2025 April: Scenic Vero Beach

 24 April 2025

Having been on the boat for two full days doing nothing more interesting than the laundry, I decided that today I needed to go somewhere. I asked Clark if he would  join me for either a bike ride or a walk, but he refused to budge from the sofa saying he was "relaxing". It looked more like a nap to me, but who am I to judge. I left him to it and decided to walk the Vero Beach boardwalk with capturing photos in mind.

To begin, I walked to the pedestrian-crossing traffic light that safely facilitates access to the park and the start of the boardwalk.

Walking through the park, I found a rabbit enjoying dinner. Later, on my walk into town, I saw another rabbit and a baby bunny.

I saw a few of these critters as well.

On the boardwalk, the first thing I noticed were the "Help Sea Turtles" posters wherever steps went down to the beach.

The view was great. The breeze felt wonderful. The weather while we have been in Vero Beach has been absolutely amazing!

Today was a "red flag" day for the ocean.

Even so, I saw two people in the water. The man was body surfing on the waves. The woman appeared to be just enjoying the waves.

At the end of the boardwalk, I decided to continue into town instead of circling back to the boat.

As I walked into town, I found lots of pretty flowers along the way. Given a test, I could not accurately identify any of them!

The mansions along this stretch are impressive. One is for sale!

Just a few million I'm sure!

I saw a jeep with rubber duckies on the dash.

Then, just down the road, I saw another one! License plates would indicate they are not from the same state.

I wandered up and down and in and around places I would not normally go just looking for interesting things to photograph and found quite a few "treasures".

Every nook and cranny of "Waldo's" has something of interest to enjoy.

Plaster Bulldog

Cannons

Tricycle turned to planter

Carved Pelican post says "Welcome"

"Frog Catching Fly" statue

Many interesting carvings can be found in town. It would be interesting to know more about their origins.

Conquistadors

The store near the carvings sold jewelry.

Seaside Jewelry & Gallery

I found a couple of "waterfalls" along my walk.

Costa d' Este

Side view of above

I walked as far as the Kilwins ice cream shop. By now it was 5:00 (almost dinner time), and I had no cash on me, so stopping for a treat was not in the cards.

The road sign I found earlier in my explorations was not of much help in pointing the way back to the boat, so I decided to turn around and go back the way I had come.

I decided that Pennsylvanians must have hung the signs up!

Back at the boardwalk, I got to enjoy beach views once again.

My aching feet were happy when I arrived back at the park - only a short distance to the boat from here!

I saw a kite flying overhead as I came to the end of the boardwalk. 

By the time I worked my way around for a better view, I found Captain Hook looking back at me through the leaves of a tree! His flying time was short-lived indeed! I saw no apparent owner of the kite.

I have walked through this park a few times. Today I spied something I had not noticed before - the remains of, one of many, houses of refuge for victims of shipwrecks. 

The Remains of 
Bethel Creek House of Refuge
1876

Only four corner stones remain.

When I reached the boat, I checked my phone to see what the health monitor showed - 4 miles walked today! That makes up somewhat for me not getting off the boat much for the prior two days.

25 April 2025

Maintenance Run

Depart: 3:25

Return to dock: 4:50

Clark was told that the dinghy should be ready "at the end of this week". I found that rather vague. What day is the end of their week. Today, being Friday, might be someone's definition but apparently not their definition as we still have not heard that the dinghy is ready for delivery. Perhaps Saturday ends their week?

In preparation that we might leave sometime in the near future, Clark filled the water tank, and we took the boat to the city marina for a pump-out of the holding tank. The boat must be happy here as it groaned when Clark used the bow thruster to push us away from the dock. He decided that we needed a bit of a ride along with the pump out to "get the cobwebs out".

It took a little under 30 minutes to complete the pump out. Once again, the suction was not good enough at the city dock to pull out the waste. As he did last time here, Clark used the vacuum cleaner exhaust to push pressure into the tank to assist with the flow. Since we knew this might be likely from last time, we had the vacuum cleaner setup and ready to be used.

Once that job completed, Clark took us for a short trip. Instead of sitting and enjoying the ride, I got annoyed at the grimy panes of the full enclosure on the upper helm and pulled out a bucket of water to wash them down as we rode along.

After lines were once again secured at the dock, I went back to working on the blog entry that I started earlier in the day. Clark pulled out the guitar this morning and played a few songs. We were keeping busy while waiting for lunchtime. We invited our hosts, Anna and Don, and our friends, Cathy and Franklin, out to lunch to thank them for all they have done for us while we have been here. 

Many suggestions were made as to where we might go. In the end we decided to revisit the Ocean Grill where we went last Saturday with our friends - Sandy and Bill. The food was good, and it is nearby. In fact I walked here yesterday as part of my "tour". It's that close!

The guy shown below greeted us at the door! He is so lifelike he startles me!

"Walter"

We had a lovely invitation to attend a pool party with Cathy and Franklin this evening but opted to work on  boat prep instead in hopes that we will shortly get notification that we can start heading north once more.