Day 195: Monday, March 18, 2013
Port to Port: Fort Pierce, Florida to Vero Beach, Florida
Underway: 8:08 am Motor Off: 11:25 pm Miles Traveled: 15 Stayed At: Mooring
First Things First: First time in a long time we didn’t travel east during the day.
Mile to Mile: After some spotty drips overnight (5 minutes here and 5 minutes there), we awoke to a partly cloudy sunrise and calm winds. Our little cove was a perfect spot to anchor overnight. We have a short day today – only about 15 miles straight north to Vero Beach. People seem to like it so much it’s nickname is “Velcro Beach” since people tend to stay much longer than expected.
We had great cruising conditions again this morning. A steady breeze from the south motivated us to raise the mainsail to get a little wind assist and we were cruising at a little over 5.5 mph against the current. Except for a handful of fishing boats, a couple of cruisers that were very courteous, and several larger sailboats, we had the intracoastal all to ourselves. These short days seem to take longer that the really long days. We are mentally prepared for the long treks and feel a sense of accomplishment when we are done. These short days kind of mess with our natural rhythm. We made it to Vero Beach before noon.
One problem we have when we spend a lot of time at anchor or on a mooring is low battery power. If we travel 30+ miles per day, Boris does a good job keeping the two batteries charged. We have been disconnected from shore power since we left Fort Myers 9 days ago. I’m actually pretty impressed we can keep things going for so long. We may have to conserve for a few days till we can motor the 35 miles to Melbourne. We are also looking into a small flexible solar panel to give us a little reserve power if we need it.
After we tied up to a mooring ball, ate lunch and took showers, we walked toward the Atlantic Ocean. This part of Vero Beach is very upscale. The first places we saw were 3 or 4 offices for banking and wealth management services. The beach side is packed with higher end condos and hotels but we finally found a public access to the beach. The beach is much different here that on the Gulf side – bigger, breaking waves, no shells, less beach, clean, green water and much coarser sand. Not bad – just different. Since it was windy and a little overcast, only a handful of people were on the beach and not a spring breaker in sight. We will have to try out the free bus service that stops at the marina to get a better idea of what kind of services are available around here.
In Passing: Big Starvation Point, Blue Hole Point, Mangrove Island, Boot Toe Point, Coon Island, Wildcat Cove