Vero Beach, better known to cruisers as "Velcro Beach" has a snug mooring field between the islands off the Indian River with good protection from all points of the compass. That was great for us as our intention was to enjoy the 80degree weather while it snowed in Virginia and benefit from the protection as strong winds blew through Florida from all sides as the cold fronts blew through here.
We planned to spend a week here, then start back to the north, but each time we planned to leave it seemed another front was coming through. Ultimately we stayed for 12 days.
Its easy to see why so many boaters end up staying at Vero for so long. It has most all the advantages that cruisers seek. The only missing item is crystal clear waters like the Bahamas, but the beaches still have much to offer.
Its a short walk (20 minutes) to the beach and the many restaurants along the ocean front and a doable walk (45 mins) to the nearest shopping center with Publix. Normally, cruisers also jump on the local free bus service that stops at the marina and all the key places one might go but, with COVID still prevalent, especially in Florida, we stayed off the "COVID Bus" as it was called by the cruisers.
We had hoped to watch another Space-X launch from Cocoa or the Banana River but they kept being postponed. Finally, the next rocket went and we could clearly see it from 50 miles south at Vero. It was another night launch and lit up the sky to the north. With a brisk south wind we never heard any roar from the rocket but had a good view of the full first stage burn and shut down and second stage light off.
There are two more launches scheduled for Feb, so we hope to watch them also.
The trip has been going fine without any problems yet with the boat so the Captain is very happy. The First Mate is super thrilled and declared the trip a great success when she spied an "air plant" along one of our walks to the beach. The next day she scored another one adding to the success. I have to admit they are easy to take care of and cant really mess anything up by tipping over in heavy weather.
Mission accomplished - to avoid the cold Virginia winter. Today was the warmest yet here with a high of 86 outside. The 94 temp was in our cockpit with the enclosure closed up in the sun. It quickly cooled down to the 80s once we opened up.
The cold front that brought ice and snow to VA brought the temps down here into the mid 70s and 60s at night which is perfect. Its already time for us to start slowly heading north so we'll leave tomorrow. Right now the plan is to leave the boat in Daytona Beach in a couple weeks for us to head home and do our taxes. That gives us plenty of time to head back to Cocoa Village and New Smyrna and enjoy our trip north.
