Day 197: Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Port to Port: Vero Beach to Indian Harbor Beach, Florida

Underway: 7:40 am      Motor Off: 2:40 pm      Miles Traveled: 38      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First time being swarmed by some type of black fly – they didn’t bite and they were really slow (easy to kill) but very annoying; first time making perfect blueberry muffins in the camp oven.

Mile 952 to Mile 914: The weather forecast for today was for a 70% chance of rain and maybe thunderstorms in the afternoon. We agonized over weather to stay or go. We don’t mind rain but would rather avoid thunderstorms while underway. I looked at the weather radar and it looked like the weather was going well north and south of us so we decided to chance it and go. Well, it turned out to be a perfect day to travel – sail assist on a beam reach, hazy sunshine, no traffic, regular dolphin visits, no storms and perfectly baked blueberry muffins to start off the morning. Can’t get much more perfect than that.

The day passed quickly even though we traveled a lot of miles. I even had time to read – I’m engrossed in a book by a Vietnam vet called “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” (thanks Bill, I’m making slow progress through your gifted books). It is a detailed account of one of the first major battles in Vietnam where we were testing a new helicopter based approach to moving men into battle and the Vietnamese wanted to test their tactics against US fighters. It is a graphic minute by minute account of the multiday battle for some random bit of land. Suffice it to say that a year of the “hardships” we have to deal with on our little boat doesn’t compare to a minute of what these young men went through in this and any other battle of this horrible war.

We turned up the channel to Indian Harbor and anchored near shore by several other sailboats anchored nearby. The forecast weather never materialized but we did get some wind and chop after sunset but we were securely anchored and tired so we were soon sound asleep.