thought posting the pictures would be fun in itself. At the end is a small surprise!

 

Gigantochloa pseudoarunidacea (above right)

Tropical Blue Bamboo (above)



Slender Weavers Bamboo (above)

Guadua angustifolia (above)

Bronze Bamboo or Bambusa Lako (two pictures above)

Oldham Bamboo (above)



Fallen tree with ferns and moss

SURPRISE! As we were driving back to the boat we saw these Roseate Spoonbills alongside the road. Greg saw them and Sharon identified them within 3 seconds! OMG! We quickly did a U turn, stopped and took these pictures. They are in the same family as an Ibis, but they are obviously quite unique.

Happy January!!!!!

Happy New Year from Vero Beach

We hope you all had a wondrous and peaceful holiday season and that you are looking forward to new adventures in 2016.  We have enjoyed the holidays in this warm climate, though it is still hard to get used to Christmas trees, snowmen and lights when it is over 80 degrees outside.  We shared a delightful Christmas holiday with our daughter, Courtney, and her friend, Paolo. Thanks to them for their wonderful hospitality!

New Year's Eve was simple and quiet.  We had a lovely meal at one of our favorite restaurants, "Citrus Grillhouse" in Vero Beach, then retired to the boat for a restful evening.

The holiday week was spent sharing time with land friends from New England, Marilyn and Bob, who have purchased a new home in Vero Beach, and Kevin and Debbie, who have a condo in Port St Lucie.  As usual, we shared yummy meals with them at "Cobalt" and "Sailor's Return", both excellent!

Oh, one really cool thing that we experienced the week before Christmas was this: we were in the boat but had the companionway open, and suddenly we heard sounds of caroling!  Greg poked his head up and immediately called Sharon to join him.  We saw several kayaks in the harbor, lit with Christmas lights, singing Christmas carols as they moved from boat to boat! It was the coolest thing ever!  Sorry, but way too dark to get a photo.

On New Year's Day we took our little bikes (those foldable ones with 18" wheels) over to the beach and went for a delightful swim in a calm ocean of about 72 degrees.  The beach was full of families on vacation during the busy holiday week.  Alas, they had to travel back to the cold regions this past weekend while we get to stay here.  How fortunate are we!  As we have mentioned, it has been very hot this December, but finally the wind changed over night and a cold front blew in.  Today was gorgeous with a 50 degree start, sunny skies and a high of 67.  Sharon was thrilled.  She feels like a new person!  It's supposed to be like this all week. Woohoo!

A couple weeks ago, Sharon traveled to PA to visit family while Greg used the opportunity to "upgrade" our refrigeration (what? you say, didn't you already do that before you left the dock a year ago?)  Well, with the warm climates and high humidity, we find the need to defrost too often and a lot of cold air escapes the box through the walls and doors.  So, Greg felt if the box had better insulation, then it would run more efficiently for fewer hours, thereby reducing the draw on the batteries, which is very important on a sailboat!  So, for four days, Greg climbed in and out of the refrigerator box to install insulation, lighting and shelving.  He says it now looks like a Frigidaire!  We wish he had taken a selfie while lying on his back in the bottom of the box with his legs sticking out to work on the box's ceiling.  This will have to do.

Marilyn and Bob will confirm their incredulity that he could even fit in this thing!  He worked very hard.  When he finished the insulation job the "reefer" had been turned off for four days.  When he turned it back on it didn't cool!  The refrigerant was low.  He thought he had damaged a fitting or coolant tube.  So, a tech was called and refilled the coolant, but the next day it was still not right. Greg read all of the installation instructions and troubleshooting guides.  Then he spoke with the manufacturer.  Armed with all this new information he bought a can of coolant and gauges and began the tedious process of filling to "exactly the right pressure level" the new coolant.  This unit is known for excellent service.  It's also known to be very difficult to "tune".

For awhile, we had frozen milk, frozen mushrooms, frozen strawberries, frozen orange juice, frozen carrots, frozen eggs and frozen lettuce.  But, all his hard work and diligence has paid off and things seem to have settled down.  The cooler weather definitely makes a diff.  But, he's still checking coolant pressure every day until he is sure the unit is not only working properly, but using as little electricity as possible to do the job (currently at about 55 Amp hours per 24 hour day, pretty good!).

We are excited our friends John and Grace arrived in Vero Beach on Friday.  We haven't seen them for a year and we hope our schedules mesh enough to get to see each other several times before we leave town in a few weeks. We met them in Wickford, RI when we were dock mates.  In fact, our interest in Vero Beach is a result of sharing stories with them.  So, thanks to John and Grace, we are happily enjoying Vero.

Tomorrow, it's a brake job for the car, dinner with new friends Kitty and Kevin, more temperature monitoring, continued work on our taxes, and some real estate searches.  Not much different from what you may be doing at home!

Thanks for checking in on us.  'Til next time -

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!

Egret fishing

The North mooring field at Vero City Marina

We will enjoy our time here and hope to see some of you as you make your way South, or land here for winter.  'Til then -