Sunday, January 31, 2010

Windy and rainy today. I kept trying to catch rainwater but the winds kept blowing it away from my bucket! Read, then read some more… computer games are entertaining too when the wind generator makes power for us :) I spent the afternoon putting together a meat pie for dinner. Wayne reads and does Suduko puzzles.

Wow, the end of January!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

We heard from Flex Time. They made it in 16 hours and had less than 4 kts for quite a bit of the time between the head winds, waves and Gulf Stream. So even though the waves were only about 3 ft, they said they were quite steep which I took as meaning they had a short period. Banging isn’t fun but they made it in at noon. They’ll be there this weekend and then are heading for Staniel Cay to meet up with their friends. Hopefully we’ll see them out there. This weekend isn’t conducive for us to head out. So we won’t see them in Lucaya. It’s looking like Monday or Tuesday is the next weather window and it’s a narrow opening. West End is looking better and better… These windows slam fast on us!

Friday, January 29, 2010 Lake Worth, FL

Nice sunny day… This is frustrating… Looking at the dinghy, it looks like one of the straps was about cut through and the dink had lost air so the straps weren’t holding tightly. I guess last night was not meant to be…

We’ll go over the charts and weather reports and wait for the next window. We’re now looking at possibly going to West End again. We won’t need as wide a weather window if we go there and can do that during the day (bonus – I’ll get to see the purple water again).

We’re waiting to hear from Flex Time to make sure they made it okay. The next front is scheduled to come in this evening. If they’re still bucking the winds and waves and doing 4 knots (I doubt it) then it will take them 18-20 hours to get there…darkness descends.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

After listening to the weather then looking at the weather & winds charts (E/SE at 5-10 and waves about 4 ft.) we decided to leave tonight at 8pm with Flex Time. Destination – Lucaya. It’s about 14 hours and we anticipate getting in before noon. Time to get the dinghy lashed down on deck and everything put away in it’s proper place (so there’s no slamming around below decks). Then hopefully we can get a nap and be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the over-nighter. I wish we were crossing the Gulf Stream during the day. Then we could check out that purple color again. No matter how we look at the timing element though, if we’re going to Lucaya, the Stream will be crossed in the dark. If not, then we won’t arrive there until dark. That’s not a good idea.

We picked up our anchor at 8:00 and headed out a choppy inlet. The winds were definitely NOT 5-10 knots. After 7 miles out, it was still spraying over the bow and we weren’t doing any better than 4 knots. Flex Time was a couple miles ahead of us. We could see their lights in the distance. Then our dinghy started doing a dance on the bow of the boat. Great! Slamming into waves and a dancing dinghy. This didn’t seem like a good time for dance lessons. I didn’t want Wayne or myself to go up there while we were slamming into the waves in the dark. After some discussion we decided that we would head back. So, Wayne hailed Flex Time to let them know we were aborting our passage. With sail tucked between our legs we headed back to the inlet to re-anchor. If the dinghy would have stayed secure, I could have continued on, but with all things considered – and we both concurred – try the next weather window. Points Xanadu and Lucaya will still be there. In the mean time – we are back at anchor in Lake Worth and are calling it a night. Flex Time is continuing at 4 knots. They have a destination that they need to be at in a couple weeks (people coming in). Hopefully we’ll meet them again in the future :)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 Peck Lake (N27 06.888 W080 8.555) to Lake Worth (N26 45.539 W80 02.585)

We seem to be able to pick up Chris Parker on our hand radio receiver (with USSB capability). But it seems hit or miss pulling his frequency in on a consistent manner. We can pull him in on a frequency of 4045 between 7-8am when he answers calls from cruisers all over the Caribbean (wanting to know the weather and sea conditions for their particular areas). But the signal fades. We also can get the Cruiser’s net on a frequency of 6227 at 8:30am. It’s interesting to hear everyone calling in giving his or her new ports of call.

Speaking of which, we’re heading from Peck Lake to the Palm Beach/Lake Worth area this morning. Anchor up at 9A.M. and I believe we have 7-8 bridges to get through today.

More later.

I’d forgotten how much of a challenge it is to try and time the bridges, especially when there are 7-9 sailboats at different locations and the bridges want to hold up for everyone at the same time. I can understand the reasoning, but for the bridges that run on a schedule, we really got clogged up in a couple of areas and with some large power boats thrown in the mix along with strong winds and currents – it was a definite “stay alert” day! We did manage to get the anchor down around 2:30pm on the other side of Red #6. This isn’t far from the spot we anchored the last time we were here. Originally we were going to go around the other side of Peanut Island, but not knowing how long we’d be here we decided that the larger anchorage would be fine. The inlet here is a class A inlet so we really shouldn’t have a problem leaving in the dark (whenever we leave). Second Wind is here (the 40’ Bayfield from Vero Beach) and we had to wave hello! They’re heading down to Marathon so are going to love the NE winds to help them out. We on the other hand need to get rid of the Northerly component to the wind in order to cross the Gulf Stream (don’t want to be caught in a rage).

FlexTime pulled alongside of us a couple hours later and were talking about heading out tonight, but we weren’t comfortable with the NE winds. I think they said they might wait until tomorrow when the winds turn more E/SE. We’re vacillating on going tomorrow depending on the winds. We don’t want to be bucking into them all day and since we’re heading ESE, we need to see what the seas and strength of the wind are doing before we commit.

Near the inlet there was a replica of the old SV Bounty. Wow!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 Peck Lake, FL

Still hanging out here today for one more day.

I made some bread dough and put it in the oven to rise, then played on the computer, while Wayne went through statements and paperwork and then tightened the Grill to the railing. I feel restless and agitated. Once again, I didn’t get much sleep last night.

I grabbed my camera then we dinghied to shore. We took a long walk along the Atlantic shore and scoured the sands looking for interesting little shells. I found another crab that thought he was invisible to me in the high tide zone and had to show him that he wasn’t so invisible. I was surprised that one of the seabirds hadn’t scooped it up for a tasty meal. I had to take another picture of him using Wayne as scale. It was a fearless little guy - I'll give em that!

I was even more surprised when I saw how far we’d walked in the sand. It makes sense that my ankles ache. I’m not used to walking so far in the sand.

Back at the boat I put together a marinade for chicken thighs that consisted of Roses lime, garlic, honey peanut butter, olive oil and a dash of hot sauce. It was a winner! We had grilled chicken thighs, coleslaw, bananas and oranges for dinner with freshly baked bread & Danish butter. Dinner doesn’t get much better than that.

Monday, January 25, 2010 Peck Lake, Fl

Wow, the weather sounds wacky today. Storms and straight line winds with possible Gale force winds at times; mix in some waterspouts and tornadoes and there’s our forecast for the day. It was windy last night and I didn’t sleep much once again.  I’m tired. I noticed, as I was making coffee, that the wind had switched to a more westerly direction and we were swinging closer to shore. After Wayne listened to the weather, he said we’d re-anchor later in the day. I was glad when he decided to re-anchor this morning.  After re-anchoring I made some cinnamon rolls and fruit for breakfast then finished reading “Plum Spooky”. Janet Evanovich has a way of making you chuckle – love her lighthearted books. I must confess I played on the computer for a while, and then made some salmon on onion roll sandwiches with salad for dinner.

The storm came roaring in with a vengeance. I had to hurry to get my water container out to catch some rainwater for my tea (the tank water from the boat doesn’t make very good tea). As I was putting my container out, I noticed the girl on the next boat over. She had run up on deck was washing her hair, then stripping down to her birthday suit and enjoying the cold shower. Her mate joined her but without the same abandon. He left his shorts on :) I can remember being young and uninhibited like that at one point in my life. It made me smile. I collected water and went below to get Wayne to come up and wash his hair in the rain too. It seemed like the deluge was over as fast and furious as it started. I was left with a vision of youthful spirits and rainwater tea :) Wayne was left with clean, fluffy hair.

Now I need to feed my bread starter before going to bed so I can make fresh bread tomorrow.
The picture is of a Royal Tern taken on one of our beach walks.

Sunday, January 24, 2010 Peck Lake (N27 06.899 W080 08.536)

Southeast winds in excess of 20 knots this morning. The wind generator is humming away, powering my computer, keeping our electrical systems charged as I run the chart plotter and work on my computer. It was a sleepless night for me after 1am. Wayne was having vivid dreams again and I couldn’t sleep.

We dinghied over to the other side of Hobe Sound to the Atlantic side. The surf is really up and I’m glad we’re not out there. The winds are 20+ out of the south so they’d be on our nose the entire way to Lake Worth. We’ll stay here today and maybe tomorrow, then head to Lake Worth and wait for the winds to swing back around from the north. After wandering the beach and scouring the beach for little shells and sea glass (no luck on the glass today) we went back to the boat for some lunch and to listen to the wind and waves (okay… the wind generator really). Marge & Dave (Winfield Lash) called and it sounds like they found a great little hidey hole in Lake Silvia for the next 5 days until they can get a crossing over to Bimini. We definitely need to stay in touch & I hope we get to see them in either the Abacos or the Exumas.

A short hike to the other side of the sound leads you through some sea grass, and sea oats until you get to the Atlantic.  I wasn't the only one looking for treasures in the surf :)

The picture below is of one of the jellys. They blow up like a balloon and ride on the surface of the waves looking for a meal to catch. Unfortunately, with the winds and waves from the East and South, they end up on the beach.

Looking off in the distance you can see the sea mist hanging in the air. After a walk along the beach, you can lick you lips (or your skin) and it will taste salty. I wonder what it's doing to my poor camera?

Saturday, January 23, 2010 Vero Beach to Peck Lake, Fl

Wow. In the weeeeee hours of the morning (between 3-6am) I could hear the surf from the Atlantic, here in the protected little cove of Vero Beach. I think that that’s a first. It was so very still and quiet that whenever a breeze came across the boat, it carried the sound of the surf from the east. I laid there in our berth for the longest time, straining my ears, just listening to it. I think I actually woke Wayne up and asked him if he could hear it! It was so faint. He couldn’t hear it. If there’d been any car traffic or the wind was coming from any other direction, I would never have heard it. It was lovely. I was glad we weren’t out there in it. Some of it sounded like it was really pounding.
It was nice to lay there and snuggle to the sound of…. nothing... But at 7 am I finally roused myself out of bed to make some coffee. Once I started pouring coffee, I heard “is that coffee I hear?” “Yep. Time to get up.” Timing is everything isn’t it? We listened to the weather reports and vacillated whether to stay or go? We both decided that a 3 day weather window doesn’t seem to be in the forecast anytime soon. So we decided that we should mosey further south so when we do get a window we can take it. Two days to get to Lake Worth (West Palm Beach) via the inside route or one long one outside. Hearing the forecast with large waves and winds on the outside, we opted for the inside.

Everything got stowed, the dingy put back in the davits and we finally released the mooring line that has stabilized our home in this anchorage since December 30th. We made our way over to the fuel dock to fuel up, fill our water tank, pump out our holding tank, and take care of our bill. Waved goodbye to Flex Time and told them that we hoped to see them either at Lake Worth or Lucaya. I’m sure we’ll run into them somewhere :)

It was a beautiful morning for motor sailing. We had a good westerly breeze, the sun out with turquoise skies and white cotton candy clouds hovering above us. I couldn’t believe the amount of turkey vultures (?) soaring in the skies, circling up on the thermals created by the small island landmasses that dot the Inter-Coastal Waterway. Small fishing boats and powerboats must have agreed that this was a good day to be out. There were 12-15 boats of various sizes from the small 2 man fishing vessels to the power yachts and pontoon boats, all fishing IN the ICW channel out front of the Oceanographic Institute. Most moved to the sides but some we had to weave around. Guess they didn’t know that we had the right of way in the channel? I also guess that I know where to find the fish if I ever want to fish in the ICW.

We only had one bridge to open today - the Ft. Pierce North Bridge. As I approached it Wayne sighted a manatee crossing in front of us. I never saw it. I guess they can move faster than our 6 knots because it dove under and I never saw nor felt it under the keel (thank goodness for that). Near the Inlet you could tell it was an outgoing tide. We picked up speed to 7.8 knots. Weeeee… with another 20 knots we could almost be a power boat LOL. The sun dappled islands, aqua green waters and turquoise skies were wonderful. The moisture-laden breeze blowing across my face had the scent of fresh seawater. No dead fish smell lingering here…

View of Nettles Island from the Boat on the ICW.

A little before 2pm we passed Nettles Island. I’d forgotten about this place. I’m still not sure of its origins – other than it’s got to be a man-made island. It’s a perfectly square island that’s built up with brightly colored homes and condominiums. Interesting little place. South of Nettles near the bridge (Jensen Beach) there’s a nice park area that looks like a nice anchorage (south of Red marker 220) near mile marker 981. I’ll have to keep it in mind if we ever need a short hop from Vero due to weather or laziness.

At the St Lucie Inlet, I must confess I let my eyes stay on the chart to study the little bit of the St Lucie River that cuts away from the ICW and heads west to the Okeechobee Waterway. This is the route to take if you don’t want to go around the Keys to get to the Gulf side of Florida. It looks like the project depths from the St. Lucie River to Lake Okeechobee are supposed to be 8 foot. But I’m not sure of the depths to actually cross the Okeechobee. We’ve been told that some areas are shallow and we need to check on this. I’d like to make use of this route if possible. We could head over to Cape Coral and pester Di & Joe :)

At 4pm we approached Peck Lake and rounded south of Green Marker 19 on a heading of 80 degrees (magnetic) and dropped anchor just north of the danger sign for the evening. There was a boat here I recognized from Vero – Wandering Bird (?). I recognized the old wooden two master with a missing letter off the name on the stern, but more than that – I recognized the large black dog and little old man with the long beard. We anchored next to him between 3 powerboats (2 left as night approached). Its time for a sundowner, some computer work and then dinner. Tonight’s menu: ginger/garlic/dill salmon fillets with tossed salad topped with ½ an avocado and sweet & sour dressing. The winds tonight are strong and our wind generator is humming along. I can actually hear another sailboats wind generator a few boat lengths away, the spinning propellers creating energy to keep their systems powered.

Friday, January 22, 2010 Velcro Beach, FL

Rainy morning… We waited for most of the rain to stop then dinghied over to the marina to catch the bus into town... one last time? Wayne noticed we were getting low on shampoo & I needed to get another match type lighter or two for the stove and grill. The ones from last year aren’t working as well and don’t seem to want to light anymore. I think I've refilled them for the last time.

The rain cleared out of the area by late afternoon and it looks like we’re still on for tomorrow to “hit the ditch” again after we fuel up, water up and pump out the holding tank. Wayne suggested we have one more burger and happy hour at the Riverside Café. Heck! You know I’m not turning that down! Dinner & drinks I don’t have to cook??? Yup! I’m so there! Then a shower and time to call it a night.

Okay – I lied! I went on Facebook and Becky had posted a video of a young man singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”… Ya know… this Wizard of Oz theme just keeps cropping up over, and over, and over… So I’ve decided that the theme for this year’s trip has got to be “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”… Just can’t fight it! Snipets from the Wizard of Oz have just kept cropping up this trip - from me playing the wicked witch, to the boat parade float to the song that keeps getting play time...

Thursday, January 21, 2010 Velcro Beach, FL

We managed to pull in parts of Chris Parker this morning on our little SSB Handheld. Couldn’t hear a lot of the boats or where they were from, but for a little handheld it was interesting to be able to pull in people from Little San Salvatore. I hope that we’ll be able to pull in some weather when we get further out.
The DC-to-DC adapter for the computer seems to be working rather well! I sat in the cockpit charging and working on the computer during the morning. Wayne retuned the mast and later we got the Spartite plug back into the partners (the hole in the deck that the mast goes into).

The wind started blowing pretty strong and getting cloudy but not much in the line of rain happened this evening. We tried using the grill and it actually lit and stayed lit in the wind. Unfortunately our old rail adapters for the smaller grill we have doesn’t seem to want to hold the grill up. Soooo…. The chicken was taken back off the grill and I fried it up in the galley. So we had chicken and German potato salad for dinner.

There’s supposed to be some weather coming tonight or tomorrow. Then we’ll try and head to Peck Lake the next day, then Lake Worth (West Palm Beach) the next. From there, we’ll wait for a weather window to cross over to Grand Bahamas and check in at Lucaya??? Like last year – Cruiser’s plans are still written in Jello.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 Vero Beach, FL

After coffee and oatmeal for breakfast I wanted to head over to the beach. Waited to see what was on Wayne’s agenda and he joined me for a walk on the beach. We ran into Dave, Ellen & ThisBe (Cordelia) on shore and chatted. They’re also waiting for a DC adapter for their computer. It sounds like UPS comes early here so mine may be waiting for me in the marina office. Yep it was .

We caught the bus to the beach and strolled along the waters edge, chatting, while I looked for treasures in the sand. I found a few small, pretty shells, 2 brown and 3 green pieces of sea glass that I’ll add to my collection to bring home. I plan on turning these little collectables into some other little treasures. :)

I also found two dead eels and a puffer fish washed up on the beach (no, I didn’t take those). It was a beautiful day out. It reminded me of one of those Early April mornings where you feel a hint of summer on the way. A nice cool breeze with the sun on you to keep you warm - One of those kind of days.

After that we caught the bus into Vero and stocked up on some tonic and soda water ($.81 for two liter bottless). Rum and gin may be cheap in the Bahamas, but the mixers are NOT. We managed to get to the Publix on the bus trip into Pocahontas Park and out on it’s return from Pocahontas Park with no waiting in-between! We may be able to get out of here tomorrow (weather conditions permitting) since the DC adapter for the computer showed up today. Yay! I just hope my AC connector for the computer continues to work too. It took a hard knock yesterday getting into the boat and then didn’t want to work. I got it working again, but if the DC adapter doesn’t work and the AC adapter decides to stop working, then I’ll be without a way to charge and use my computer. Not a happy proposition…

We decided to dinghy over to the Riverside Café for a burger & happy hour ½ off beers.

One guy there had caught a good size Red Fish and was filleting it as we pulled up. It grossed me out to see that the fish was still gasping to breath while he was filleting it. One half of it was filleted and he was working on the other side hacking into it.

Yuk… Watching that and seeing all the dead floating fish (from the cold spell) collecting around marina harbor and smelling their decaying carcasses really is enough to swear me off fish.

We had a spectacular sunset tonight at the Riverside Cafe'. People collect on their deck for the sunsets with sundowners (drinks) in hand. I had to keep running outside with my camera between bites of dinner. I was glad to have my camera though. It’s been a while since I’ve taken any pictures.

After dinner we headed for the marina showers. Pulling into the marina dinghy dock – the smell is getting to be quite odoriferous.

This is the bridge we go under to return to the marina from both The Riverside Cafe' and the Dockside Grill. The Riverside is on this side of the ICW (to the right of the picture) and the Docside Grill is on the other side of the bridge to the far left side of the picture.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Vero Beach, FL

Nice phone call to get in the middle of breakfast – a fraud alert informing me that my card was getting some unusual activity via the internet (in Great Britain). Three hundred and some for some type of insurance, $1.05 for a handyman something, and another amount in the teens… Wow… After chatting with them, and phoning the card company back to make sure this wasn’t one of those bogus things, it was time to go to the marina for showers and to drop me off at the lounge to charge up my computer batteries and get out of the boat while Wayne worked on some boat chores.

Basically I was a wharf rat for the day. Hanging out at the marina lounge. I charged up my computer batteries and read, decided to see if anyone had Skype turned on & had a hello chat from Ashley (Hi Ashley!) then Steph came online. I didn’t have a terrific signal and couldn’t talk to her via Skype but we did the typing chat thing before I noticed that there was a phone number posted in the lounge that she could call! It was terrific to be able to talk her & touch base. It felt like it’d been forever since we’d talked. Hopefully things will settle down more for her in the near future.

Salmon burgers, salad and fruit for dinner tonight. It's nice to have charged batteries again :)

Monday, January 18, 2010 Vero Beach

Our trip into town for Quest parts or anything that might adapt to Quest parts turned out to be fruitless. Wayne is ready to tear apart the entire plumbing and replace it (he’s frustrated). I would highly recommend that anyone looking at Quest fittings (plumbing) – think twice or make sure you have a parts place that specializes in that brand. After a trip to Lows and Home Depot, we went by Walmarts & picked up some fishing line, distilled water (my tea), oil and transmission fluid. We’d just missed the bus back to the transfer station so I whipped out my book and read for an hour & Wayne did some people watching.

Jane (Flex Time) got on the bus at the transfer station and we chatted on the way back to the boats where we dropped off our stuff & then swung by Raven to see if they were going over to the Dockside Grill for “happy apps” & drinks & then by Cordelia.

It was nice getting together with Flextime (Bob & Jane) & Cordelia (Dave & Ellen minus Thisbe). Good food, company and discussions. I’m not sure where Blue Moon is brewed, but it’s fast becoming my favorite happy hour ale :)

We couldn’t get the Honda Generator going for nothing when we got back to the boat. Both batteries on my computer are dead and no way to charge them on the boat right now. Don’t know why the generator won’t start. Leaving it out on the bow of the boat to get dew saturated every night perhaps? I ordered a DC adapter for my computer. It should be more efficient for charging my computer from the boat batteries than going from DC to AC back to DC. According to Wayne it requires about a 25% increase in energy to charge the computer batteries this way. So I’m draining the boat batteries more than required by using the AC adapter… Waiting on my DC charger .

Sunday, January 17, 2010 Vero Beach, FL

Laundry day for me and boat work day for Wayne. Lookss like a pink/blue division of work as I see it LOL

After dropping me off at the lounge with the laundry, Wayne headed back to the boat to wash off the hull at the water line, see if he could stop the dripping at the sink, and see if he could connect the foot pump at the galley sink(an ongoing project). We ran into Madcap at the dinghy dock & they’re heading out later today. We also saw another Bayfield come in – a 40 ft one called Second Wind. Turns out we met them last year and it was here in Vero Beach LOL:). They’d traveled to the Bahamas last year and the Keys are the magical place for them this winter.

I’m not sure what is wrong with one of the washers at the Laundromat but the spin cycle didn’t get all the water out of the clothes. So I had to spend more on the dryer to get the cloths dry. It gave me time to sit and chat though. I met Jane from Flex Time & we got to chatting. It sounds like they’re also heading over from Lake Worth to Lucaya, so if we don’t cross with them we may run into them there or on the way to the Exumas.

Wayne got the leaky faucet fixed but needs another T for the foot pump. It’s difficult finding Quest parts. We’ll try Lows and Home Depot tomorrow.

Saturday, January 16, 2010 Vero Beach

The boat at anchor next to us is still here. I was getting worried because I hadn’t seen him since he anchored. Wayne was wondering if he dropped anchor and died, but I saw smoke coming from his hatch, so he must have been in the entrance having a smoke. If he’s smoking, then he’s still alive :)

On the Dinghy ride to shore, I noticed that Marge & Dave left the anchorage. Hope they beat the weather that’s supposed to come in tonight/tomorrow.

Once we got to town Wayne & I split up . He headed for the Home Depot & Lows and I went to the Dollar store for reading glasses, then over to TJ Max (since I was alone and didn’t have to worry about Wayne being bored) to do some window shopping, and then to the Publix for some fresh vegis, etc… While I was sorting and repacking my bags for the trip back to the boat, I heard someone calling & looked up to see Ellen & Dave (Cordelia). They’re in town looking for boat repair stuff too. It sure seems like when you start something, you need to keep running back into town for more stuff LOL.

The bus stops by Publix twice – once heading to the transfer station and once returning from it. I decided to get on the first one (heading into the station) so I could grab a spot and sit. I met some nice people waiting for the bus that got in last night (sv Denali) and we chatted a bit about Vero Beach in general, the bus system and how it works. They’re off to do some exploring & wanted to know if we were going to the cruisers get together at the marina at 4pm. I wasn’t sure & told them if we were, I’d look for them. [I think I have a burger and slaw with my name on it over at the Riverside Café :)] Wayne got on the bus at the transfer station & we went back to the boat & started looking at the charts.

Looking things over, it looks like we’ll head down to Lakeworth (W. Palm Beach). From there (weather permitting) we’ll plot a course over to Xanadu over to the Bell Channel and into Lucaya to check into the Bahamas. Then to the Berry Islands (we haven’t really visited the Northern Berrys yet, then over to Eleuthera & Spanish Wells, then from Eleuthera down to the Exumas or Long Island/San Salvadore…. After looking at the charts, we headed over to the Riverside Café and on the way saw Cordelia (Ellen & Dave). They enticed us over to the Cruisers happy hour (after our burgers) with music. Dave is good! Such talent on the guitar! Roan (Raven) shared the tambourine with me, but after one song I thought she handled it much better and gave it back to her LOL. We chatted for a bit with fellow cruisers (I was happy to see Madcap there too) then headed back to the boat before it got to dark to see. We hadn’t put the light on the dink, thinking we were only going for a burger and it was getting dark. Our timing was good – it started to sprinkle when we got back and I couldn’t see but had to feel to unlock the boat.

I’d left the computer plugged into the 12 volt to charge it all day, but guess the cord was loose. I still had a dead battery and had to wait a couple hours for the battery to charge. Luckily the winds are whipping up so the wind generator is making power for the boat and my computer…

Friday, January 15, 2010

After breakfast and showers - today was pretty much a workday. Wayne hooked up the grill, worked on the radio and replaced the running lights. I dug into the food stores and took a count and repacked the food stores.

Then at 3pm when we were getting ready to meet Beth and Jim (Madcap) a little older boat had decided to anchor right next to us. I told him I didn’t think anchoring was allowed in the mooring field and he told us that if it looked like he was going to swing into us, he’d let out more scope??? Oookay… I tried calling the marina but nobody answered. I left a message on the voice and we dinghied over to let them know. The guy at the fuel dock said he was the only one there and didn’t know if he could do anything about it. Okay. Another boater asked if the boat was between the islands or on the mooring field side. I wasn’t sure but on returning to the boat later, I noted that he was on this side in the mooring field. Hopefully the guy won’t swing into us.

We continued on to the Dockside Grill for happy hour. Hope Jim has a hollow leg! LOL. They’re meeting friends afterwards for dinner but with the cost for the “happy apps” (appetizers) it’s hard not to order appetizers! It was delightful to sit and chat with them and see where they’re headed and what problems, if any they’ve had with their Bayfield. Their B-36 is a 1988 and ours is a 1987.

Thursday, January 14, 2010 Yep - Still in Vero Beach

I’ll take these 60-70 degree days. What a wonderful change after all the cold weather. I’m not sure why, but I woke up at 5 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I took the dinghy over to the marina and traded a few books then came back.

We caught the bus into town to do yet more shopping. In talking to Marge and another fellow cruiser we discovered there are portable SSB units out there. We’d heard both good and well not so good things about them, but figured we’d give it a try. I’d forgotten what a great place Radio Shack is. I loved looking at the newest gadgets but couldn’t find a little robot that makes coffee in the morning. We did pick up a portable am/fm/ssb receiver though after fiddling around with 3 or 4 of them. The one I wanted was on sale but the only one left was the floor model (probably why it was on sale so cheap). So we got a smaller one that was a little bit more. They were all Grundig models and it will be interesting to see if we can pull in some weather in some of the more isolated islands where we don’t get VHF weather.

I’ll never get used to having to go to “special” stores to pick up alcoholic refreshments. At home we can buy it at the grocery store. Other states, like here, you have to find a special store to buy alcohol. We went to the ABC store and picked up a bottle of rum that Marge & Dave (Winfield Lash) was talking about. It’s a sipping rum that’s very mild on the tongue. The ABC had 1 bottle left so we got it and caught the bus to the transfer station, and then took the #2 bus to Low’s. There we found a solar light to our liking to replace the ones we lost last year. Then back to the bus and to the marina.

Beth (Mad Cap) was on the bus. She was coming back from the library so I sat next to her and chatted until we got back to the marina. Then we unloaded at the boat and picked up the scissors and comb so I could cut Wayne’s hair on shore. We were going to go over to the Riverside for burgers (hey if I can’t have the rotisserie chicken he can take me for a burger) after the hair cut but ended up back over at the Dockside Grill. Getting back out of the dink, my glasses went overboard. Oh my. Marge & Dave came by when I was almost done cutting Wayne’s hair and Marge loaned me her glasses. We decided that we’d head over to the Dockside for more of their “happy apps” with Dave and Marge. I was glad they were there – they lightened my mood – especially after 2 beers.


We took our hand held depth meter to get a reading on the depths over to the grill and it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get in there. Some of the depths (actual) were 3-4 ft. Most of the depths were 5-6 ft. Soooo we’ll have to be content with walking or taking the little dink over there. We tried calling Steph but got her voice mail. After enjoying the appetizers and going over Bahamas charts, we headed back to the marina – a race of the dinghies! We were going to meet them at the club house to watch so TV but Wayne fell asleep, so called it a night. By the way, the rum they recommended is quite good – Marti’s Rum.

Tomorrow I need to start packing the provisions, etc… Wayne needs to put the lights in to make sure they work.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 Vero Beach

Today was gorgeous out. It got to the 60s and the sun was warm and delightful. We ran into Mad Cap in the marina lounge, as we were getting ready to head into town. They are moored about 3-4 boats down from us. I spotted a Bayfield this morning and wasn’t sure if it was them or not. I was delighted that it turned out to be them. We’ll have to try & catch up with them while we’re both here :)
We headed into town (West Marine, ABC and the Publix) and chatted with Dave & Ellen (Cordelia). They were heading the same places today so it was nice to see and talk to them again. Marge & Dave were on the bus back to the marina. We joined them for happy hour at the Dockside Grill again but this time we took the dinghy over (I am curious how long of a walk it is though). I wanted to check out the depths of the channel going to the canal that the Restaurant borders but forgot our portable depth sounder. Hmmm… this might require one more trip then… We found out that you can tie up at their dock and stay for the night if you’re eating there. With their “happy apps” and happy hour it seems like a good deal. There’s no power or water, but heck we don’t have that on the mooring either. If we’re paying $15 for a mooring here – makes sense that we could spend the $15 for the “happy apps” and happy hour or for a meal and park it dockside… Marge & Dave are thinking the last night here – to just go over there. Makes sense… We had a great evening with them & the ribs and crab cakes were excellent the second time around. Dave tried the calamari this time and it was tender & good too. I have to be careful – his ribald humor is rubbing off on me LOL

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 Vero Beach

I think the theme for this week is “another cold day in Florida – land of the flowers and frozen iguanas falling over”. The amount of dead/dieing fish is incredible. The birds are swarming on the water and loving the feast. It’s a gluttony of fish for the seabirds. The fish that are dieing are too sluggish to escape as the birds swoop and dive on them. So the birds are getting fat & sassy.

We took another trip into town for more provisions. There was a massive traffic jam heading to Pocahontas Park so the driver tried to reroute around it but there was no way he could avoid the traffic backups. A fireman had died and his funeral procession was winding through town. It was amazing how respectful the people in the traffic snarl were. Everyone seemed to realize what was going on. Nobody was beeping their horns or acting impatient in all the cars that I could see. I feel so bad for his widow and kids. I think it takes someone special to do the job that policemen and firemen do. If you want to see heroes, these are the ones…

After our trip in town and unpacking, we dropped off some bread starter at Winfield Lash and headed over to Greylag. Mark and Alice from Greylag - a Krogen Cutter rigged sailboat - had invited us over for dinner so I made a fruit salad for dessert and we headed over to their boat for a delightful dinner of salad, lasagna and fruit salad. It’s a beautiful boat with similar lines to ours. The name Greylag comes from a type of wild goose from the British Isles. It’s a very sturdy and lovely boat. There are less than 90 of these sailboats in existence and when people think of Krogen they generally think trawlers not sailboats. This was a short production run for them. I’m not sure why they stopped making these boats but like our B-36 it’s another orphan boat with a loyal following. With a 3.5’ draft and a drop down centerboard, I think their boat is better suited for the Bahamas than ours! We’d seen their boat in St. Augustine and because it had a similar shear and look about her to ours we thought she might be a Gozzard design. It was nice to meet them and have dinner with them and their son George. He’s a high school senior, finishing up his last year of school on the boat, and then going on to the Merchant Marine Academy. He wasn’t feeling to good when we met him, but we found him to be quite a personable young man. :) I think he’ll do well in life. They’re heading down to Marathon and aren’t sure yet if they’re Bahamas bound or not. I wouldn’t mind running into them down there. I think the experience would be a good one for George before he branches off on his own. It would be a good “last” family adventure before the young man leaves the nest.

Monday, January 11, 2010 Vero Beach

Well, I notice that each of my blog entries for a week have started out with cold weather. Well guess what? It’s still COLD I’m not sure about wanting to take the boat to Antarctica any more. Florida is appearing to be cold enough at this point. Several boats have taken to getting a hotel room for this cold snap in Florida. How cold is it? Parts of the ICW are freezing over with thin layers of ice.

I can’t believe all the dead fish we’ve seen floating and on the bottom (in the shallows) in the ICW. I’ve been told it’s because the temperatures have dropped so low for so long now that it’s killing the fish. Someone was lamenting that you can’t even take the fish because you’ll end up paying big fines if you’re caught taking them – even if they’re dead! Does that make sense?

Now, how cold is it? Some boaters have reported ice on the ICW south of Jacksonville! ICE! While we’ve had it on the boat, the thought of playing icebreaker along the waterway is not appealing. At ALL… I guess when I see “flat water” I’d better start listening for that crunch crunching. I’ve not confirmed it but also heard that Jacksonville, FL also got snow. Maybe we should start heading north again for warmer temperatures LOL. 2009/2010 – the winter that Florida froze over… hope everyone stocked up on their Florida orange juice – don’t know if the crops can survive these consistent freezings.

The bread that I started making had a dickens of a time rising in this cold weather. I finally shifted the bread dough to the oven and turned the oven on periodically to let the dough rise. It still did not rise to my expectations but I did manage to get some bread made. We took a loaf over to Winfield Lash and then joined them and C:/ for happy hour at the Dockside Grill on the other side of the ICW. Drinks were half off and the appetizers they had were cheap and good. Delicious even. We’re talking a pound of bbq baby back ribs for $5 (1/2 pound for $3), 3 crab cakes for $3 (NO filler – awesome) 3 beef sliders with onion straws (3/3 again) and, well you get the picture. Mussels, coconut shrimp, cold shrimp, tuna (just seared)… Needless to say their appetizers were our dinner and I’d do it again and again and again in a heartbeat. The Bartender has a heavy hand with the drinks. You know me – last of the big time drinkers. I asked for a gin and tonic – short on the gin, tall on the tonic – and I watched as my glass got ¾ full of gin with a splash of tonic. What the heck? Am I in the Bahamas??? Maybe there’s a shortage of tonic… Anyhow I had to ask for a large side of tonic, then didn’t feel much pain after that. The place was packed by 5pm and you could watch rack after rack of ribs coming out of the kitchen. On our walk back to the boat, as we walked the bridge that crosses the ICW, the water looked flat with a nice shine to it in several places. I hope it’s not icing up around us here. Wendell – I think THIS is the year you were forecasting - not next year. Ron – you might consider bringing your snuggies with you in February (seriously)!

We checked with the marina before heading back to the boat and our grill was there. Holy smokes it’s bigger than our other one. Hope it fits on the mount… uhm, hope it fits on the stern railing. Time to hunker in for the night. The temps are dropping again.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Okay, we’re talking serious cold now. I’ve got the alcohol burners going and the oil lamp for warmth this morning. Wayne went topside to fill the generator so we can crank up the little electric heater we bought earlier in the trip and when he came back down told me we had ice topside. Our breath just hangs in the air and the condensation that drips from the portals could possibly add to our water supply. Ice water. I’ve been craving ice but not this way. LOL This winter storm warning was and is the pits! Brrrrrrr…. Time for some oatmeal with raisins, cinnamon and brown sugar. That should warm up our insides!

I spent the morning loading pictures onto my computer and working on computer stuff. I heard from a couple we'd met in Georgian Bay - Ron and Annette from Mindora! He'll be in Ft Lauderdale in February. We'll probably just miss them at this rate LOL (the cold). It was good hearing from them :) Wayne is working on Suduko and reading. The generator ran the little electric heater just fine so we were nicely warmed up for a dinghy ride to shore. Around 1:00pm we ventured out to get our other package and it actually didn’t feel as bad. I think it was in the upper 40s outside and our cabin had reached the 60s with the little space heater.

We ran into Marge and Dave in the marina lounge. They decided to stay put instead of heading out today. I don’t blame them at all. She mentioned that they might be here until next weekend with this cold (plus there’s an art show this next weekend too) so I’ll get a chance to give her the bread recipes that we’d talked about along with the starter for the bread. If this cold snap doesn't let up soon, I think we'll all be staying here!

Back at the boat we opened our other package. It wasn’t mail at all! What timing! Thanks Mehall family :) now we can find out how cold we really are! We have an indoor/outdoor weather station for the boat LOL. Do I really want to know though? Tonight is supposed to be colder than last night. It’s going to be a bitter night. We put the outdoor station under the dodger and radar screen. So we’ll see!

I decided to try and make some bread. Don’t know how well it will rise in this cold but I’ll give it the ol’ college try and we’ll see if I can get it to rise over night. Making country ribs, broccoli and baked beans for dinner.

Saturday, January 09, 2010 Vero Beach Fl

Criminie… It’s cold. We’re staying hunkered down in the boat. We can continually see our breath and the heater decided to bite the dust. brrrrrrr... The freeze warnings in the area are quite large spread. When we went out this morning to check the mail, it felt like we were back home. Temperatures were in the lower 30s & upper 20s with wind chills in the lower 20s. It was downright painful sitting in the wind and getting water sprayed! Poor Wayne was shaking like a leaf by the time we got to the dinghy dock, and my face and hands were stinging with the cold! We did get a box of mail though so that made the trip worth it! On opening it up, Laura said there were two boxes – oops. We’ll grab it next trip – it’s tooooo cold to go back out, especially with no heat on the boat.

I made a breakfast of hash browns, sausage, eggs and biscuits. This was more to warm the boat and us up than anything. Then we sorted through our mail. I loved getting all the Christmas cards :0) and wish I could have sent some out. It’s kind of funny because after Christmas our grandson Blade had a birthday and I discovered that I’d stored Holly & Bill’s address online. Soooo I actually have 3 addresses plus all the ones from those that sent us cards this year . I’ll have to write them down and store them in the nav-station (desk)!

I loved the pictures of Zack & Sophie (grand kids). I’m amazed at how quickly the little munchkins change! Wish I could hug them! Sending a virtual hug! After reading through the mail, we pretty much hunkered down and tried to stay warm. I’d started making bread (fed my yeast culture) but in this cold, I don’t think I’m going to get many happy yeast cultures and I really don’t think my dough will rise if I make any. It may have to wait…

Time to pull on some more clothes and snuggle up under the covers with a book. Lets see how many condensation drips we can survive from the portals LOL.

Friday, January 08, 2010 Vero Beach Fl

While the morning was cool, the day warmed up to the upper 60s. It felt heaven sent after the string of cold weather. Tomorrow it’s supposed to plunge back into the 20s and 30s at night with a high in the 40s. But for today, I’ll enjoy the warmth. Someone said that we were in that cycle of every 5 years of crop devastation for Florida. I can believe it.

The Winfield Lash

We dinghied over to Winfield Lash for coffee and found out that today is Marge’s birthday! She shares it with Elvis :) So we sang a shortened rendition of Happy Birthday to her. It was nice to finally get to meet her and Dave. I feel like I’ve known her for a while. She and my daughter Stephanie worked together and Steph is quite fond of her. When I heard that Marge was retiring and going sailing, I was sooo hoping we’d catch up with each other :) I’m glad that we finally did! We chatted for a couple of hours and I had to take pictures of the boat. It’s a wonderful schooner. Dave spent 18 years in building the Winfield Lash. The custom touches like the granite counters, artistic backing board for the sink, deck prisms to allow light below, various hardwoods that he used on the boat, the fittings and binnacle of a bare-breasted lass that were cast from his molds, show his schooner to be a labor of love.

The sink splash board is a piece of artwork atop a granite counter top.

Dave made the mold for his binnacle and has a t-shirt with a picture of it. Can't say as I'd want to hug our binnacle, but maybe if I'd designed ours like he did his :) He was a submariner in another life. I loved listening to his tales aboard the sub. As everyone knows - I've always wanted to go aboard a sub :)

First Mate Marge

More custom made bronzework

Tanbark Sails and a net to sun in below the bowsprit :)

The wood pieces that he salvaged from old ships and incorporated into his design were fabulous.

First Mate - Marge & The Captain - Dave

After coffee and visiting with Dave and Marge, we caught the bus into town to pick up our running lights from West Marine and do a bit more provisioning for the boat. We can only carry so much each trip that it’s going to be multiple trips to bring back the bulky stuff like toilet paper and paper towels. It was such a blessing for Patti & John to run us around for the heavy stuff (can’t thank you two enough)! We missed the bus back again by 5 minutes so had to wait for the next one. We people watched and chatted with a fella that was interested in how we live on a boat. This was after we had a discussion on a squirrel that was trying to figure out if he had anything good to eat in his shopping cart. He gave us a few tips on how to catch Mahi before he caught a ride with someone.

By the time we got back to the marina, the sky looked threatening, so Wayne didn’t get his planned haircut in the park today. It’s threatening rain and it feels like the temperature is dropping again. At least we had one pleasant day :)

Friday, January 08, 2010 Vero Beach

While the morning was cool, the day warmed up to the upper 60s. It felt heaven sent after the string of cold weather. Tomorrow it’s supposed to plunge back into the 20s and 30s at night with a high in the 40s. But for today, I’ll enjoy the warmth. Someone said that we were in that cycle of every 5 years of crop devastation for Florida. I can believe it.

Winfield Lash on her mooring.

Marge & Dave the First Mate & Captain :)

We dinghied over to Winfield Lash for coffee and found out that today is Marge’s birthday! She shares it with Elvis :) So we sang a shortened rendition of Happy Birthday to her. It was nice to finally get to meet her and Dave. I feel like I’ve known her for a while. She and my daughter Stephanie worked together and Steph is quite fond of her. When I heard that Marge was retiring and going sailing, I was sooo hoping we’d catch up with each other :) I’m glad that we finally did! We chatted for a couple of hours and I had to take pictures of the boat. It’s a wonderful schooner. Dave spent 18 years in building the Winfield Lash. The custom touches like the granite counters, artistic backing board for the sink, deck prisms to allow light below, various hardwoods that he used on the boat, the fittings and binnacle of a bare-breasted lass that were cast from his molds, show his schooner to be a labor of love.

After coffee and visiting with Dave and Marge, we caught the bus into town to pick up our running lights from West Marine and do a bit more provisioning for the boat. We can only carry so much each trip, that it’s going to be multiple trips to bring back the bulky stuff like toilet paper and paper towels. It was such a blessing for Patti & John to run us around for the heavy stuff (can’t thank you two enough)! We missed the bus back again by 5 minutes so had to wait for the next one. We people watched and chatted with a fella that was interested in how we live on a boat. This was after we had a discussion on a squirrel that was trying to figure out if he had anything good to eat in his shopping cart. He gave us a few tips on how to catch Mahi before he caught a ride with someone.

By the time we got back to the marina, the sky looked threatening, so Wayne didn’t get his planned haircut in the park today. It’s threatening rain and it feels like the temperature is dropping again. At least we had one pleasant day :)

Thursday, January 07, 2010 Vero Beach, FL

How spoiled I am. I buried my head under the covers all night – it got to the upper twenties again. I actually stayed in bed until 7:30 because I didn’t want to get out from under the covers. Finally I dashed from the bed to the stern of the boat where the heater switch is. Then I dashed back to bed. Oops. Coffee. Back to the stove, then I had to wait for my alcohol burner to come up to speed to make coffee. Back to the bed to wait for the water to come to a boil Away for two days and already looking for automatic heat, and to push a button for coffee! The heat actually came up pretty quickly though so it wasn’t so bad.

Wayne turned on the generator and in the process of doing so noticed our dink was deflated on one side. Oh-oh… Hopefully we don’t have a slow leak. It looks more deflated than just the cold air. When we looked around, nobody else had lost so much air and let’s face it. It was one side. So with all the loading an unloading of stuff yesterday we may have loosened one of the valves, or we have a slow leak somewhere. We got it pumped back up, loaded our wrappings from the packages for the garbage and headed for shore to catch the bus into town.

First stop was West Marine. They did have one of the bulbs we need and said they could get the other one by this afternoon from another store. Yay! From there we went over to the Publix to check on their pop and price, then on to Wal-marts. They actually had my pop there so we picked up some more pop (Diet Coke with splenda!) at $.25 cheaper than at the Publix. We missed the next bus back and had to wait for the next one but it wasn’t as cold as the last time we did that. It was nice to sit and people watch until the bus showed up. We stopped back by Winfield Lash before going back to the boat, and Marge and Dave were there so we finally got to meet them. I feel like I already know Marge, through Stephanie. Dave is a submariner and I enjoyed hearing about his time on submarines. I’ve always wanted to go on one. We're going to join them for coffee in the morning.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Each sunrise is glorious. As it comes up each morning, each color is different as it glitters off of the crest of the waves. It evokes a feeling of renewal, like going to church on Sunday and being born again. Each dazzling sunrise that greets my eyes is like that – like going to church on Sunday and feeling born again. If you could see through my eyes, what a wondrous thing sunrise is… Good morning world!

I got up, turned on the coffee and waited for sunrise (around 7:17am). I love this 10-minute coffeemaker. Took pictures, ran out of batteries; reloaded the batteries and started again only to be told that my memory was full. Well it actually is. Filled with visions. Moments in time. Captured for a moment on a memory card. Captured in my memory card. What fragile things memories are? But the camera can store those seconds in time. Seconds lost in the moment but captured in time on a little piece of plastic, to be immortalized perhaps on paper, then lost again in time.

By the time I dumped my memory card onto the computer, I’d lost the moment I’d wanted to capture. But only a fragment of it.

For breakfast, John made another one of his wonderful fruit and nut salads with French toast and juice. I’m going to get really spoiled here. Love John’s fruit salad. Now if there was only some way I could figure out how to store him on board the boat!

We sat around chatting before gathering up our stuff to hit the road. Patti & John have a Garmin GPS in the car that you plug in your data, and it tells you where to go! I love it! A woman’s voice telling you where to go! We loaded in the address for Sam’s Club – more heavy/bulky stuff before going back to the boat – then the address for Vero Beach. I gotta get a Garmin!

The dinghy was still there waiting for all our goodies! It was a two-dinghy trip! The first load filled and weighed the dink so much, I wondered if Wayne would make it to the boat without sinking. Yep. He came back for the second load and me! We said our goodbyes to Patti & John at the dinghy dock and returned to the boat. It was so nice to see them. I feel thoroughly spoiled and pampered…

We unloaded the dink, then loaded everything down below and stowed it away. I talked Wayne into Burgers at the Riverside and we jumped back into the dink and headed that way. On the way there, we passed by a boat with a familiar name, that I couldn’t place. I didn’t remember ever meeting this boat, but the name stuck with me. The schooner Winfield Lash… After we’d passed it, it clicked. Steph’s friend Marge was on that boat! We turned around and went back but nobody was there. Cordelia was the boat behind the Winfield Lash, so we stopped by there to see if they’d like to go for burgers but they’d just finished a late lunch. We chatted a bit and I petted the kitty that belonged to the boat they were rafted to, then we went for burgers at the Riverside and back to the boat for the night. I love that people travel with their pets. I get to pet them :) Maybe once we settle down again, I’ll get another pet.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 Satellite Beach, Fl

What a wonderful way to start the day. Got up before sunrise with the coffee pot just waiting for me to push the button to make coffee! 10 minutes and coffee! Then a quick jump into the shower! I was looking forward to that unlimited hot water shower! I noticed that there was shampoo and conditioner in the tub, so left mine in my backpack and jumped into the tub. The water was lukewarm so I figured it was coming up to steam and started washing my hair. I must have dirty hair or the water here is really hard. It didn’t suds at all. Okay one more wash of the hair. Hmmm… Still no sudsing and the water was actually getting colder. Oh sh*t! Wash quickly! Grab the conditioner. D#$n! My hair is sudsing finally on the ends where I put the conditioner on. Wreckin, freckin, smecker… Now I know why the shampoo didn’t foam. I’d used the conditioner as shampoo and the shampoo as conditioner. Can you say… duh? Quickly rewash and condition, as the water gets colder. Rinse off. Hey! The water is now getting hot. Can you say… duh! I then realized that I was probably the first person up and in the shower in the whole condo complex. The water had to travel through 8 floors to cycle to the hot water. This was an interesting shower morning.

John made an awesome breakfast – fruit salad with nuts, eggs & TOAST, cinnamon rolls, juice and did I mention – TOAST to dip into my eggs?!?! Then we sat around chatting, and I played on the video machine and answered trivia. We then had a lunch of soup, sandwich, fruit salad and cookies, then Patti & I went price shopping (then buying) for pop, water & beer. I like the idea of using their car to lug the heavy stuff as opposed to multiple trips on the bus doing that. The bus only lets you bring on board what you can carry. So this is going to save multiple trips on the bus, as well as our backs :) Don’t you love sisters and brothers with cars (insert happy dance here)? CVS had the best price on pop, watch your carts though – one couple of guys tried to take my pop and buy it when I went back for nail clippers LOL; Walmart had the best price for bottled water. Wayne discovered Patti’s Sudoku books and did some puzzles (he likes those) while we were gone.

When we got back and walked into the condo, you could smell the pot roast, simmering away in the crock-pot. Mmmm… it smelled wonderful - Pot roast, mashed potatoes, carrots and biscuits for dinner. I’m going to have to go on a diet when I leave here LOL.

It’s supposed to go down into the upper twenties again tonight. It’s nice to have heat all night in a warm bed again. I played on the video machine while we sat around chatting. I then departed for the bedroom and left John watching T.V., and Wayne and Patti to reminisce and solve the woes of the world. I’m an early to bed, early to rise kind of person and I think they’re more late to bed, late to rise people (at least I know Wayne is).

Monday, January 4, 2010 Vero Beach/Satellite Beach Fl

It started out a brisk day. It went down to freezing last night so we kicked the heat on when we got up, had some coffee and went ashore to meet Patti & John. We went a little early and ran into Cordelia at the bus stop. We chatted with them and gave them a bus schedule. They were taking Thisbe to the doggie park. That is the best mannered little dog I think that I’ve ever seen. Then Patti & John showed up and whisked us to Satellite Beach. Their Condo is nice. It’s definitely an old bachelor pad. I guess the owner got married and still kept it. I don’t know if it’s just for rentals or a vacation place for them or what, but it’s kind of unique in my book. It has a bed in the master suite that has a Jacuzzi tub built onto it where you’d normally have a headboard. I must say, I’ve never seen such a thing. They have pinball machines, a dining table that reverses to a poker table, a foosball table, a megatouch video game (with many games on it – poker, 21, trivia challenges, um some adult in nature), a juke box (that really works), 3 TVs, one wall completely mirrored; a true throne toilet where you climb up 3 steps; It’s on the 8th floor (one down from the penthouse floor) and has a spectacular view of the ocean all the way down to Cocoa beach. You can see the Cape Canaveral launch pads from the patio balcony and I imagine when they have night launches that they have a terrific view. It’s a nice way to spend the winter months, except I think that the winter has followed them and us here LOL

Mirrored Wall that runs the length of the room up to the kitchen

Looking back towards the patio. The Table flips to a poker table.

Foosball and a Jukebox!

A view of the Jacuzzi Headboard

Looking down at the beach from Patti & John's Condo

Looking across the patio towards Cocoa Beach

Looking towards Coco Beach at daybreak

Sunrise view from the condo

We walked down to a park along the beach and took the beach route back. The park is a mini nature preserve with a walking boardwalk trail. There are plaques describing the various birds, vegetation, etc., and I found the name of our Christmas visitor. It’s a Ruddy Turnstone. :) From there we walked to the store for glasses, then back to the condo. It was a nice walk. With the sun out and because it was a cool day, it made me miss our walks at home. Later we went out to dinner at a place called the Lobster Shanty. Terrific salad bar with frozen metal salad plates, a very rich lobster bisque’ and a new taste treat for my taste buds – Rock Shrimp. I’d never had those before and they were quite good. They’re like a cross between lobsters and shrimp. They actually have a hard shell that’s sturdier than lobster – more like armor. Looking at them from the back side reminded me of a chiton’s exoskeleton (back) – thick girdled but when you turn it over you see the little shrimp bristled legs & tail sticking out at you – not a mollusk at all. Dipped in butter they’re quite tasty! I guess they’re not as popular because of the hard protective girdle; there was no mass market for them. So, they weren’t economically feasible for harvesting. The shrimpers used to pitch them back in the water, but they are a taste treat. I think they’re becoming more popular. I know I’d order them again.