Stuart to Vero Beach

We were up very early - 7:30AM - and underway by 9:15AM. Our target was Vero Beach, about 45 ICW miles away. This was a modest target, but whose in a hurry?

The last two nights we have enjoyed a couple of farewell dinners. Monday night we invited a couple of Anglo-Canadians for burgers. They were a fun couple, we managed to empty my new bottle of Tequila. Everyone except Deidre had a headache Tuesday morning. Last night we went "out" to the marina restaurant with Steve and Diane - Steve has been helping me work on Tide Hiker but refusing to take payment.

Anyway, we were off at the crack of dawn plus 3 hours. Tide Hiker ran like a dream, settled on 1650 RPM which resulted in about 8 MPH. Was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky, nice westerly breeze about 5MPH.  Not much happened in the 6 hour transit - which is why it was so perfect.

Our navigational issues have settled down, although are not totally resolved. The Chart Plotter now works OK (thanks Steve) at least on the bridge. In the Pilot House the screen is all "white and yellow" which means you cannot distinguish much, but on the bridge it is OK. I have also purchased an "ap" for the iPad that works like a charm - all for $5.99! The computer in the RPH accesses a website called "Active Captain" and all its needs now is GPS - we have purchased a GPS puck, just waiting to be installed. And there is always the paper charts..... Lots to learn in a hurry.

Today I learned how to use the Auto Pilot! It is quite demanding - one points the boat, hits the "GO" button and then just relax. Today I read most of this week's TIME magazine while piloting. My only complaint is that the "add or take off a few degrees button" is just out of reach of my big toe, so I actually have to lean forward and use a finger.

Today for lunch we had a shrimp cocktail appetizer, followed by toasted bagels with ham, tomato and cheese, washed down with a young but tasty chilled Chardonnay. You think I am kidding, but I am not.

We also passed through our first lifting bridge. Apparently some lifting bridges open on a fixed schedule and some are on demand. Either way one has to call the attendant on the radio and request an opening. Some "bridge tenders" are friendly and some are just plain grumpy.

We are now settled in our anchorage in Vero. The truth is we are attached to a mooring ball. It will cost us $15 but its "worry  free" and we think we will stay 2 nights. We have launched the dinghy (so we could "double up" on the lines to the ball in case there is a hurricane tonight) and it is now tethered behind Tide Hiker. Tomorrow we will go into town and stir things up!

Launching the dinghy was also quite a learning experience. There was a bit of shouting and a few "oh shits" but basically it worked OK. More routines to figure out.

Thursday April 5th

We had launched the dinghy the night before so we were ready to head for town this morning. Took us a few tries to find the dinghy dock, but we made it to shore and then shuttle bus, and by 11 AM we were down town. Vero Beach is a pleasant and well cared for but typical Florida vacation beach town. We wandered along the shops and then along the beach, eventually finding ourselves in a fun restaurant right on the beach. Breakfast was calling us, so we took a table on the veranda and enjoyed a very nice eggs and bacon type breakfast.

We are now back on the boat. We have many-many pages of "how to manage the boat" notes from a variety of sources, and we plan to enjoy a quiet afternoon compiling them into some sort of useful format on the computer.