27 October 2026 - Tuesday
Depart: Eau Gallie, Florida anchorage 8:20
Arrive: Vero Beach, Florida Private Dock 1:55
Distance: ~ 36 nm
As of today, we have not yet switched over to Standard Time. The sunrise picture below was taken at around 7:45. Next Tuesday it will be somewhere around 6:45.
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| Sunrise at Eau Gallie, FL anchorage |
Looking behind me, I could see the full moon. Little did we know what havoc that would bring over the next few days!
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| Full Moon at Eau Gallie, FL anchorage |
As we got underway, we could see some sort of vessel as a silhouette on the water.
As we got closer,
and closer, it became clear that it was a sort of pumping station for a dredging operation.
The dredge setup passed under the bridge and continued along the Indian River until at some point the dredge hose passed under the ICW channel to continue on the other side.
Here, Clark pointed out the other anchorage he had considered for the night. I liked the one he chose at Dragon Point as we had good protection from wind there.
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| Several Sailboats in Clark's alternate choice for anchorage last night in Melbourne, FL |
With dark clouds up ahead, it looked like we might get some rain.
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| Looks like we are heading into rain |
Given our prior holding tank issues, we are both still nervous about whether the pump out will be successful or fail. Also, with fuel prices as they are, we did a partial fill at our last stop. Clark found a place that can empty one tank and fill the other. Funny, with the number of times we have been through here, I did not know this place existed!
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| Entrance sign for Loggerhead Marina |
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| Channel markers guiding us into Loggerhead Marina Vero Beach, FL |
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| Offering REC 90 gas Pumpout and Diesel at $6.449 per gallon |
We like it when the attendant tells us that it is a "fast fill". When asked, the attendant said, "Yes, the diesel is fast the gas is slow!" Well, his definition of fast and ours are not in synch! The fuel gauge very slowly ticked up by 1%. Usually, with a fast fill I call out the percentages for every 5%, here I called out every 1% so Clark knew the pump was still pumping. After about an hour at the dock, we got the jobs done. Holding tannk empty! Check! Fuel tanks close to full! Check!
We had heard "Gale force winds" and "Small Craft Advisory" on the radio, and just as we finished at the dock, it started to rain. Clark got away dry, but I got a shower pulling in the lines as did the dockhand helping me. Ah well, with our chores done, we left happy in spite of the rain.
When we arrived at Anna and Don's dock in Vero Beach, the water level was so high, the fixed dock was an inch from being completely under water making it hard to judge distances from boat to dock. So that we can get off the boat once docked, we backed into the slip.
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| Creek water lapping at the fixed dock |
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| Step to make access to shore easier - underwater! |
Since his boat is docked elsewhere currently, Don told us to use his lines that he leaves on the pole for his boat. That should make the job easier. However, Don's line are fat and heavy especially when wet. Also, they were wrapped around the poles in ways not immediately obvious to me.
Thus, we had a bit of a drama! We use Eartec headphones to communicate, so Clark is saying in my ear, "Grab the starboard bow line!" I'm saying back, "I can't get it! I don't know how to get it off the pole!" After a few seconds that felt like minutes, he tells me to, instead, get one of the lines on the port side to stop us continuing in a backward motion. Unfortunately, I have the same trouble on the port side - which line? Too fat, too heavy, wrapped! I don't know how!
So, instead, I quickly grabbed one of our own lines to get something tying us to the dock. That worked. We had something midships tight and could work from there. Whew! It took us another 20 minutes to get Don's lines attached to the boat. By the time we had the boat tied up, the dock was under water.
Later in the day, we found that with a gust of wind, which occurred rather frequently, the boat would bang into a piling. Given the gusts are unpredictable, the bangs were too, making me jump each and every time it happened. Oh my heart! Clark adjusted and readjusted the lines multiple times until the banging stopped. End result was that the boat was way off the dock, so he added a line just to pull the boat closer to the dock so we could jump off.
My friend, Cathy, said she would come see me and take me grocery shopping regardless of the weather that did not look too inviting.
We went to Publix ( I had used my last slice of bread for breakfast) and to Fresh Market (I like their muffins). After getting that job done, Cathy and Franklin stayed and Anna made dinner for all six of us.
Meanwhile, Clark identified an electrical problem with the new power pedestal that Don's electrician installed. The GFI kept tripping. With the heavily cloudy weather, the solar panels would not be offering any help. As a temporary workaround, Clark plugged several power cords together and ran the cable all the way up the backyard to the house to plug in and get at 20 amps of power. (He plugged into a power outlet he fixed on a prior visit!) Nothing pulling a large amount of current, like air conditioning, could be used, but I could use the microwave to my heart's content.
Clark is good at working out the electrical puzzles that he finds on people's boats. This pedestal problem was a new challenge. Something was tripping the GFI, but the question was what and where! The wiring down the back yard was suspect based on what the electrician had told Don.
28 October 2026 - Wednesday
We had tied the lines tight to hold the boat off the dock, but at 6:30 this morning, strong gusts of wind were once again making us bounce off the poles. Other than lunch, actually dinner at 1:00, with Anna and Don, we had no specific plans for the day. My only agenda item was to do laundry if Anna did not have the washer and dryer in use today. She did not!
The weather for the day fluctuated - rain, sun, downpour, sun, rain, repeat! Cathy and Franklin left for a trip to Peru today, so unfortunately, we would not see them again on this particular visit to Vero Beach. It was a miserable day to go anywhere let alone drive a rental car two hours to an airport in a deluge.
When I did take my laundry up to the house, I had to wade to the land as the fixed dock was a couple of inches underwater. Clark walked up barefoot to help me get the laundry to the house. I, on the other hand, pulled out my water shoes to protect my feet from the debris in the water.
Other than dinner and laundry at the house, I spent the majority of the day on the boat with Clark still tracing and testing wires from the house to the pedestal.
29 October 2026 - Thursday
Our friends we met boating in Marathon, Florida, Sandy and Bill drove an hour to come visit us in Vero Beach. They arrived at 10:30 so we would have time to chat and catch up before heading out to lunch at a local restaurant - Tuohy's Downtown. We had a bit of a challenge finding the place because (I won't name names) someone entered the wrong destination into Google Maps. Fortunately, the place we ended up was only a couple of blocks from where we wanted to be.
The restaurant offered a shaded area off to one side for outdoor dining, but with today's humidity, we decided on the dine in option. We found the outside area as we were leaving, so if we come back again, we will have more info upon which to make an informed choice on seating.
Of course, we went for ice cream afterwards. It would not be an outing with Sandy without ice cream!
After ice cream, Sandy had another surprise for us. As we drove down one of the streets, Sandy pulled over to stop so she and I could go into a gift shop that was more like an art gallery. Apparently, the owners agree as the name says gallery not shop.
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| Sandy outside the "Laughing Dog Gallery" |
After that, it was time for Clark and me to get back to Anna and Don's house, and Sandy and Bill to hit the highway for the trip home.
They dropped us off at 4:10. The picture above shows the sky about 30 minutes later!
The grass cutter / landscaper guy showed up late today to work on Don's yard. Unfortunately, it was exceedingly noisy for quite a long time as he had this yard and those of a neighbor to take care of. When the grass cutting job was done, he pulled out the blower, and unfortunately, blew grass clippings all over the stern of our boat and into the cockpit.
Before the clippings could stick somewhat permanently due to the moisture in the air, I ran around and wiped it up as best I could. I'll probably be finding grass clippings under things for weeks or months.
Since I have not sent any cards to my grandkids since we left home, I did some research on pictures to find some ideas.
30 October 2026 - Friday
Wonder of wonders, the sun made an appearance today - long enough for me to decide to walk to the CVS just under a mile away to pick up a couple of items I forgot to get when out with Cathy. Needing a couple of things gave me added incentive to make the hike. Clark suggested using the bike but I wanted to walk to enjoy the view along the way.
I have walked to the food market on this route a few times and posted pictures. There are only sidewalks on one side of the rode, so for the walk to and from CVS, I stayed on the sidewalk side. When I got to CVS, however, I had to cross the busy highway at a place with no traffic light or crosswalk in sight. Clearly, I survived, got my stuff, and successfully crossed the highway yet again for the walk back to the boat albeit with a heavier backpack.
Since I have taken this walk several times, I did not, for the most part, stop to take any pictures today, but, with the blog in mind, I did get a few.
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| Condo sign seemed appropriate signage given my activity |
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| Gnarly old tree caught my eye |
Since I had a heavy backpack and was closely watching the weather, I did not cross over to walk in the park where I usually stroll.
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| Jaycee Beach Park |
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| View of park across the road |
No matter how many times I see them, I enjoy the murals at the Bethel House here.
When I got back to the boat, I found Clark studying the pedestal problem. When he woke up this morning, he had a new hypothesis on the root cause of the EPD tripping due to a ground fault. He tried using a hair dryer to trip the breaker while investigating. That turned out not to draw enough power, so he brought my toaster oven out that takes 15 amps, and that still did not trip the EPD breaker. Testing with the boat as a load, he was able to reproduce the tripping problem. After checking is clearing user installed circuitry, he narrowed it down.
He found two older outlets that were installed when the docks were built that had wires running under the dock. Apparently, these two outlets were "leaking" power into the water and returning to ground through the boat's bonding system. He disconnected those outlets, and voila, the power pedestal worked. He found the other wires between the house and dock were over 500K ohms to ground and used those wires to replace the undersized neutral wires. He pulled in the 30 amp cables shore power cables that ran up to the house and plugged into the pedestal with no tripping!
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| New use for a toaster oven |
As we were standing on the dock, a school of fish jumped out of the water in an almost choreographed maneuver. Shortly afterwards, the fish jumped once more time next to the fixed dock where we are tied up.
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| Fish flopping on the dock |
I ran to get a net to help it back into the water. Clark had a different approach. He walked up to it and made it jump towards the water to get away from him. A few jumps and he went flying back into the water.
During the weather report on network TV today, the rainfall map showed Vero Beach covered in purple! I have never seen purple rainfall levels before. The map showed that as 12+ inches of rain!
31 October 2026 - Saturday - Halloween
Today, we had sunshine which has become a novelty over the past few days. Anna has been concerned about pruning some plants before the weather gets too cold for that. She has a trip plan and has limited time to get everything done before she goes. When I saw her out in the yard working away, I ran and changed my clothes to come out and help. I was so insistent on helping that she caved and let me do some work with her. She is very particular about the work getting done right. The grounds always look nice but looked better once she was done.
Meanwhile, Clark was off with Don in the garage talking to him about HAM radios and such.
Once again, Anna fed us dinner. This time consisting of salmon, broccoli rabe, and white rice. She prepares everything just right. After dinner, I stayed in the kitchen with Anna and we chatted about this and that for hours. At one point Clark poked his head in, and we both shewed him away from our "girl time".
Clark and I are usually so full from lunch / dinner that it is after 7:00 before either of us feel like eating anything. It makes our last meal of the day be quite a bit later in the day than our normal routine.
I do not know if any kids showed up at the house for Trick-or-Treat, but hidden behind the house on our boat, we did not see anyone.
1 November 2026 - Sunday
In prior years we would be somewhere in the Carolinas probably at this time of year. We are much earlier than usual this year. With the rainy weather and gusty wind, I am glad we are not further north on the ICW somewhere. Despite the rain, it has been pleasant to be at dock in Vero Beach with our hosts.
Nicer weather would be a plus. The daily radar pictures are impressive! Just trying to find Vero Beach on the map under all the bright colors is a challenge!
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| Radar Map - 1 Nov 2026 |
Today Anna fed us do-it-yourself tacos with a variety of toppings. Anna, Clark, and I chatted for a while after dinner while Anna took care of the dishes. Once that job was done, Clark went off to find Don and I returned to the boat. I had drawn pictures on the cards for the grandkids, so now it was time to color them in using colored pencils and glitter pens. I chose goofy squirrel pictures for this card session.
The kids like to get mail, and it gives me a chance to challenge my artistic talents.
2 November 2026 - Monday
Once again the weather was atrocious! Once again the water came up over the fixed dock. Unlike other days where we walked up to the house for lunch / dinner, today we had no place to be. Given that and the conditions, neither Clark nor I got off the boat all day long today. He spent the day doing boat things and computer things.
I spent a large portion of the day on my laptop cleaning out old photos used for blog updates that were taking up far too much space on my phone - very tedious but rewarding to reclaim several meg of space.
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| Radar map - Vero Beach area - 2 Nov 2026 |
During the weather report on network TV today, the rainfall map showed Vero Beach covered in purple! I have never seen purple rainfall levels before. The map showed that as 12+ inches of rain!
The good news is that the EPD breaker did not trip even with all this rain which was a very good test of the underground wiring!!
3 November 2026
Today turned out to be a surprise. I had no specific plans and decided that I should do a load of wash assuming we would be leaving this dock in Vero Beach imminently. While doing the laundry, I got a call from Sandy to say that their condo had no water, and they were thinking to come visit for lunch.
I knew Clark had a mechanic coming to give him an assessment on work for the boat this morning and told Sandy that we should be free around 12:30. That timing worked out pretty much perfectly. I got my laundry done, and just as the guys were leaving from looking at the boat, Sandy and Bill pulled into the driveway.
Vero Beach had a "State of Emergency" today up until 9:30 a.m. due to flooding. By the time we went out with Sandy and Bill, we could see yards with water pooled in them, but the roads we traveled were clear. Sandy and Bill chose their route to come see us carefully based on which areas were suffering high water and which ones were safer bets.
We went to a local restaurant for lunch. Clark and I had been there once before with our friend Franklin.
Last time we ate at Riverside Cafe, it was in the evening with a very loud band. The music was so loud that even sitting outside with the band inside, we had difficulty carrying on a conversation. Given it was packed with people and we walked through the restaurant as quickly as possible to get away from the loud music, I did not get to see the interesting art on display inside.
I asked Sandy to stop at a post office while we were out, so I could mail the cards to the kids. I have 4 granddaughters, 1 grandson, and 3 grand nieces that I send cards to. I was anxious to get the cards on their way. I generally include something in with the card like stickers, a Sudoku puzzle, or a word search, so they get more than just a card. They seem to like what I send.
After a very quick stop at the post office, we found ourselves no more than 2 blocks from the ice cream store. Sandy did not need much of a hint to head there next.
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| Fudge counter - Inside Kilwins in Vero Beach |
Sandy dropped us off after ice cream for the drive back to the Satellite Beach area "up north". No sooner did we step on board than Clark says, "I need your help with something". He was still not done with the power pedestal! I got to help him open and close it and support it from falling in between times. He put some finishing touches on his wiring work.
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| Placing a lug on a wire |
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| Using massive "jaws" to crimp the lug onto the wire |
We had a few sprinkles as we left the ice cream shop. Looking at the sky, I hoped Clark would hurry with his crimping job before we and the wires got a shower.
Fortunately, the clouds moved on without getting us wet this time. Once released from pedestal holding duty, I climbed on board to work on this blog update. Clark went and found Don for a chat on the patio.
It looks like we might be here a while yet as Clark is hoping to have the guys that came to see the boat today will be able to do some work for us here before we move on further south. If so, Clark says we have to leave to get a pumpout and then come back again. Docking with the high water and gusty wind was tricky last time. Fingers crossed for better conditions if we have to go out and come back.
We got enough sun this evening to get a sunset picture!! Since the change to standard time, the sun is disappearing before 6:00 p.m. With all the clouds and rain, this is the first time we have seen the sun set since the time change!
