Sunday, April 13, 2025

2025 April: Vero Beach FL

 8 April 2025 - Tuesday - no boat travel

After our ride to find the sandbar near Marathon in the Keys, our dinghy started to leak yet again. As we neared Vero Beach, Clark contacted the folks that did the dinghy repair for us in the fall, and they arranged that he should bring the dinghy back to the boat ramp in Vero Beach for them to work on today. They worked on it twice in November. Clark worked on the leak problem himself in Marathon, and here we are again with the dinghy leaking more than ever. 

The weather today was blah as it was overcast and threatening rain or drizzling most of the day. Clark and the guy picking up the dinghy for repair found a weather window whereby Clark could get the dinghy to the Vero Beach boat ramp. Just after Clark left on the dinghy, it started to rain just enough to make sure he got wet on the ride to the ramp. Then it stopped raining as abruptly as it started. 

Thankfully, when the dinghy was up on the boat trailer, the man picking up the dinghy gave Clark a ride back to the house, so he did not have to walk. I was quite surprised at how soon he was back on board our boat. 

I, on the other hand, had nothing of value to show for today as I spent my time working on word puzzles or the AARP puzzles I am addicted to .

9 April 2025 - Wednesday - no boat travel

Having hardly moved yesterday (blame it on the weather), I wanted to get out for some exercise today. After some small amount of coaxing, I got Clark to agree to go for a bike ride with me. With temps in the 60s it was ideal for a bike ride. On the down side, we had strong winds today. The ride one way was no effort at all. We paid the price on the ride back against the wind.

I made sure to capture some pictures for the blog on our outing. We basically rode up to the nearby park where Clark dropped off the dinghy yesterday, explored the parks in the area, and returned to the boat. 



We rode out to the end of a fishing pier to look at the boats.





As I exited the fishing pier, two squirrels came over to say hello. People must feed them here as they came right up to me and looked up as if to say "what did you bring me?" I had nothing to offer, took my picture, and pedaled away. I think of them as fuzzy rodents.



When we are out biking, I generally follow Clark around wherever he decides to go. He took us down a side trail to peek at more boats.


Left my bike in the gazebo and walked around 
a bit to get pictures of the area






While I scouted out the trail, Clark watched two sailboats maneuvering their boats around a triangular-shaped course just off the beach.


Clark watching sailboats maneuvering




I found a short, sandy trail that wove through the mangroves along the water's edge. I wandered that path for a bit.







I found some Morning Glory growing among the bushes here.


then, I stopped back at the gazebo to look for more picture-taking opportunities. 



While I was investigating the area, Clark rode off on his bicycle. I thought he was still watching the sailboats. Thankfully, I caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye before he disappeared, so I knew where to find him. One thing about following him, it frequently turns into a game of "hide-and-go-seek" which I am not particularly fond of!

We made our way out of the mangroves to look around some more of the area.  As we passed the boat ramp, we saw an Indian River County sheriff truck with an official boat backing down the ramp. I was amazed at the speed with which he got the boat in the water and underway. It was a matter of mere seconds before he was pulling the trailer away to park it in the parking lot. Obviously in an emergency they have to move quickly!




Clark warned me a couple of times that we would be facing strong winds on the way back to our boat and asked if I was sure I wanted to continue the ride. He was not kidding. In areas where we had no wind protection, pedaling was hard work. Our entire bike ride took about an hour from start to finish. We were back on board around noon for lunch.

Later in the afternoon, our host, Don, sat with us on the back of our boat talking mostly about dinghy options. The repair shop offered three suggestions - 1) repair the dinghy again with another patch, 2) replace the old tubes with new ones, or 3) buy a used dinghy from them. After much debate about reliability and cost, we opted to patch this one with the expectation that we will buy a new one in the near future.

Our hosts, Don and Anna, just returned from a cruise to the Antarctic. We have yet to hear the details of their exciting trip. They were gone a long while and are busy getting settled back in at home.

10 April 2025 - Thursday  - no boat travel

Besides worrying about the dinghy, Clark decided that we need to update our anchor. He says it has a whole into the interior where the weight is and been patched with epoxy already, and given our propensity to anchor, we need something trustworthy. 


Current anchor

Blister on side of existing anchor

He ordered an anchor, and today our friend Franklin drove Clark up north to Merrit Island to pick it up. They made a bit of a day of it, including lunch out, so I was "home alone".  While they were gone, I heard someone outside the boat yelling, "Ahoy Sunset Delight!" I went out to investigate and got quite a surprise. 

Friends, Barb and Roger (we met at Marlin Bay), with their dogs, Keezy and Reva, were pulled up next to our stern in their dinghy. Their trawler was at a mooring ball at the City Marina nearby. They saw our boat on Nebo and came looking for us. 

Roger, Barb, Reva (black / white), and Keezy (small dog)

They just stopped by to say hello, so it was a quick visit and then they were gone. We hope to see them again along the way or in NJ when we get home.

When Clark got back with Franklin and the new anchor, they immediately took it up to the bow to see if it would fit. If not, he would have to exchange it for the next size down. Fortunately it fit - just barely. 


Shiny new anchor on bow

I caught a picture of the sun just as it started to disappear this evening.




11 April 2025 - Friday  - no boat travel

With the amount of time we are spending in Vero Beach, Clark decided we should not make the stop near Satellite Beach / Cocoa Village that we normally make. He is worried about the weather getting too hot before we get out of the south. 

Our friends that we normally see there, Sandy and Bill, offered to drive to Vero Beach to see us and take us out and about for the day today. They arrived at 10:15 as promised, and we were on our way to unknown adventures. Sandy had plans, and I put in a request for a stop at the post office and also the food store before the end of the day.

Sandy and Bill moved from one condo to another at the end of March. Consequently, Sandy wanted to visit a couple of thrift / consignment furniture stores in Vero Beach. We perused three of them in close proximity to one another. We always do something "unusual" with Sandy in charge. We had fun exploring the stores.

Clark found a picture he liked. We took a picture of the picture as we do not have room on board for a framed picture of that size. He has challenged me to produce something similar with my acrylic paints. 



While we were close to a post office, I stopped in and mailed the cards I had made to send to my grandkids for Easter. I sent out 8 cards, below is a sample. I made them so that it is up to the kids to color the cards.


"Thumper"




Afterwards, Sandy drove us to a restaurant for lunch. She had a specific place in mind that turned out to be further away than she remembered, so it was a bit of a drive up "Jimmy Buffet Highway".

The Old Fish House Bar & Grill


After lunch, Sandy said we needed to go check out the Bikers' Jewelry store, "Sanity Jewelry",  next door.






The inventory was unusual and interesting. 




Jewelry


Bandanas and "Wife Beaters"

After lunch and the biker store visit, Sandy drove us back to the boat with a stop at Publix along the way. She needed some bottled water as Melbourne declared a "don't drink the water" warning as we were out and about. She did her shopping while I did mine, and the guys stayed in the car and talked while we were busy. 

They had us back at the boat before 4:00. Cathy was still away in Charleston, SC, but Franklin came over to visit. Even though we had been out for lunch, we decided to go out for dinner tonight. We visited a restaurant just down the road from where we are staying.




We arrived at the restaurant about 6:45. They said we would have a 35 minute wait which ended up being closer to an hour until they had a table for us. The restaurant had a country / rock band that was tremendously loud. We wanted outside seating, due to the volume of the band, which was limited and resulted in our long wait for a table. 

Even sitting outside the band was almost too loud for a conversation. The place is obviously popular, and a lot of people were standing at the bar attached to the dock rail to enjoy the view with their drinks.

Sunset at the Riverside Café 

After dinner, Franklin drove us to Kilwins for ice cream. Yummy!




Parked in front of Kilwins we saw an unusually decorated Jeep, and Clark pushed me to grab a picture.

Hippie Jeep - Check out the eyelashes!

Across the street from Kilwins is a city park. We walked through the park to get a view of the ocean and beach as we enjoyed our sweet treats. Everything was lit with red lights so as not to disturb the turtles nesting in the area.

As Franklin was driving us back "home" to the boat, he remembered that Clark had mentioned an interest in Royal Palm Pointe, so before dropping us off he took us there to look around. Again, it was dark. The park closes at 10:00 p.m. and we arrived about 9:40. I was slightly concerned about getting locked in the park after hours!

Besides a splash pad that was not operating when we were there and a variety of shops and businesses closed due to the late hour, Clark found some interesting artwork and mosaics as we walked around. He took the pictures which turned out quite well considering we were in almost total darkness.

turtle statue


Dolphin Mosaic


Turtle Mosaic


Alligator Mosaic

We left before the 10:00 closing deadline, and Franklin dropped us off for the night back at the boat. What a busy day!

12 April 2025

Yesterday must have worn us out because when we woke up this morning, the clock showed the time as 9:45! What!? We had no specific plans for the day, so no worries! Clark played a little guitar to start the day.

I had a card to mail to England and needed to go to the post office for postage. One is located nearby, so I asked Clark to ride there with me on our bikes. The ride there is short, but it was rush hour at the post office since it closed at noon. Clark waited outside with the bikes. When I saw the line inside, I went back and yelled out to him, "About 15 people in line in front of me!" so he would know it would be a while. 

It took forever, and Clark had the worst of it. I struck up a conversation with the woman in front of me and passed the time chatting with her about her newly broken wrist and pickleball where she broke her wrist! Finally at 11:45 I came out to find Clark melting in the sun. Poor thing! 

Our host, Don, said he needed to go to Publix and agreed to wait until we got back from the post office to make the trip so we could tag along. So, as soon as we got back from the post office, we jumped in the car with him. I forgot to buy Clark some cookies when I went shopping with Sandy, so that was all I needed from Publix. I also begged a quick stop at CVS for something I needed there. Altogether, it was a very short outing!

Once back on the boat, I made lunch and then settled in to read or do whatever. We got a surprise phone call from Franklin. He remembered that I had mentioned the Arts and Crafts Expo being held at the Vero Beach County Fairgrounds. He offered to take us to have a look around. No way I would pass up that offer!

We had fun wandering around the booths. I mostly kept my wallet in my pocket, but I did end up buying gifts for my grandkids before we left there. 


Franklin and Ev


Ev and Clark

The art and crafts at this Expo were much nicer than many I have attended elsewhere including those held in the Florida Keys.

It was a windy day that really did a nice job for this exhibit!




Lots of interesting pieces of art.

Carved Wood like this "Mahi Mahi"


Other wood carvings

Franklin was interested in the objects shown below until he learned they rust when near ocean air.


I was busy looking for craft ideas for when the kids visit in the summer. The bead work below was interesting. I took a picture to remind me of what I saw.


They had a live band playing.



One place had a lot of ceramic objects. 



Some interesting paintings were on display. Only one place said "No Pictures" otherwise I took photos but tried not to be obvious about it.

I really like this picture!

Clark saw a sign he liked at the honey booth. 


"Bee Kind or Buzz Off"

Clark saw some ants that caught his attention as they wiggled in the wind.



Besides the Arts & Crafts Expo, a "Home Show" was also underway. Clark wanted to walk through the building to see what they had to offer. He came away grumbling about "Snake Oil Salesmen". I tried to tell him what to expect, but he had to see for himself!

Franklin dropped us off and decided not to stay for a visit this evening.  There was some discussion about what to do for dinner. Ultimately, we all decided to "do our own thing". Having eaten out for both lunch and dinner yesterday, I was ready for home-cooked and simple and, for me, Not Fish!

Later, we watched the movie "Blind Dating" which we both enjoyed - a love story with a different-than-usual plot.

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