Sailing Sirius

We have been in Vero Beach for about 10 days now. It is affectionately known as Velcro Beach b/c some boats get stuck here for quite awhile due to weather or other factors. We are waiting for a fresh water pump for our 30 year old Westerbeke engine. We are now well provisioned for the Bahamas after renting a car for 2 days and doing major shops at Walmart, SAMs Club, and Publix grocery. Don't forget the ABC Liquor store.

We connected with several boats from our last trip and enjoying catching up. Some are full time live aboard and some like us are part time. Everyone anxious for that weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

We saw today that the mountains are getting the first big snow of the season and the Denver area will also get snow and cold. It had been cool, cloudy and rainy here but today we had a warm, sunny afternoon. So we took the dingy a short was to a waterside restaurant for happy hour drinks and dinner. Looking forward to 80 degrees tomorrow and the delivery of new cockpit cushions. Life is good.

Update: spent 18 days at Vero - the most ever for us. Enjoyed a wonderful cruiser Thanksgiving. Turkeys and hams are provided by CLODs (cruisers living on dirt) and the cruisers bring side dishes. There were over 100 folks there. There was live music by some of the cruisers after dinner. A good time was had by all.

We were in Vero so long mostly due to discovering that we needed a new raw water pump for our engine. Our engine is a 30 year old Westerbeke (made in England) that is no longer made. We had to enlist help from our old friends at Hartge boat yard in Galesville, MD to help us locate one. In the meantime, we enjoyed some down time in Vero including attending a comedy show at the local theater. If you have to be stuck waiting for parts, Vero is not a bad place to be. Did I mention they have free buses that take you pretty much anywhere you need to go?