2024 April: Vero Beach Florida

15 April 2024
Depart: Pompano Beach Private Dock on ICW 8:25
Arrive: Vero Beach Private Dock – Bethel Creek 7:00
Distance: ~94  nm
Conditions: NE winds; 3 – 4 foot waves in the ocean

Sunrise at Pompano Beach

We had a bit of a delayed start leaving our friend Steve’s dock as Clark spent 30 minutes on the phone with Amazon Customer Service. Fortunately, our time of departure meant we snagged the 8:30 opening of the Hillsboro Inlet Bridge and were quickly headed north on the ocean.

Hillsboro Inlet / Pompano Beach Lighthouse

We headed out beyond the 3-mile line with expectations of picking up the Gulf Stream for an extra push north. It worked! Even with the throttle down below our normal RPM, we were flying up the coast at between 10 and 11 knots. 

Although we had some wave action on the ocean, we had an easy, but long ride. Initially, Clark planned on stopping well before the Fort Pierce inlet. Seeing how fast we were traveling we recalculated and decided we could make Fort Pierce before sunset. When we arrived at Fort Pierce around 5:30, we called our friend Don who said, "Why stop now when there's a dock right here waiting for you?"

So, we kept going until we got to Vero Beach and our friend's dock!

Vero Beach sailing class

When we arrived at our friend’s dock in Vero Beach, we learned that his wife, Anna, had departed recently for a trip abroad. Our other friends that we normally see in Vero were away in South America. It was just Don and us for the length of our stay. Because of our late time of arrival, we said hello as we tied up but then parted ways as Clark and I still needed to cook and eat dinner. Our second night there we shared a pizza, and our third and last night, we went out to eat at Bonefish Grill.

17 April 2024

The only exercise I got yesterday was taking the dirty laundry up to Don's house and bringing it back clean. I asked Clark to go on a bike ride with me today. He asked, "Where?" and I replied, "The Park".

We rode down Live Oak Road past the Vero Beach City Marina to Riverside Park and back to the house via Mockingbird Drive. In total a little less than 5 miles or so.

Mangroves near dinghy dock at VB City Marina

Dinghy Dock at VB Marina

After exploring the various nooks and crannies of the city marina, we continued on our way to Riverside Park stopping to take in the sights along the way.

While we stood and observed two men were struggling to get their boat on a trailer at the boat ramp. In the first attempt, the boat was lined up perfectly with the trailer but we heard a crunch as the boat hit the ramp instead of the trailer. The boat driver told the truck driver to back up more, and he tried again. 

Truck with trailer waiting for boat 

Boater circling around
to line up with the trailer 
yet again

On his next several passes at lining up with the trailer, he was not so successful as the first time. As he pulled towards the trailer, the current would sweep him to an angle and he would hit one of the poles that are used to align the boat with the trailer.  I winced every time he missed as I heard the boat collide with one thing or another - most frequently the poles. Fortunately, the poles he hit appeared to be PVC pipe stuck in the water.

We left after a while of watching. Finally, looking back, we saw that he had finally figured out to get further over so the current did not take him beyond his goal. 

As I was watching the boat and trailer, the iguana shown below was giving me the evil eye!

A little further on, we saw this bird watching a fisherman with a net. I am certain the bird was expecting a treat once a fish came in with the net. He was very patiently watching and waiting for dinner.

As we biked along, we came to an old bridge turned into a fishing pier. Of course we rode down to take a look.

Infinity Bridge View

Looking at Mooring Field from Fishing Pier

From there, we continued on to Riverside Park.

While I sat on a park bench and watched the bikes, Clark walked in to look at the Veterans Memorial.

Looking north

Looking Southeast

While Clark explored the Veterans Memorial, I looked around near the bench where I briefly rested.

Clark coming back from his peak at the Memorial

Having reached our destination, it was time to head back to the boat.

Clark enjoyed taking pictures of tree canopies today. He took several. He liked the one below because it showed water at the end of the "tunnel".

He stopped and backtracked to take a picture of the height-clearance sign. 

Normally these clearance signs are for trucks to avoid hitting bridges - not this one. Some folks must have not seen, or ignored, the sign as evidenced by the dings in the thick branch hanging over the road.

Here's what happens when the sign is ignored!

We had a lovely two-night stay in Vero Beach, but we had places to be and people to see, so it was time to move on.

Sunset from Don's house

 

18 April 2024
Depart: Vero Beach Private Dock 9:30
Arrive: Banana River anchorage 3:25
Distance: ~ 40 nm
Conditions: Calm on the Indian River / ICW

After leaving Vero Beach, we made a quick stop at the Vero Beach City Marina to take on Rec 90 gasoline for our dinghy. The stop took no more than 15 minutes including tying lines and dropping lines.

Boats on Mooring Balls at VBCM

Clark likes the looking down the bridge pictures

Clark managed to snag some pictures of the dolphins that came to play in our wake. 

Hey! Wait for us!

Low tide made for some interesting pictures as we traveled north on the ICW. The pictures below were taken near Sebastian, Florida / Pelican Island National Wildlife Reserve.

High and Dry forever? 
Or just until the tide comes up?

Sand bar out to island clearly visible

We chose an anchorage in the Banana River to be close to Satellite Beach to see our friends, Sandy and Bill, that are living in a condo there. Because we heard that there would be a rocket launch tonight, we dropped anchor where we thought we would have the clearest view of the action. The rocket was launched at 6:40, so we still had daylight. I personally have only ever seen launches that took place in the dark, so all I see is something that looks like a light passing across the sky. Seeing a launch in daylight was quite extraordinary.

Sunset on the Banana River