We left the anchorage near Daytona Beach the following morning, getting glimpses of the Kennedy Space Center in the distance as we approached our next anchorage near Titusville. We departed the next morning, traveling 46 miles, to an anchorage with two other boats behind one of the spoil islands near ICW mile 925. The following day, with no rain in the forecast, we watched as a very dark sky approached from behind us; about a half hour of light rain sprinkled on us ~ we were spared the worst as most of it was east and west of us; fortunately we had gotten prepared as we saw the sky looking dim, and again we were fortunate in that it passed by shortly before our arrival in the early afternoon on Sunday, December 5th at Vero Beach Municipal Marina.

Vero Beach is a place that is notorious for boaters getting "stuck" at. (I do not think the velcro effect has taken hold of us.) We were assigned mooring ball #14; when we motored through the mooring field, seeing numbers clearly on balls, except #14, we radioed to the office again and were directed to the ball with the employee shouting instructions from the dock since it was so close to the docks; the boat to raft up to on the ball already was s/v Searcher. Fortunately (again), Steve and his dog Danny were just returning to s/v Searcher via dinghy as we were arriving; so, we called out to Steve from Grace and said we were going to be neighbors. He was delighted in our slow approach to his boat, and extremely helpful in getting Grace secured, during our first time rafting to another boat on a mooring ball. Later when we went ashore to check in at the office, we mentioned that the reason we could not find ball #14 was because the ball they directed us to has #1 on it; the employee said "yeah, I know"....duhhhhhh...wouldn't that be helpful to explain when the assignment is given???? That day is the only day so far that has been warm enough that we actually went to the beach, walked along the boardwalk, and got an ice cream. The pump out service here has been out of operation since before we arrived...hmffffff!

Kevin had a list of things he wanted to get done while we were here; so, within a day or so of arriving the tasks began to be accomplished. First was making adjustments to the pulleys for the new alternator we installed this fall. Next was purchasing a second solar panel (pictured above); we rented a car and spent some time in the Tampa area, which is where we purchased the panel; it was installed yesterday and we immediately began to see a boost in the battery charging. Today he completed the installation and did some routine engine maintenance while I got the laundry washed in anticipation of a departure soon.

Another first for the voyage happened here. One night while returning to Grace by dinghy, I pointed out something floating in the water that appeared to both of us as the same shape as a human head. It was a coconut floating in the water.

From the same place we bought the panel, we also purchased some sample LED replacement bulbs to try in our various types of light fixtures, then promptly placed an order for all the remaining fixtures once we knew they worked fine. That order should be here tomorrow. So, once those arrive and the water and groceries are re-supplied, we plan to be on our way further south. Stay tuned.