2026 April: More Vero Beach FL

 9 April 2026

Today I had a leisurely day planned and made Clark pancakes for breakfast. I realized as I pulled out the current open bottle that we would soon be out of syrup. We had enough for today but not for next time. When I was out with Sandy, she reminded me about the gourmet market down the street. 

I decided that, if the weather allowed, I would walk to the store to stock up on maple syrup. I checked the radar picture and decided I had a brief window where I would mostly stay dry but would have to leave right away. The Village Beach Market is just under a mile down the road. 

The walking trip to the market was mostly dry. It did sprinkle for a short while but I picked a good time for a walk and I enjoyed the outing. On prior walks through here I have cut through the Jaycee Beach Park to the boardwalk to stroll along the beach but not today.

Jaycee Beach Park
along the ocean

All the palm trees had their fronds pointed in the same direction due to the wind. I had my hat tied tight to my head to avoid losing it in the wind.

Bent over palm trees

Still cloudy skies

On my walk I spied a black bird fighting the wind. His feathers were being blown about as he held on tight to the monument he sat upon.

"Hang on tight!"

Head down against the wind

I continued on my way and made it to the store without getting wet, found the maple syrup, and left again in record time. On the walk back to the house, it did rain but fortunately not very hard and not very long. By the time I passed the Bethel Creek House the rain had passed.

Bethel Creek House on park grounds

Mural on Bethel Creek House

I have walked past Bethel Creek House many times and did not know its history. I decided to look it up and found it to be "The first House of Refuge in Florida" (more detail below).

Information from a Google Search

Clark installed the first of the new galvanic isolator for the house 30A power. The isolator for the A/C power was coming the next day. After wiring it, he tested the new isolator in the 15A GFI outlet and it worked. He tested the inverter charger and it began charging the thirsty battery bank into the next day. He also removed the display and the wiring that went to each of the two the galvanic tester modules.

Later in the day, with my last-minute shopping now complete, I decided to do some art. I have a stockpile of pictures on my phone that I have downloaded from the internet as ideas. I thought about pulling out my acrylic paints and tackling one of these myriad options. Then I came up with a different idea. 

My friend, Cathy, had a Bernese Mountain dog years ago. Sadly, as dogs do, he (Bruno) died far too soon. Knowing how much she loved that dog, I decided to see if I could create a greeting card with a picture on it of a Bernese Mountain dog. For the sake of time, I decided to do it in colored pencils. 

This was my model from the internet.

Cathy and Franklin invited us over to their house for dinner tonight. Anna and Don were also invited, so the four of us drove over to arrive at 5:00 as planned. Upon arrival, I gave the card to Cathy, and she was slightly overcome by the card, so I gather it turned out to her liking. 

The weather today was, once again, miserable. Florida needs rain for the plants and trees, but the continuous heavy rain is causing flooding issues. A steady drizzle or light rain would be fine, but the rain we have seen this week is coming down "in buckets"! The winds to go with the rain have been wild at up to 30 + knots or more. 

When we left our boat to walk up to the house for the drive to Cathy's house, we had a light sprinkle. As we pulled out of the driveway, it was pouring! It rained for the drive over and continued to pour as we sat with cocktails and finger food. We sat and watched the weather until Franklin jumped up to go outside to pump out the excess rain water his pool. The water level was rising, and he had to let some water out before it started overflowing and causing erosion around the pool. 

As always Cathy outdid herself on food. We had more hors d'oeuvres to choose from than I could count. Dinner was crab cakes, scalloped potatoes, and baked Brussel sprouts with options for dessert - chocolate mousse or lemon bars or both. Again, I came away stuffed!

10 April 2026

Today the sun finally came out! With the sun came workmen to the dock where we are staying. On past visits here, the dock had room for two boats on either side of a fixed dock. Now, however, a boat lift is being installed for the Hinkley that Don recently purchased. 

Over the past few days, the work crew could do little due to the heavy rain. They showed up a couple of times and were "washed" away as they could not get done the jobs needed to complete installation of the lift. 

They appeared first thing today to get to work.

Meanwhile, the Hinkley is at a neighbor's dock and where I can find Clark when he's not on our boat or out with our friends. He has installed the second galvanic isolator and found yet another issue. He found a neutral-to-ground connection related to the air conditioning breaker panel that was subtle. The ground bus bar and the neutral bus bar were shorted, even when there were no wires connected to the ground bus bar. It turned out, they were screwed into a metal plate that tied them together. He moved the two ground wires to a separate ground bus nearby. This time, the test passed and the GFI outlet remained energized. We plan to leave Vero Beach tomorrow, and he still had a few things to finish up. 

He had to stop work at noon because we had a lunch date planned at a local restaurant with our hosts, Don and Anna, and our friends here, Franklin and Cathy. Clark made a reservation for 12:30 at Ocean Grill, and he needed to get cleaned up in non-work clothes before we could go. 

We have been to Ocean Grill before and enjoyed the food. 

Ocean Grill Restaurant, Vero Beach, FL

We were surprised to see a beautiful Bentley in the parking lot with the top down - brave considering the weather we've been experiencing.

The decorations inside the restaurant are quite interesting. I notice something new each time we eat here.

"Greeter" still stands at the door

View from our table in the restaurant

Artwork in the hallway

Knight in shining armor
guarding the restrooms

Cathy, Anna, Don, Clark, & Franklin

The views outside were also interesting.

Entrance to the grill Gift Shop

In the window of the gift shop

The restaurant is on the ocean, so we got an up-close view of the wave action. The surf was rough today.

Even so, people were enjoying the beach right outside the restaurant in Vero Beach.

Some brave soles were ignoring the rip current warnings and diving the waves along the shore.

After lunch, including dessert for some of us, Cathy and Franklin returned to Don's house for a quick peek at the Hinkley Clark has been working on. 

Hinkley

Clark showing us the electrical panel 
he's been dealing with

Boat's helm station

Electrical Panel Clark's been working behind

It's a beautiful boat but looks cramped to live on for any period of time that's probably why it is called a "picnic boat".

After a short time, Clark finished up and declared the project done! Don said he would take care of covering the hole, left by the display panel that was removed, using a blank electrical faceplate and some double-sided tape. This avoids adding any new holes where he may want to install a battery monitor. Now we can leave tomorrow with no "loose ends".

As we climbed off the Hinkley, we heard a plane coming in hard and fast like a dive-bomber. We looked  up and saw a yellow plane coming straight down the creek at high speed. He suddenly swerved off to circle around and come back. He did this several times.

As shown in the pictures above, the sunny day we had this morning was replaced with dark clouds and occasional drizzle. As we stood next to the Hinkley, we started to get dripped on as the rain came on stronger and stronger. At least we hoped it was rain we were feeling as Franklin told us the plane was most likely spraying for mosquitoes as he circled around.

Five minutes later the rain was gone but the dark clouds remained. On the bright side, the temperatures are lovely and cool. The sun did come out again later this afternoon, so I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to go for a walk. I couldn't resist a walk to see the ocean in its full glory.

Surf crashing along the shore behind me

Red Flag = "High Hazard"

The red flag did not keep folks out of the ocean.

Man riding waves on a board all alone

Woman with several children out in the waves

I had fun watching the birds in the wind. They did a lot of station keeping holding steady against the wind or gliding sideways with the wind. They also flew by at lightning speed when they flapped their wings and went with the wind!

In an effort to prevent erosion of the sand, young grass can be seen to have been planted along the beach.

Replenishing the dunes

My stroll turned into a nature hike as, in addition to a variety of birds, I found various wildlife along the way.

Rabbit having a tasty snack in the park

Curly-tailed lizards 
roved the park in abundance

Before we leave Vero Beach, we have two chores to complete. 1) top up the water tank and 2) stop at the city marina to empty our waste holding tank. Then we will be heading north on the Indian River to look for an anchorage as our next stop.

2026 April: Vero Beach FL adventures

 7 April 2026

The big news for the last few days regarding boating has been focused on the wet and windy weather. Gale force winds were predicted, and more often than not, they appeared especially, it seemed, at night. The sky in Vero Beach has been a perpetual shade of gray with the sun losing the battle to appear. 

Given the forecast, we decided to "hunker down" for a few days here with our friends and make the most of it. We contacted our friends, Sandy and Bill, whom we know from Faro Blanco days when they boated on L'Attitude Adjustment, and they drove to Vero Beach from their home about an hour north of here to go out for the day in their car. Such good friends we have!

Sandy and Bill were scheduled to arrive around 11:00, so Clark got involved in a puzzling problem with our host Don. Given the weather thus far and the forecast indicated on the radar snapshot below ...

it seemed prudent for Don to have a pool cover pump operating for his pool. The pool cover was rapidly gaining inches of water on top of it, thus the necessity for the pump.

pool cover pump

The pump has a hose attached to it, and when it runs, water comes out the hose to go down a nearby drain. 

At least that is what is supposed to happen. However, the pump Don had in place stopped working, so he went and bought another one.

Unfortunately, this one died instantly upon being switched on. Sometimes electrical items have "infant mortality" if quality control let it get through. However, Don ended up trying multiple new pumps, and they all failed. Clark and Don worked together to find a solution. 

Take it out of the pool

Carry it into the garage

Put it in a bucket

Plug it in 

and watch it smoke! I watched as they tried two of these pumps. In the past when Clark said, "I smoked it!" I had no idea it quite literally smoked. I thought it was a figure of speech, but when these guys plugged in each of these two pumps, a huge cloud of smoke came out of the bucket! The wire quickly got pulled from the plug. 

The question of the day was "Why would so many pumps be failing?" They thought it might be the extension cord(s) they were using. One of them went in the trash. Perhaps the other extension cord was too thin? Meanwhile, the water on top of the pool cover was getting deeper and deeper. 

The pump puzzle was not solved today but, a couple of days later, when Clark decided to check the voltage drop at the outlet when the pump was running. He was shocked to find the extension cord showed about 240 volts instead of the expected 120 volts. He tested the outlet itself and it also had 240 volts between the neutral and hot slots in the wall socket. All prior testing apparently had been done using the same outlet. 

Don said that he had changed wiring in the electrical panel over a year ago. Clark said it was an easy fix. He just looked down the panel until he found the breaker with a white wire attached to a breaker since as it did not belong there. He corrected the wiring, and voila, no more smoking pumps.  

Interestingly, the pump that failed, that started this whole "adventure", had been working on the 240 power for the past year. One of the pumps bought during this exercise ran for a while, stopped working when the temperature sensor became hot, and then restarted. How is it that some smoked immediately and some, real troopers, fought on?

As noted above, the pump problem was not fixed on day one. We had plans to go out with Sandy and Bill, so Clark stepped away from the pump for our outing. Our normal outings with Sandy usually include some activity as well as lunch. However, given the uncooperative weather, Sandy suggested a leisurely lunch including plans for dessert afterwards. 

Sandy likes to take us places we have never been before. Today she decided to have us try some out-of-the-ordinary cuisine.

River Twist
Creative Cuisine

The food I ordered, Chicken Salad with Potato Chips, was a bit too zesty for my taste. They overdid the Bermuda Onion in the salad and the chips were coated in Cayenne Pepper. The whole grain toast was the best part of the sandwich. Clark had a burger with a mayo-based salad on the side. His salad had a tang to it also. 

After lunch, Sandy took us to a place called "A Slice of Paris" for dessert. 

A Slice of Paris patisserie 

The display case was packed full of yummy-looking treats. 

I decided to go for the Palmiers. Sandy and Bill shared a layered chocolate torte. 

Bill, a physicist, and Clark, an engineer, got into a heavy discussion on particle physics and the Higgs boson, something way over my head. Sandy, also a physicist, understood their conversation but offered that the two of us should go next door to browse in the consignment shop and leave the two guys deep in conversation. That sounded like a great idea. I doubt the guys even noticed we were gone!

We walked next door to the consignment shop that Sandy likes. I was amazed at the size of the store packed with inexpensive offerings. 

Elizabeth's Fine Consignments shop

Sandy is great at coming up with ideas of things to do together. Today her suggestion was a simple one - "Let's go back to your boat to relax and chat!" Perfect! Bill and Clark sat next to each other and continued to discuss topics I had no interest in. They sat on the back deck of the boat (it had stopped raining at least for a while), and to avoid contending with their discussion, Sandy and I sat in our salon to talk. 

With an hour-long drive back home, Sandy and Bill left about 4:00. This worked perfectly for us as well since our hostess in Vero Beach, Anna, was preparing dinner for us at the house. Around 5:00 we walked up to sit on their patio overlooking Bethel Creek for "Martini Time" where Clark and I indulge in a glass of water each! Dinner at 6:00 included a multi-course meal from salad to dessert. 

Today seemed to revolve heavily around food. I was stuffed and glad that Wednesday I would have a day to recover from restaurants and expansive meals.

While we were still seeing nothing but off-and-on rain with gray skies, friends from Marlin Bay were posting gorgeous sunset pictures!

Sunset in Marlin Bay tonight

Sunset near Miami, FL

Our sunset ... see photo at beginning of blog!

8 April 2026

My friend, Cathy, offered, as she always does, to take me shopping wherever I needed to go. We agreed yesterday to meet today at 10:00 for a trip to Publix and Fresh Market for a few groceries. From a weather point of view, we could not have picked a worse time! 

When I walked up to the house to meet Cathy, we had a slight drizzle and, foolishly, I did not wear a raincoat. By the time we had driven the short distance to Publix from the house, we had entered Monsoon season! Torrential rain came down sideways with the wind. The first thing I put in my shopping cart at Publix was an umbrella strategically placed at the front of the store to lure in buyers. It certainly lured me in, and I detest umbrellas. 

I just needed a few basics to supplement my boat stores - bread and fresh veggies specifically. In the bread aisle, I found something unusual I haven't seen in a Publix before.

Acacia Wood Rocking Chair

This was high up on a shelf way over my head with a bunch of beach chairs for sale. Too bad I had no place for it on the boat!

At Fresh Market, I was looking for orange-cranberry scones. I had to hunt for a while but I eventually found a barrel with several packages on top! I bought 3 packs - one for now and two to freeze! Yum! Cathy took home a very happy, but wet, shopper!

Meanwhile, "back at the ranch", Clark was up to his eyebrows in yet another project for our host, Don. Don bought a Hinkley yacht. And, guess what?! It has a "trips GFI" problem which prevented the inverter charger from charging the batteries. This is becoming Clark's speciality - digging into the wiring of other folks' boats to find the root problem. He would rather admire the boats from the outside, but somehow he finds himself buried in the inside!

Clark traced the problem down to a self-testing galvanic isolator of which Don apparently has two. Both needed to be replaced. In preparation, Clark removed the isolator and the self testing units and the DC and AC power connections that would not be needed with the newer Failsafe galvanic isolators. The new units were ordered and would be delivered separately with one scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday night and one on Thursday night. Given that, Clark adjusted our departure date from Vero Beach to be Saturday to allow him time to work on the Hinkley on Friday. 

Although we took a day off from fine dining today, we could not pass up time with our hosts at "Martini Time" i.e. 5:00 p.m.  I, yet again, hoped for an interesting sunset to no avail. The sky was still a bleak gray.

After "Martini Time" Clark and I retired to the boat for the evening. Since regular network television is a vast wasteland on Wednesday nights, we turned to Netflix to find a movie. As he scrolled past, I noticed "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle". Having never seen this movie, I requested that we pick this one for tonight. It was like "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" but for kids. I enjoyed it very much. Clark - not so much!