I first discovered Vero Beach Municipal Marina 20 years ago while helping deliver a sailboat from the Chesapeake to Miami. After four days at sea, and four days of constant seasickness, we finally pulled in at Cape Canaveral and motored south to Vero Beach. The marina was like an oasis, lush and green, well kept, and the moorings were well protected from tropical storms. I remember it as being the highlight of the trip, and I vowed that someday I would be back. It took a while, but I'm finally here!
John Holland unhooks the boat while the forklift operators
decide how they will offload it.
John Holland towed the boat from the Chesapeake this past week, arriving at Fort Pierce, Florida, on Wednesday. The forklift operator put the boat on an outside maintenance rack where I did some cleaning and made some upgrades. I intend to keep the boat here at Taylor Creek Marina in indoor storage for the hurricane season which lasts from June through the end of November.
Solar panel on the cooler.
One of the upgrades was a solar panel mounted on top of the cooler. The wires run from the solar panel, through a deck fitting, to a charge controller mounted in the lazarette locker. Over the winter I had the marina in Maryland connect the two air-conditioner batteries in the lazarette to the house battery in the engine compartment. I never used the air-conditioner unless I was connected to shore power anyway, so the two batteries were just adding weight and taking up space. By connecting them to the house battery, my house storage capacity was tripled. The solar system should provide enough power to light my anchor light, run the bilge pump, and keep my laptop and iPhone charged. We will see if it all works to plan as I intend to stay at the slip in Vero Beach for a month without shore power.
Lil' Green Tug at the Vero Beach City Marina.
The two hour trip up the Indian River Lagoon was uneventful. The river is wide and scenic even though I needed to stay in the deep water confines of the Intracoastal Waterway channel.
After the busy weekend, I intend to ask the Harbormaster if I can keep my inflatable dinghy at the dinghy dock. I have a Maryland-style crab trap I'd like to set and check using the dinghy.
Mansions on the ICW north of Vero Beach Yesterday was blustery and chilly, with winds out of the north at a steady 17 knots. It was the day I decided to head north from the Vero Beach City Marina on the Indian River (also known as the Indian River Lagoon and forming a part of the Intracoastal Waterway) to Sebastian, Florida. It's a short, 14 mile trip. The charts show the channel meandering through mangrove islands, but just north of Vero Beach it passes by beautiful mansions on the barrier island to the east, estates you never see driving north on highway A1A past the high concrete and hedge fences, past the gated communities. There were several pods of porpoise, there were cormorants coming up in front of the boat with wiggling fish in their beaks which they flipped around until the head was pointing down their throats and then down-the-hatch so to speak, and a manatee, my first sighting of one. It was a dark grey hulk just below the surface. I'm not entirely sure that...
It's been a while since selling my Ranger Tug 21ec, "Lil' Green Tug", and then selling the Rosborough rf-246, "Blue Heron". I've been out of boating for a few years, but I'm buying a new boat--a sailboat. You can read about it at https://capedory28fellowshipii.blogspot.com/ .
My first night aboard, I twisted and turned, and couldn't sleep. I couldn't figure it out! I had lived aboard a sailboat for a year back on the Chesapeake Bay, and I was always comfortable, even with a fresh coat of snow on the deck and no heat. Around 3:00 in the morning, I got up and pulled my cargo shorts on and walked to the car. First stop--Walmart for a fluffy pillow and a foam mattress topper. Next stop--International House of Pancakes for some comfort food (I was really needing it!) Back to the boat at 5:00 in the morning (at that hour of the night there are absolutely no cars about in downtown Vero Beach!) and after a hot shower at the Marina facilities, I set about making my bedroom afloat comfortable. I cut the foam mattress to fit the v-berth and covered it with a sheet. Then I unzipped the sleeping bag and spread it out like a comforter. Lastly, I fluffed up the new pillow, kicked off my shoes and climbed back in bed. Ahh, the comfort. I slept soundly for four ...
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