2025 April: Vero Beach one more time

 

Vero Beach Sunset

26 April 2025 - Saturday

Believing we would be leaving shortly, Anna made a farewell luncheon including the 6 of us - Anna, Don, Franklin, Cathy, Clark and myself. We gathered at 1:00, ate a lovely dinner, chatted away the afternoon, had "Martini Time"  at 5:00, and finally said goodnight as the sun started to set. 

Having hoped to hear  something about the dinghy all day, we were sadly disappointed. 

27 April 2025 - Sunday

Expecting nothing to happen on a Sunday, Clark suggested we once more make the trek down the street to the "Church By The Sea" Methodist church. Having enjoyed the Easter service, I was happy to go. 

"Church by the Sea"

Framed Music Piece on 
Wall of Church

Although not as busy as the Easter service with talented singers and musicians, the service today did not disappoint. The substitute minister, Gayla, said that where Easter Sunday is "High Sunday", the first Sunday after Easter is "Low Sunday". All the permanent ministers take time off after Easter to recover. 

Gayla said she had multiple requests to substitute as she is a retired Methodist minister. She chose this church since it is the one she attends when in Vero Beach. Her summer home is in North Carolina. She too added humor to her strong message. 

Today, we did not have a full choir, but we enjoyed the sound of an operatic soprano as she belted out the songs / hymns. We enjoyed a piano / trumpet duo that frustrated Clark because no one sang. He knew the song and the lyrics and wanted to join in. 

The main event for musical performances, however, came at the end of the service. After the Benediction, Gayla told us to be seated and walked out. Whereby the pianist gave us the performance of a lifetime! I could not capture a picture of his footwork during the playing of the music. His left foot was moving a mile a minute as his hands pounded out the tune. The arrangement was one he had improvised of "Holy Land", and it was simply amazing. In fact he got a standing ovation at the conclusion of the performance. 

Video Screen picture of 
M. D. Flores Improvisation of "Holy Land"

After exiting the church, Clark turned his phone off of "Airplane Mode" and found a message from the dinghy people. She told us to expect delivery of the dinghy tomorrow. More details on exact time would follow once she talked to the workman doing the repair.

Knowing that we had the rest of the day to do whatever we felt like, Clark suggested we walk into town for a look around. We took side streets and ended up looking at the beach near the Ocean Grill restaurant.

Yellow-flag day today
so people in the ocean

From there we decided to walk towards the park and see what we might see on the way there.

Mosaic of Tiles 
on wall of Ocean Grill

Before leaving Ocean Grill, I asked if Clark minded if I checked out the gift shop. They had pretty rings there that were inexpensive. I liked the look but felt they would never stand up to boating exposure, so I passed on that opportunity. 

Later, we passed by the Seaside Jewelry and Gallery store, and once again I popped my head in just for a look-see. I liked the art there - not so much the jewelry selection (most of which I could make myself).

The art displayed on the outside wall was eye-catching.

It inspired me to want to go do some acrylic painting of my own. 

From there we walked down the street towards the park. We stopped into a few clothing stores. I told Clark I could use new shirts but nothing that says "Vero Beach" as I already have three of those! We did not find anything of interest in our wanderings.

Finally we arrived at the park. I thought that two stones there decorated with sea creatures were interesting.

It is a very nice playground with covers over the equipment to protect the kiddies as they play.

We sat in the park enjoying a shaded bench for a while and then went to view the ocean.

Two men in lifeguard station
Yellow-flag warning flag flying

We stayed at the church after services to partake of conversation and cookies. We got to sit with Gayla and friends of hers visiting from North Carolina. When we sat down, the visitors outnumbered the regulars at that table. As we were walking into town, I asked Clark about getting lunch. He told me he was too full from the blueberry muffin he ate to even think about it. 

Now, as we left the park, I noted that it was after noon and once more asked, "What about stopping at a restaurant?" He acquiesced and suggested we go to Nino's Café since we liked the food last time. We agreed we were not hungry enough for pizza and would find something else from the menu. I ordered a salad. He ordered the eggplant sub - big enough to feed me three meals. He ate it all! So much for that blueberry muffin filling him up!

Having had a lovely look around town followed by lunch, it was time to head back to the boat. Clark took us "home" via the shady sides of the streets. As we walked along, I got to find more treasures for the blog - Murals!

Even the doors had murals!

Prettiest entryway to a 
restroom ever!

I convinced Clark to finish the walk "home" via the boardwalk where we had bright sun but with a lovely ocean breeze. I told him my legs felt rubbery from our walk, and he tried to find shortcuts to get us back sooner. I told him "forget it! I'm crossing the highway at the traffic light!" It is unsafe to cross elsewhere. I have tried it and scared myself!

It was still early in the day when we arrived back at the boat. I decided that doing one more load of laundry and taking out the trash would be a good use of my time. As I carried the basket of clean laundry back to the boat, I got a surprise. Clark, Cathy, and Franklin were sitting in the cockpit chatting. They had come to see us to say goodbye one last time. A short while later, Don walked down to join us, and we had a little docktails party.

28 April 2025

We woke up this morning anticipating receipt of the dinghy. Clark did the engine checks and packaged up the equipment he needed to bring the dinghy back via Bethel Creek. He set up the crane ready to hoist the dinghy up into place as soon as he returned. Then, we sat and waited for word on when we would take possession of the dinghy.

As we waited and noon approached, Anna offered to heat up leftovers from Saturday's farewell dinner. I accepted the gracious offer and hoped that Clark would not have to run off in the middle of eating to collect the dinghy. 

Clark got a couple of text messages related to "doing final inspection". However, no one would give us a definite time. Then, sadly, we received a text saying that the dinghy could not be delivered today. The man assigned to the work had applied a sealant this morning that would take 24 hours to setup completely. What a let down! 

They committed to a delivery on Tuesday but would have to work out the schedule with the dinghy delivery person. We finally heard that we could expect the dinghy to be delivered at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday. 

We let Cathy and Franklin know that we were "stuck" in Vero Beach for yet another night, so they came over to join us with Anna and Don for a pizza dinner tonight. 

We have certainly enjoyed Vero Beach and the company has been wonderful, but we are beyond ready to leave here and make our way home. They promised the dinghy in a week to 10 days. Tomorrow makes three weeks! I have done last provisioning, last emptying of garbage, etc. too many times to count now!