Life Aboard: Time at Vero

Well, we have had a great stay at Vero aka Velcro Beach. It's called Velcro Beach because once you get here, you get stuck.

Our first mooring position. We moved from here so we would be farther away from the lights on the ball field and the music from the bar.

But we had a beautiful view of the sunset.

And the full moon rising.

Here's Salty Turtle, Vic and Gigi, with their mooring buddy.

We had a great Thanksgiving meal with the CLODS and boaters. CLODS are Cruisers Living on Dirt. The CLODS provided the turkey and ham and the boaters supplies the appetizers, breads, sides and dessert. It was a beautiful day, great meal and wonderful company. We met lots of old friends and made new ones.

We've spent lots of time with FFF, David and Emma and Sea Salt, Richard and Connie. Salty Turtle, Vic and Gigi were here for a while.

This boat stopped at our dock for a while. It's a group of traveling entertainers.

You can see their equipment.

It's a big boat.

We had David's favorite English meal, Shepherd's Pie. We also got to see the Christmas decorations on the boat and David and Emma! Please note the fuzzy cuddly bear slippers on Emma's feet!

FFF is ready for Christmas.

The Coast Guard came into the marina one day and replaced a floating buoy with a permanent one. It was really interesting to watch them install it. It sure took a lot of boat and a lot of workers. That was one expensive marker! Did you notice the Christmas lights on the boat? Yep, they are ready for Christmas just like FFF!

We celebrated Emma's and Richard's birthdays. We had a party at Bobby's and had a great time. We saw the boat Christmas parade from the dock, then had Emma's famous Bouillabaisse. Connie made a fantastic carrot cake that was enjoyed by all. Emma got new fuzzy flamingo slippers! She was very excited!

The birthday couple. I can't believe Richard let me take a picture of him with those antlers on! And no, he wasn't drinking!

And Connie made a delicious homemade carrot cake! Wish I had some now!

A different looking boat passing by our mooring.

Here we are all moored up with another boat.

This is a new screen we have installed while in Vero. Now we have them on all three doors.

We had a great time back in NC for Christmas. We rented a car and spent 2 weeks visiting family and friends back home. Of course, it was not enough time and we didn't get to see everyone. If we missed you we are sorry and hope to see you next time!

I spent time with my dad in VA and as always had a great time with him and Rascal, his dog.

Michelle and Ethan

Lauren and papa

Ethan and his present.

Chelle and her new top from me.

Sarah, papa, and her present

Michael

Shay looks happy

Lauren looks happy too!

Roux looks on as mom opens her gifts.

Papa and his grand-girls

Papa and his kids-kids.

Daddy and his girls

My daddy

Chelle and kids

Chelle and me

Lauren and Roux

Me and my babe

We had a great time celebrating Christmas at Shay's mom's. Jean, Shay, me, Jason, Ashley, Travis and Lauren opened our presents and had a good time celebrating before the rest of the family came over.

Jeans models the necklace we got her

Roux dressed up for Christmas!

Shay and our "grand-dog"

We had a great time back home but it was time to head back to the boat. We were moored up with Cavara, Don and Barbara and had a great time with them. We always enjoy spending time with them. As they were leaving the marina, they tied to our stern and put their dingy up. We got some strange looks from other boaters. They are used to seeing two or three boats on a mooring, but not bow to stern.

Egret, a Nordhaven that crossed the Atlantic Ocean. It's new owners were moored to us one night.

Pretty bridge at night

Well, we have looked and looked at weather apps searching for a good time to cross the gulf stream and get to the Bahamas. David and Emma on FFF found a good window for sailing and took off. Shay spent hours-no days looking at weather apps, listening to Chris Parker-a weather person for cruisers in FL, Bahamas and Caribbean, and conferring with friends.

He finally decided we had a possible window January 25th, so we left Vero and spend three windy bouncy rough days in Hobe Sound. Then we moved to Lake Worth for the "final staging". So, if all goes as planned we will leave Lake Worth 1-25-2016 heading for Great Sale Cay for short nap and then on the Green Turtle Cay our vacation destination for the next two months and maybe longer. Who knows?

We had beautiful weather for the first part of our trip to Hobe Sound, as you can see from the first pictures. We even had dolphins welcoming us to the Fort Pierce area!

I think this is Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

This is Harbor Town marina, where Sea Salt is docked.

This is an old ferry boat that someone is remodeling. I bet this would have lots of room inside.

Looking out Ft. Pierce Inlet. We thought about going out here and going all the way to Lake Worth. Glad we didn't since the wind got up later on.

I love these! A toy tug boat for a boy and a floating barge for a girl!

Girl house

Boy house.

Look very closely at this picture. That bird has a fish in his claws. Yes, he does!

Love the gingerbread house!

These three pictures show our Hobe Sound anchorage the first night. Beautiful!

Our trip from Vero to Hobe Sound

Then the wind started blowing and blew for two days. We even had white-caps in the anchorage! Look at those flags! We stayed here until things settled down and then went to Lake Worth. We had a great trip.