We had a nice stay in Vero Beach with our friends from So Far So Good and Grace V. We also had the opportunity to meet a few more couples during our stay. We found the ocean side beach was easy to get to by dinghy. So we spent an afternoon at the beach. That was the first visit to a beach Hooray!
Vero Beach was great for provisioning the galley and shopping as we traveled on the free bus service that picked us up right the marina.

It truly feels like Florida now. The winds are warm, the sun shines most of the time, palm trees are flowing in the breeze and the no-see-ums are biting.

On Sunday, December 20, after waiting for the changing tide, there were sad goodbyes as we untied from the mooring ball and disconnected our lines from So Far So Good and headed south to Stuart. Grace V was gracious enough to take the lead with their 5' draft vs. our 6'6" draft. They let us know when it got shallow. As we took a right off of the ICW onto St. Lucie River (referred to as the Crossroads) we bumped on bottom. Grace V was ahead of us and their depth finder read 7' which should have been okay for us, however, our keel managed to find the sandy bottom. We believe we were a little too close to the red buoy. Interestedly, after we bumped Ron looked at the depth finder and it only read 8'. Ron believes it is because we went over it so quickly it did not have a chance to register the shallow spot. We found it curious to see a Sea Tow boat anchored just off the channel like it was waiting for someone to go a ground.

With the help of friends of Grace V, we were able to find a lovely anchorage in between the mooring field at Sunset Bay Marina and the shore. Our friend Gerry from Persephone came into the anchorage just after we got there. We hadn't seen him and Karen since Oriental, NC. It was great to see him again. Karen is in Maine with her family for the holidays so we may not get the opportunity to see her during this stop. Shortly, after we anchored Ron noticed some strange readings coming out of the battery monitor. This is the second time this issue has occurred in the last couple of weeks. The next day, Ron decided to tackle the battery monitor. He checked the fluids in the batteries and then the voltage. No issues there. Then he checked to see if any wires had come loose on the battery monitor when the wind generator was installed. No issue there. He then called Tech support at Xantrex where the monitor was purchased. After listening to the description of the problem, they suggested pulling the fuse to reset it. Wow, just like working with the cable box. They always tell you to unplug the box to reset it and then surprisingly it works. Presently, it seems to be working, but time will tell.

We have decided to stay in Stuart through Christmas. There is a pot luck dinner on Christmas day that we were invited to by our new friends Craig and Donna on the M/V Mighty Fine. We love our anchorage. It is free, we have a beautiful view, surrounded by friends, access to free water and free pump outs at your boat on Tuesdays. Life is good!