Last night we stayed in Palm Beach at the City Docks. What a nice stop! Lovely park and lots of expensive shops to look at. Maybe on our way north we'll stop there again for longer. Today we are taking the ICW south to Ft. Lauderdale and then tonight we will get serious about making a decision on going over to the Bahamas. It appears that we will need to go within the next 3 days or so, or wait another week 'till a new northerly gets through the area. Today the Palm Beach newspaper had a page one headline--"Florida Leads Nation in Foreclosures." Based on what we have seen along the waterway, that seems quite true. Almost none of the huge homes (most are huge--a very few are of an average size) have people or signs of life in them. Of course, some of that may be that folks from up north don't come down to Florida until after Thanksgiving. However, there are a lot of "FOR SALE" signs in front of a lot of houses. Some of the signs are very small and discreet, and some are large and easily seen. If you want to move to Florida, now might be the time to find a real deal.
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Since we need to wait for a good weather window, we decided to explore some places we haven't seen before. Manatee Pocket is a little piece of water off the St. Lucie River, and is a lovely spot. At the end of the "pocket" is the small town of Port Salerno, which we plan to explore by bike this afternoon. The marina we are staying in is part of a gated community of lovely homes and lots and lots of boats. Most of the boats around here are sport fisherman, but this marina also has its share of sailboats. The other good thing about this spot is that right next door (by water) there is a mrina with a mechanic who specializes in Yamaha motors---and our dinghy motor has decided to become unreliable. It did the same thing--starting but then stopping when it was put into gear or slowed down--in Maine before we left, but it was (supposedly) fixed. After using it for one day in Vero Beach, it started acting up again. With any luck, we'll get it fixed here, and won't have to buy a new one. One thing is for sure, though---a reliable dinghy is necessary in the Bahamas.
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Known among cruisers as "Velcro Beach" because once a boat is here, it is so hard to leave, Vero truly is a great stop. There is a free bus to the stores and shops in town, nice restaurants, a HUGE dog park (actually it is just on the other side of the mangroves behind us--Baxter and Carrie love watching the dogs over there), and it has protected inexpensive city moorings. Nearby is a large city park, and an impressive, though small, art museum. Today's photo is of a sculpture on the lawn of the museum. Entitled "The Trial", it is guaranteed to make you smile. Clearly the cat is guilty!
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On a lagoon at the nearby park, we came upon this lovely scene.
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While everyone up north waits for the end of IDA, we wait for a weather window for the Gulf Stream.. Yesterday we had a very fast trip to Vero from Cocoa, due to a nice northerly breeze that had us going 7-8 knots with only a bit of jib up. Last night we were at a slip here at the city marina, and today we moved to a mooring. Tonight we'll go to dinner at the Vero Beach Yacht club, which is right here and supposed to have a fabulous chef. We plan to stay again tomorrow and go into town for some errands and shopping. On Sunday we'll head out, only going as far as Stuart and will probably stay there a couple of days. The issues are two--when will the weather cooperate (no northerly winds churning up the Gulf Stream which today has 8 foot waves--not good) and where we want to leave from (Lake Worth or Fort Lauderdale). As soon as there is an answer to the first issue, we'll figure out the answer to the second.
In the meantime, here's a view of the mangroves just behind the boat.
Oh, if you haven't checked out the gallery which is available to the right of the blog, you might enjoy it. Just clicking on a photo tells you what/where it is.
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