Vero Beach, FL mooring field (17 days--yikes!)

Hey cruisers. Where was this pic taken?  Yep, the bus stop in front of Publix!

Vero Beach, FL is commonly known to cruisers as "Velcro", because some cruisers stop here and never leave. They have inexpensive mooring balls (soft-sided--yeah! $15/day), a free local bus, and everything you need on the "Magnificent Mile" (definitely not the Chicago version!)--Publix grocery store, Fresh Market grocery store, West Marine, two! liquor stores, bank, pet store, coffee shop. What have we been doing?  Most importantly, getting the cat her Bahamian paperwork, which was a whole separate blog post.  Playing with our Iridium satellite communicator before we go offshore--(which will be another whole blog post when I get it working).  Reprovisioning for the Bahamas, since beer and paper products are expensive there.  There is currently a competition to see who can buy more. (I'm hearing 14 cases and over 62 rolls from a to-remain-unnamed-boat. Dang it! Back to the store). 

Mulligan's on the beach

Here's a breakdown of our activities:

Bar, Amazon Prime shopping. Grocery store, West Marine, vet, grocery store, pet store, liquor store. Grocery store, ATM, vet. Guests, grocery store. Mall to a movie. Grocery store, bar. Bank, West Marine, vet, BAR!  Friends over for happy hour. Grocery store. Over to Kelly Nicole for happy hour. Another Amazon shipment, West Marine and more beer--thanks, P!  Two buses to Target, Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond--no more busses!  You get the gist. 

A pilot I used to fly with from my charter days brought his family to visit, including the grandkids. Since we were on a mooring, it took two trips in the dinghy to get everyone out to the boat.  They were our first "non-boatey" visitors.  I think the kids were most impressed with the dinghy ride and The Captain producing grape juice. They got some great pics and asked lots of great questions that I'll incorporate into future blogs. 

It was a full, double rainbow!

Someone told me they didn't pick up the mooring next to us because we had a generator on deck. Good to know. We'll leave it there.  And put some laundry out on the lifelines. Maybe get a little yippy dog (or the recording of a little yippy dog).  Yeah, move along. I hear it's better in the north mooring field anyway. 

We did get to spend some time with the crew of s/v Kelly Nicole (friends of friends and fellow Brunswick Landing Marina alumni). They were in the process of having some work done, so they kept us entertained with "You won't believe what happened next," and we helped consume moderate quantities of alcohol to ease their pain. (We probably shouldn't have abandoned them before they got the bill). We also toured the Piper Factory (1 Lear pilot, 1 mechanic/King Air pilot/former Malibu pilot, 2 engineers.  The Captain had a separate tour going in the back. They probably shouldn't have they let us in. Then again, sometimes the tour guide circled back around to hang out with us).  Trivia:  They produce 2.5 planes/week (compared to 16/day in the 70's & 80's). The planes are still mostly assembled by hand. 90% of the Seminoles and Cherokees go to flight schools. A majority of the Seneca's go to Brazil. There is 5000 ft of wiring in a Malibu/Meridian (I wish I could have taken a picture of the wiring harness panels!). They have approx 130,000 different parts in stock for current production airplanes. Just the Pratt engine on a Meridian is $450,000.  

Can you see my reflection in the hull of m/y Divemaster?  One of those anchors cost more than our boat!

We were going to leave for an anchorage. Then decided to stay for a Publix run. I was informed the Captain is out of beer. Maybe a West Marine run. And the liquor store again. Then might as well stay for the pump out boat on Tues. Now it's a Tropical Storm. "Velcroed"