Leaving for Ft Pierce (12/4)

Sunday, December 4
Beautiful day, 75 deg, 15knots of E wind ... BIG sigh of relief to be underway again.  A moving boat is so much different than a moored boat!  Even though I'm in the same corner of the cockpit with the same book ... it must be the motion and the changing sceneray.....

Don't get me wrong, we love Vero Beach ... we did stay here 2 weeks and thoroughly enjoyed biking to the beach, going to the Farmers Market, the Art Fair, the muesum, the memorial park.  Vero is a lovely and affluent town that provides boaters with a free bus that stops at both the dinghy dock and the main dock house ... so what's not to like!

yummy fresh goods at the farmers market.

Bikes were an added treat

Poinsettias growing in the front yard!

The long stay in Vero was worth it for the mail we were able to get and for the visit we were able to have with Clyde and Sherry (m/v Morada), one of our first friends in Brunswick.  They recently bought a mobile home in Vero Beach, so while their boat is for sale in Brunswick, they are in Vero getting the new home ready for a long-term rental this winter.  Lucky for us that our paths crossed here at the same time ... we haven't seen them in a year, and they've been missed!

We spent our last nite in Vero with them and their friends on m/v Emoh.

BBQ burgers and Mexican Train late into the night!

We finally settled on Ft Pierce as our next destination after much debate over the pros/cons of leaving Maja at various ports along the east coast of Florida when we leave at Christmas.  Ft Pierce is just 20 miles down the ICW from Vero Beach, so we had hoped to get a little further south, just for the warmer temps when we return.  But the choices got increasingly more expensive the further south you go.  Our first choice was a mooring in Miami (Dinner Key Marina), except that we would need to shut off and empty the refrigerator, so no provisioning for the Bahamas until we got back. To leave the boat hooked up to shore power (and securely tied to a dock), we needed a slip in a marina.  And once you stay in a slip for a week, you may as well pay for a month.  So, that's what we are doing! 

The couple we met in Vero Beach, Ed and Karin (s/v Passages), recommended Harbortown Marina as they are also hunkering down here through the holidays.  Staying in Ft Pierce has answered our other lengthy debate -- Where to cross to the Bahamas this year?   Ft Pierce has a short, nice inlet to the ocean, so we can get offshore in less than 30 minutes.  AND, leaving from Ft Pierce also answered the question of where we would enter the Bahamas this year.  Leaving from Ft Pierce means we'll repeat our same path as last year, and shoot for the Abacos and clear Customs at Green Turtle Cay.  We hope to get back to Ft Pierce after Christmas at the same time as Ed and Karin so we'll have them as a 'buddy-boat' for the crossing.

So, that's 3 big decisions we've finally put to rest!  Whew!

3 on a mooring in Vero Beach

After s/v Passages left Vero, we next shared our mooring with two other boats.  Now, that was tight quarters!  Our new "mooring mates" were not nearly as friendly Ed and Karin so we were happy to move on after two days.  All I can say is that I'm glad we met Ed and Karin first as I probably would have avoided Vero Beach in high season again after our last experience.

s/v Maja on the end.

As we were leaving Vero, we got a call from our friend, Mikel Wheeler, who recently moved to Jacksonsville and was looking for a day trip on this beautful Sunday.  So we talked him into driving down to Ft Pierce and spending the night with us.  What a treat to have company again ... especially with the Vikings on TV!

Mikel's 3rd visit to s/v Maja in 2011!