Vero Beach 11-21 Feb

 

   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.

Banana River 5-10 Feb

    There was some strong southerly winds forecast and our anchorage at Cocoa Village was exposed to the south, so it was time to move further on down the road and, maybe it would be even warmer.

   We were heading for Vero Beach but the southerly winds had already come up strong so we started looking for an earlier spot to stop. North of Melbourne and off to the left was the entrance to the Banana River which looked like it would provide good protection.

   Guarding the entrance to the Banana River used to be a large concrete dragon. Today it is just a large concrete mess after multiple hurricanes. We read up on it and it seems it was destroyed around 2001 by storms and despite several initiatives by millionaires and the community to rebuild, it is still in ruins today.

   We headed up the Banana River and through the Mathers Bridge to a small anchorage area just north of the bridge. That provided us good protection from 3 sides, all except due North. We were all set for the winds over the next several days. We ended up staying here for 5 days.

   There was a public park near the bridge where the local high school keeps their rowing shells. We were able to land our dinghy there, keeping careful to not get in the way of the shell launching area.

   From the park there was a nice 5 mile walk around the block which passed by Starbucks, Panera Bread, Publix and some other shops. Also a nice park with lots of doggy bags to replenish our supplies each day as Rivah went through multiple bags per day.

  For those interested in Florida ocean-front property, this lot is for sale. Yes, it is only about 15feet wide, but quite long and goes all the way to the beach. Great place for a Tiny House.

   The Banana River did turn out to be a great place to sit out some bad weather. 

  But after a few days the winds were forecasted to move to the north where we were exposed, so time to move on. Also, we needed to refuel and replenish our water so it was time to head to Vero Beach.

Cocoa Village 29 Jan - 4 Feb

    Next stop heading south is Cocoa Village.

   Just down the ICW from Titusville is the small village of Cocoa along the west side of the ICW. While Cocoa Beach (8 miles to the east along the coast) is quite well known, the small village of Cocoa on the ICW is a hidden gem. 

   Cocoa Village has just completed refurbishing the city public docks following damage during recent hurricanes. There is now a long floating dock with room for 4-5 boats to tie up. Free dockage is allowed for up to 48hrs.

   After our 48hrs at the dock were up, we moved out into the anchorage close by the public landing where we benefitted from the protection of the near shore to the northwesterly winds.

   The Cocoa anchorage provided an excellent vantage point to watch a night Space-X launch from Cape Canaveral. We watched the red fireball arc off into the eastern sky.

 While we were at Cocoa Village we were able to hook up with old friends from the past. Steve and Karen were also wintering in Florida and drove over from Orlando to spend an afternoon with us. 

  

   One of the great venues for spending an enjoyable afternoon was the Beer Garden just across the park from the boat landing. We had pretzels and beer and were entertained with some great German polkas and yodeling. 

   Another great spot was the Latin bar featuring delicious Cuban and Argentine dishes.   We will be heading back to this place on our return to the north.