Once again the weather is the main focus. Wednesday and Thursday the forecast was for gale force winds and rain. With that forecast in mind we moved Tuesday from Ft. Pierce to the Vero Beach City Marina, 17 miles, where we stayed until Friday morning. With sunny skies and no wind Tuesday afternoon we walked over to the beach. It's amazing to see all the people, we got use to the Bahamas and their beautiful beaches and no people. We think we saw more people at the beach at Vero in one afternoon than we did at all the beaches that we visited in the Bahamas for the 2 months we were there.
Wednesday was supermarket overload! We hit both Publix and Walmart...it was so nice to buy fresh vegetables and fruits and variety! When I shopped in the Bahamas the romaine lettuce that just came in on the boat was already expired by 2 weeks and the cost for a 3 pack of romaine was anywhere from $5.50 - 8.00. Needless to say the refrigerator is now stocked and we even made it back to the boat before the downpour. The winds were reported at 25 mph with gusts to 35, glad we were secure at the dock. Some friends of ours were 50 miles north at Cocoa Beach and said there was zero visibility and hail along with the high winds and rain. The waves were forecasted to be 17' out in the gulf stream by Thursday. We walked over to the beach Thursday afternoon and it certainly was raging. You couldn't even walk the beach due to the surf almost touching the seawall.
Time to start heading north!
Friday morning it was still quite breezy, but the intracoastal only had a little chop so we headed north to Cocoa Beach, 55 miles and anchored in 8' with good holding at the NE side of the bridge. It looked like a few of the boats had been in the anchorage a long, long time. We were joined by about 10 other boats making their way along the ICW.
Along with the pelicans flying by we were treated to the sounds of the highway...we haven't heard sirens or traffic for a couple of months. It makes you realize how quiet and serene the islands we visited were.
We woke to a beautiful morning Saturday, the ICW was like a mirror as we made our way to Rockhouse Creek, by New Smyrna Beach, 59 miles. We anchored in 13', good holding along with 5 other boats. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to make a quick stop at Mosquito Lagoon on our way to the anchorage, drop the dinghy and go over to the Canaveral National Seashore. The seashore harbors more sea turtle nests than any other national park, the nesting season is May - October. The sand there is composed of crushed coquina shells and was a much deeper brown than we have seen at other beaches and larger grained in comparison to the flour/sugar white sand beaches.
Another beautiful morning on Sunday had us traveling 64 miles to St. Augustine and grabbing a mooring ball. After we checked in we walked the dock and saw a group of people on a Sea Ray, Branch Office, from Alexandria Bay, NY, our favorite cruising ground...the 1000 Islands. We also noticed they had a looper flag so we had to stop to say hi. Next thing you know we are enjoying "boat tails" with 3 couples currently doing the loop. The marina and mooring fields are full of looper boats and it would be great to meet them all but...the rains have descended upon us...we will be here until the rains stop...Tuesday? Wednesday?
Vero Beach on Tuesday - lots of families and spring breakers
By Thursday the ocean was raging
If only the water could be this flat everyday
Canaveral National Seashore - the birds kept us
amused as they would run away from the waves
So many small beaches on islands - just pull up and enjoy!
Back in Florida and seeing derelict and abandoned boats again
Dinner at O.C. White's in St. Augustine
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