Boatless in Vero

It was a long, cold winter in Indiana. My bedroom walls were covered with photographic prints of Lil' Green Tug anchored on the Patapsco River last summer, bobbing in the warm Chesapeake sun, while six inches of snow was falling outside my windows. But this will be my last dreary winter. I've made plans to bring the boat to Florida to live aboard next winter.

Vero Beach Municipal Marina
I got a fair price on uShip.com for towing the boat south, and it should be arriving in two weeks. I've already made my escape, arriving a few days ago at a condo community in Vero Beach. It was a sunny 81 degrees here today, 59 drizzly degrees back in Indiana.

Once the boat arrives at an indoor storage facility in Ft. Pierce, I'll give it a good cleaning and waxing, and install the solar panel on the Igloo cooler on the stern swim platform. Over the winter I had the marina in Pasadena, Maryland, connect the two air-conditioner batteries to the one house battery, tripling the house storage capacity. I never used the air-conditioner anyway except when connected to shore power, so the two batteries were just taking up space.

I figure I can stay anchored for about a month without needing to recharge the three group 27 house bank batteries. The single 20 watt solar panel will provide enough electricity to light the anchor light, keep my iPhone charged, play the stereo, and operate the bilge pump--definitely a minimalist lifestyle, but good enough for me.

Mooring Field at Vero Beach Municipal Marina
After some Spring outfitting in Ft. Pierce, I'm planning on motoring 14 miles north to the Vero Beach Municipal Marina. I'm hoping there will be an open mooring by then. Right now, all the mooring balls are occupied, some doubled up. I've already got my saltwater fishing license so I can do some blue crabbing in the mooring field. West Marine has just started carrying a blue crab trap, custom built to satisfy local state crabbing regulations, however there was no way to specify which state at checkout. I called to see if I could add "Florida" to my online order, but apparently it isn't possible. I'll visit the local West Marine to see if they carry one in stock.

It will be a short Spring cruising season before it gets too hot, before the love bugs come out in swarms (usually for a few weeks in April or May), and before hurricane season starts in June. Towards the end of May, I'll motor back to Ft. Pierce and put the boat back in hurricane-proof, indoor storage.

This adventure really won't start until next Fall when I take a slip in Florida for the winter season. Yippee! No more cold, dreary Midwest winters!

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