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.
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.
