Bill wants to get some alterations done to our sails - not that we have used them in a long time. Our sail maker is in Stuart, FL a little south of where we are now. They will only take a day to fix what we need done so we needed to decide when to be there. We don't have many opportunities to have things shipped to us, so we take them when we can. Bill had ordered some things online that we haven't been able to find in the many West Marines we have visited so far in Florida. So we decided to stop in Vero Beach for a couple of days so we can get to the sail makers the same time our packages arrive there. It's not easy to anchor here so you have to take a mooring. It's really inexpensive though, and it comes with a lot of perks. There are showers and a laundry room and a bus that stops in the marina and takes you either to the beach or to shopping. There is also a social environment, something we have been short on for the past few weeks.

When we got here yesterday it was really warm. We put on shorts and T-shirts and we took the bus to the beach. We walked in the surf and it felt great. This was what we envisioned when we thought of Florida in January. Bill is always on the lookout for a place to eat breakfast. He found one across from the beach as the bus drove by it on our way back yesterday. We decided to walk there this morning. It was a great walk, and breakfast was OK too. Bill took the picture above of the beach before anyone was on it this morning.

When we got back to the dinghy dock someone pointed out that there was a Cruisers Happy Hour this afternoon at 4pm. We had heard a lot about them but since we aren't usually in a marina, or a place where lots of cruisers are, we hadn't gone to any. We spent the afternoon doing our laundry and showering and then headed back to the marina for the happy hour. We met a lot of nice people, including a number of CLODs - Cruiser Living On Dirt - that had moved to Vero Beach when they were done cruising because they loved it so much.

We will stay in Vero Beach another day or two and hopefully get caught up on some of the boat work and personal business we have been avoiding. We are thrilled with finally being warm, but it comes with a price. There are a lot of bugs out now. Hope they don't follow us further south!