The next morning we talked to “Confetti” to see what their plans were. They had friends in Stuart that were picking them up in a boat, taking them to lunch and then shopping. Lacey volunteered to get us some supplies, but we decided to take the dink down and explore Stuart.
As we passed by the mooring balls in Stuart, we slowed down to look at them since we knew we were going to be tying Escape to one in Vero Beach. A mooring ball is a big float that is attached by chain to a screw anchor that has been screwed into the ground. On the end of the float is a line, called a pennant. These pennants were about 8 feet long with a big metal ring or thimble that you run your line thru and then cleat or tie off at the boat. We were concerned that the pennant was so short that I wouldn’t be able to lift the pennant high enough to get a line through the thimble working from our boat’s tall bow.
We went into town, tied up at a dinghy dock and explored. We had been told that there was a big marine consignment store close by and definitely wanted to find that. We asked around and were told that it was closed, so of course we were disappointed. We were hoping to find some marine bargains. Well, we’ll just have to look somewhere else. Stuart is a charming old town but like a lot of other small towns, it had a lot of empty buildings. We ate lunch, got a few provisions, then back to the boat.
We visited with Dick and Lacey on “Confetti” and enjoyed talking to them. They were doing the “Great Loop” and had started in Texas. They have a beautiful boat with lovely woodwork inside. They had bought the boat just to do the “loop”, but Lacey was already concerned that she wouldn’t be able to part with the boat when it was over. They gave us a bottle of sherry to try in cooking. They eat on the boat most of the time, so Lacey does a lot of cooking and uses sherry in a lot of dishes. We’ll remember them each time we use the sherry in a recipe.
We left the next morning headed to Vero Beach. Barry and Nancy on “Interlude” have been there a few days, so they can be our tour guides. We are excited about this part of our trip because Lauren and some friends are coming down for spring break. Lauren hasn’t seen the boat at all except pictures and a short “Skype” tour. We hope she will like her new home.
We went through some beautiful blue-green water at the Fort Pierce Inlet, no brown water here. I saw 2 big turtles swimming by and of course our dolphin friends were all around. We had another perfect day on the water. Beautiful blue sky, calm waters, gentle breeze.
We pulled into Vero Beach Municipal Marina at 3:00 pm. We got in touch with the dock master and got our mooring ball number. We took it nice and slow, got to the ball, I got the pendant with a boat hook, pulled it up, and it was a nice 21 foot line with no thimble. Shay asked what was wrong and I told him there wasn’t a thimble to put our dock line thru like we had planned. Shay ran down and we tied that line to our starboard cleat, then we put a second line thru the ring mounted on top of the float and tied it to a cleat on the other side of the boat. We got the dinghy down, stopped by “Interlude” and said hello to Barry and Nancy then signed in at the dock master’s office and walked around the dock. Back to the boat to grill chicken then called family and friends.
We have had a slow leak in the dinghy and Shay has been feeling and listening around the dinghy and he has found it. We have a repair kit so he’s cleaned and sanded the area. He had it all ready to go on and of course the new tube of glue that came with the dinghy in 2002 has dried up. I guess that happens after almost 10 years. So we stopped working on it for the night.
Now how do we get to the dock so we can get more glue? Well, of course we ask a neighbor. We see a couple getting into their dinghy, explain our problem, and of course they were glad to help. We found out where West Marine was, found out which bus we needed to take, and took off. While we were getting the glue we got to see “Bruiser”, our new anchor. He is big and heavy. Exactly what we want and need. We are definitely glad we’ll have Lauren’s car to transport it back to the dock. It’s a good thing we’re planned on moving to the dock when the girls get here. I don’t know how we’d get that thing in and out of the dinghy. We hitched a ride back to the boat to repair the dinghy.
After applying the patch, the glue needs to set for about 20 hours, so we hitched another ride back to the dock to explore Vero Beach.
The next day the glue on the repair is dry and we are good to go. We meet Barry and Nancy and decide to go to town. The weather forecast is for rain so we have our raincoats in our backpacks. Oh, I forgot to tell you that we got a backpack. We decided you can’t be an official boater if you don’t have a backpack to put your groceries and other stuff in. So, now we are official boaters, well at least one of us is since we only have one backpack. We’ll look around for another one later. We needed our raincoats. We spend a damp day in Vero. We decided to eat lunch at Taco Bell. Nancy had never eaten at one before but decided she liked it.
We got back to the boat just in time for the social hour that is at 4:00 pm every Thursday. Since it had been raining, we weren’t sure if they would still have it, but we took our snack and drink and went to shore. We looked at the picnic table as we motored by and saw some people getting set up, so we knew it was on. We really enjoyed meeting more of the boaters at the marina. Everyone was very friendly and eager to share their expertise. George from “Sea Otter” told Shay he’d get together with him later and tell him some good anchorages for our travels north. That’s great, since we definitely plan on spending more nights at anchor than in marinas. Remember, we talked about how expensive it is to be at a marina.
Lauren, Terri and Tara got here about 9:30 pm. We met them at the dock, introduced ourselves, carried all their stuff to the dock and then started dinghying them to the boat. It took 2 trips to get everything to the boat. We had explained to the girls that space was limited on the boat and that they should pack accordingly. We also told them to bring soft sided luggage like duffel bags to carry their stuff. It looked like a lot of stuff but really for 3 girls for 8 days, I guess it wasn’t too bad. Anyway, we got everything onto the boat and then gave the girls a tour.
Like I said before, Lauren had never been on the boat. We showed them all through the boat. They liked Lauren’s V-berth up front. Shay explained how to use the potty and gave them the usual potty cautions. NEVER put anything in the potty except pee, poop, and a minimum of paper. That doesn’t mean you can’t use paper; just don’t use half a roll at one time. Enough said about that.
We sat around and got acquainted with Terri and Tara since we had never met them before and then got settled down for the night. The girls tried all 3 sleeping up front, but soon decided that wouldn’t work, so Lauren moved to the couch.
We get up around 6:30 every morning, so we sent Lauren down to our bed to finish sleeping so Shay could have his morning coffee. We got the girls up around 9:00 for breakfast. We are taking the girls for a boat ride and then we are going to the dock to spend the rest of their time here. The girls enjoyed the ride even though we didn’t see any dolphins. We assured them that they would see lots of dolphins, before they left. After we got tied to the dock, they girls got their stuff unpacked and stored. We took the car to the beach and of course the girls had to get their feet wet. They said the water was cold but they would definitely be getting in before the break was over.
The girls decided that 2 would sleep in the V-berth and one would sleep on the couch. When Shay and I get up each morning we would send the girl on the coach to our bed and let them sleep until they are ready to get up. Sounds like a plan to me.
On Sunday, the girls laid around on the boat for a while then we all decided to go the art exhibit near our marina.
Lauren and Terri catching some rays.
We took the girls to the exhibit first when went back to get Barry and Nancy. By the time we got back the girls had seen all they wanted to see and were ready to head back to the boat to get some sun. We enjoyed the exhibit. There were some very interesting, unusual, and expensive pieces. They had paintings, jewelry, sculptures, pottery, and photography. They had some steel sculptures that move like a mobile that were priced at $9000.00. Our favorite exhibit was one that had actual nautical charts that had pictures of old sailing ships drawn on them by hand. They were ink drawings and were very detailed.
The next morning Shay gave Lauren a dinghy driving lesson, so the girls could explore. After that they put on their inflatable life jackets and took off. They tried rowing for a while but decided that was to much physical activity and turned on the motor and took off.
Shay and I picked up “Bruiser” and brought him back to the boat. We took off the old anchor and stored it in the lazarette. Then we started working on the anchor chain. We put all 350 feet of it on the dock, measured every 25 feet, and then painted it so we would know how much chain we were letting out each time. Then we put “Bruiser” on the chain and put it all back on the boat. We have an electric windlass, which allows us to lower or raise the anchor by pressing a button instead of doing it by hand. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to raise 100-200 feet of chain and the 110 pound anchor? We just hope the windlass never breaks. But Shay tells everybody that’s why he has me aboard. Ha-ha.
Oh, while the girls were helping us with the chain, we had 3 or 4 dolphins pay us a visit. Of course the girls got excited. I can’t blame them, I do too.
The next day Shay took the girls for a fast dinghy ride. They really enjoyed that. They took the bus to the beach and had a great time. After the beach they took the car to the mall and went shopping. I was surprised. I don’t think they bought anything.
On Wednesday, Travis and Sarah came to visit. Travis is our youngest son and Sarah is his girlfriend. They were vacationing in Marathon and decided to drive to Vero Beach to visit us and see the boat. The girls are lazy today, just laying around the boat—reading, sunning, sleeping. That’s what girls are supposed to do on spring break.
Shay and I went rug shopping again. We have taken the area rug off the boat and washed it on the dock. We told Lauren if she wanted to she could take it back to school for her room. We have bought several rugs and none of them fit. We have taken exact measurements of the space, but when we get the rugs to the boat, they are bigger than the package says. It may only be an inch bigger but that means it rolls up on the edge, instead of laying down flat. If we don’t find one to fit today, we’ll just put the old one back on the boat. At least it’s clean.
Shay fixed his famous grilled chicken for dinner. After dinner, Travis and Sarah went to their hotel and Tara packed her bag. Tara’s family is picking her up tomorrow so they can spend some time with her on spring break. They have flown down to Melbourne and rented a car. Lauren and Terri will pick her up on the way back to UNCW on Sunday.
The next morning Shay, Travis, and Sarah went fishing in the dinghy after breakfast. I hope they catch something. I told Travis if they caught fish, we’d have fresh fish for dinner tonight.
Tara left with her family. We thanked her mother for letting Tara spend part of her spring break with us.
The fishers came back empty handed. They had caught a few, but not enough to keep. Better luck tomorrow. Lauren and Terri went to the beach, then met Travis and Sarah and played in the ocean and pool.
We all went out to eat and then Lauren and Terri drove to Fort Pierce for a St. Patrick’s Day Festival. They got there late and were disappointed, since most things were over. Terri’s family is big into celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and her family always watches “The Quiet Man” with John Wayne. Lauren, Terri, and I tried to watch it on the computer, but the internet connection was too slow and we couldn’t download it.
It’s Friday and Travis and Sarah are leaving today. Shay and I washed the boat and I did laundry. Yes, you still have to do laundry even if you live on a boat. When Travis and Sarah came by, Travis and Shay decided to try fishing one more time. Sarah decided to stay on the boat and be lazy with the rest of the girls.
The guys didn’t have any luck today either. There were fish jumping up all around them, but they didn’t catch anything. I’m sorry Travis. They left headed back to Miami to catch their flight back to N.C. We really enjoyed having them visit. Hope they’ll come back to visit when we are at Morehead City and stay with us on the boat.
The girls decided to have a lazy day on the boat, they didn’t leave it all. We tried to watch the movie again later that night but it still wouldn’t work. We ended up watching Celtic dancing instead. Lauren and Terri are both in a Celtic dance group at school and really enjoy it. This is Lauren’s first experience with it, but Terri and her sisters have been doing it since they were young. When Lauren was younger and Riverdance was popular, she loved to watch on TV.
This is the girls last day here. They have decided to do some of the stuff on Terri’s wish list.
- Terri wanted to go to the botanical gardens, so they went for a tour. The gardens had a Dr. Seuss exhibit and the girls had their pictures made with him and a big turtle.
Terri and The Cat In The Hat
2. Terri had climb trees on her list so while they were at the gardens they did that too.
Lauren climbing a tree.
3. She wanted to go to the beach one more time, but they decided to sun on the boat instead.
4. She wanted to take another ride on the dinghy, so they did and went fast this time.
5. The last thing on her list was dessert or ice crème after dinner, so we bought a key lime pie and all enjoyed it.
They got packed up and ready to leave.
They left early the next morning for their long trip back to school. I hope they enjoyed being here as much as we enjoyed having them here. I miss them and they just left.
Shay told me I might be putting too much detail in this blog. He said some people might not want to read so many details. So, I will apologize to anyone who gets bored reading all my long posts. But I told him this was for me also. When I’m old and in the nursing home I can read this and smile. Enough said.
Shay said I’ll ask “Who is that nice couple that the story is about?”
We planned to leave today, but they are forecasting high winds so we decided to move to a mooring ball instead. Before we left the dock, we filled the water tanks, cleaned up the inside of the boat then moved back to a mooring. Then we got pumped out. For those of you that don’t know what that means, it means we had our holding tank pumped out and cleaned. That’s just a part of boating. After that, Shay worked on the holding tank vent that was stopped up. Not a pleasant job at all. I hope we don’t have problems with that very often.
Tomorrow we are off for Cocoa.
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