Vero Beach (also known as Velcro Beach) has us "stuck"

We waited until the sun was up before leaving Cocoa.

The trip from Cocoa to Vero Beach was a little shorter than the trip from Daytona, so we were comfortable putting off our departure until 8 am.  The day was still chilly, but the sun made intermittent appearances and the breeze was still from the north so we were able to use the jenny and for the first time in a long time we used our whisker pole to keep the jenny full.

Ragtime led the way all day. ....including passing under the bridge just past the
channel for the Vero Beach Municipal Marina.  Just as we called him on the
radio he got a text from his son (who was obviously hard at work) saying,
"Hey Dad, you missed your exit!"  Reminded us of some of Sam's "lurking"
experiences in the past!

We had called ahead and were told there weren't any open moorings, but by the time we got to Vero, we were assigned to #57 at the northern most spot in the mooring field,   We were moored by 4 pm.

Ragtime hadn't used their dinghy for quite a while and were unhappy to find out that their engine kept stalling when they tried to head into the marine office to check in.  After some research and wheeling and dealing Gerry found a good deal on a 4 stroke Honda 9.9 from a dealer in Port St. Lucie who delivered the engine today!

The New Engine!

The weather forecast predicted rain so we are hanging here until at least Saturday. We rode the free city bus into the shopping mall yesterday and then took it the other direction today and checked out the beach.  Rain held off until this afternoon, but it didn't stop the rowing practice!  Would you believe a 24 man shell!?!?  It went by several times, they seemed to be right in sync in the beginning but a little less in sync on the way back.  

After watching these rowers go by I am amazed that pelicans don't "catch a crab" as they skim over the water...

Low flyer.

We were encouraged to see that the solar panels can actually put a few amps back into the batteries when the sun is actually shining...now we just need some sun!  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Second long day. We're at Cocoa Village Marina

Ragtine & Brunelle are back together again.

It was another 7 am start this morning.
We stopped at the fuel dock and filled 
up before heading out.

Unfortunately we didn't have the current with us until after we passed the Ponce Inlet, but we still made just under 60 nm and arrived at the marina just after 4 pm. The wind was behind us all day, so we rolled out the jib when we could and got a little boost.

We had originally planned to take a mooring in Titusville, but as we were moving well we decided to push on to Cocoa Beach.  There was a method to our madness, today was sunny, but COLD and with the forecast for a clear night we knew temps would be really low.  We are happily plugged in and cozy tonight.

We walked into town and had a yummy pizza at Ryan's. The  marina dockmaster had recommended it.  He must have spread the word to everyone in town.  It was amazingly crowded for a Monday night.

Dan really likes this lighthouse at Ponce Inlet.  I must agree it is a pretty one.

Finally a gratuitous porpoise shot.  We have started seeing more of them.  We hardly saw any back in the fall.

Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer and we won't have quite as early a start. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

We're back! St. Augustine and heading south...

I apologize, I was so out of practice I went to bed last night without even thinking about chronicling our adventures since mid November!  Quick synopsis:  drove home from St. A in time to drive even further north to celebrate Thanksgiving at Sam and Jess's in NH.  Great to see everyone and to meet the newest member of our extended family, Anna Robinson Forbes.  She is just adorable and had all the cousins cooing and cradling, not to mention the rest of us!

When we headed off in October, there were 5 boats, 4 Catalinas from CCYC and 1 Tartan 43.  Attrition was high!  There are only two of us still heading south!  We were glad to see everyone at the CCYC Christmas party and got a picture of the original 4.  Unfortunately Pekabu III had to bail due to Pete's mom's medical issues and Sevilla had to bail due to Sevilla's non-medical issues. We lost the Tartan when her propeller fell off!

Maureen, Martha, Dan, Jeanne, Gerry, Pete
Glen & Kathy

We enjoyed an abbreviated Blissmas (sorry no Bliss boys could make it home to join us) and  went to Philly for Christmas.  Julie and Mike surprised us with a LARGE print-on-canvas of the whole clan from or 2015 Rock Hall version of Camp PaHaGaCo!  It now hangs on the forward bulkhead in the main salon and reminds us daily of how lucky we are!

A mostly tie-dyed group on the deck in Rock Hall

We found that Hertz has the cheapest one-way rentals and headed back to the boat soon after Christmas.  We had too much "stuff" and Dory... so we couldn't fly.  

The whole time we were home we kept getting reports from Dan's brother Jay about his battle with a RAT that decided to move in when we headed home!  It took him three weeks and every trap and plan he could devise!! and he finally announced "Burial at sea" and we hoped our troubles were over.  We found evidence of his residency in places we wouldn't have considered as we got back aboard and started putting things away.  We think we (and Dory) are free and clear at the moment, but after one night aboard Dory had quite a case of fleas!  She's been triple treated, first by me, then the vet and finally by the groomer, and seems to be flea free as does Brunelle.  Unfortunately for her we decided to get her Bahama cut (easy to rinse after swimming in salt water) too soon and TOO short.  We barely recognized her when we picked her up from the groomer.

As you can see, she was less than thrilled with the whole experience!

We had left St. Augustine right before the turning on of their holiday lights, so we were glad to see they were still shining when we returned.  We even had a very festive neighbor at Camachee Cove Marina.

I love how clear the reflection is!  One of the few calm nights we have had since returning to FL.

There were several projects to work on and lots of iffy weather forecasts, so we didn't get away from St. Augustine until Sunday morning January 10th.  We also had reports from Gerry and Jeanne about their experience running aground in the middle of the channel as they passed by the Matanzas Inlet a few hours south of St. A, so we wanted to be sure to go through on a rising and almost high tide. That added a few more days of waiting!  We left the dock at 7 am, made the 7:30 opening at the Bridge of Lions and were on our way.  We called Jay and Pegg and Pegg was up and dressed and came out and snapped pix as we circled on the north side and then headed off to the south.

You can see that we still have our running lights on as we waited in front of the towering cross near the fort.
Bottom right we are heading south toward the Rt. 312 bridge.

We had the current with us for most of the day and were able to average over 7 knots as we headed for Daytona and Halifax Harbor Marina to meet up with Ragtime.  We arrived a little after 2 pm and had time to settle in before having a shared dinner aboard Brunelle. ~~~_/)~~~M&D