03/22/2012
Heading home
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03/22/2012, home
Home sweet home. It is sweet, but different. After almost a month doing all things Vero- Wednesday night wings at Mr. Manatee, 3 mile walk over the bridge, Riverside for Duke basketball, bus rides to Publix, walks along live oak lined streets to the beach, the Saturday Farmer's market- we unzipped from Velcro. I haven't written much in the blog this trip because it felt like we weren't really doing that much. There were no calamities, no crossings, no break downs, no horrendous weather, just a week of easy days to Vero, a month on the ball and a week to get back home to Brunswick Landing Marina. We didn't really put many miles under the keel but what I can write about is our favorite thing about cruising- the people. The people we meet make cruising what we love. As soon as we got to the Vero Beach mooring field we recognized boats from previous trips- a few from the Bahamas, some from Marathon, some from the ICW and even some from our home marina Brunswick Landing. Thursday night is the marina happy hour and get together. We immediately saw Bob and Deb (the cruiser's unofficial welcoming committee). They are sailors from Montana that now keep their houseboat in the Vero mooring field most of the year. Bob is a talented musician and Deb is now a yoga instructor but is known for the incredible appetizers she always brings to happy hour. Eric, who we met a few years ago plays music with Bob every week and has now moved his pottery studio to Vero. We saw Mike and Kathy that we checked in with at Green Turtle Cay last year on Seagull Seeker. Barbara Ann and Harry that we'd met last year in St. Mary's at Thanksgiving - I recognized them, couldn't remember their names but remembered their German Shepherd - Merlot. They introduced us and lot's of cruisers to Mr. Manatee's wing night. John and Ann, from Far Niente, served us an incredible meal in the lounge over at Grand Harbor, They have a home in the NC mountains not far from us and call us "the kids". Wes and Jennie on a beautiful red trawler called Miss Ruby that Wes and son built had hop scotched with us for the last couple of days. They completed the great loop this year.While sitting in the cock pit one afternoon a boat- Okema Rose came by and waved and I told Earl I know that boat but had no idea from where. Later that night we found out when Ann and Lynn on Sea Tramp (They organize the famous St. Mary's Thanksgiving gathering every year, work the Annapolis boat show and base out of Brunswick Landing Marina- BLM) invited us over for drinks and to meet some other BLMers, Joe and Gina on Okema Rose! That's where we've seen that boat. Joe and Earl are both huge basketball fans and we hit it off with them immediately.
A few days later, our new friends at BLM , a couple from Montreal - Jules and Karen pulled in with their son, daughter and son in law on board. I hollered at them as they circled waiting for the fuel dock to open up and as soon as they got moored, he came over to invite us for drinks and to meet the family. Je ne sais quoi! We love folks from Quebec. Jules, a commercial pilot/winery owner that just retired decided to take up sailing and here they are. They remind us of Pierre and Micheline that we traveled with last year. Earl has some work in Canada in May and we'll see both couples again then.
Dean and Susan on Autumn Borne sent their condolences when Duke lost to LeHigh.We miss March Madness with them! We just emailed Rick and Carla on Euphoria to tell them about meeting Paula and Normand. Ron and Mike both single handing big boats have stayed in touch since they started north. With all of the socializing it's a wonder that we get any boat work done. I did manage to strip and varnish the teak in the companion way while we were in Vero but that was about it. So we tore ourselves away and headed north. In Titusville, we hauled out at Westland, painted the bottom, changed zincs, scrubbed the dinghy, polished the hull- all in 2 days. I can't say enough good stuff about Westland's boat yard. They were super efficient, professional and helpful with lots of great advice. Our neighbor there was a professor emeritus who had just brought one of his 50 footers back from the Bahamas with a couple of buddies for crew. He keeps his second boat in his home of Greece where he'll head to for the summer. He told us the story of his worst sailing experience (in 35 years of sailing, a captain's license, Atlantic crossings) that happened just a few days before when he lost steerage in huge east seas trying to enter the Ft. Pierce inlet. It was so rough that the Coast Guard and Tow Boat US couldn't get out to help him. It was humbling to hear him describe the scene.
From Titusville, we had such great weather forecasts that after a night anchored in Rockhouse, we headed out the Ponce inlet. Bathtub like conditions, not a lot of wind, but no weekend on the ICW- YAY!! In at St. Augustine inlet (where they're dredging) and straight thru the Bridge of Lions (the bridge tender held the bridge for us while he waited for a schooner to come out), and picked up a mooring for the night. Then out St. Aug, in St. Mary's and anchored at Cumberland. Then out St. Mary's, in St. Simons and back to Dock 6 with a welcoming committee-Sherry and Cindy the dock mistresses extraodinaire and friends Dan and Teresa from NC were there to greet us. They were on their way to St. Aug for vacation and took the time to meet up with us. They are NC sailors looking to cruise in a couple of years and we've known Teresa for 30 some years.
After a dinner in town we're making lists of what we have to do to leave Seeker:
- change the oil
- clean the anchor and anchor locker
- clean the cabinets and get rid of food
- defrost the fridge
- clean the bilge
- scrub the decks
- secure the sheets
- go get our car in Vero
- load the car with all the crap that needs to go home
- yada yada yada
- the list goes on
So with this mental list, we head down the dock and stop to speak to a boat that's new to our dock from Greenville, SC. They too are furiously cleaning obviously prepping to leave Discretion for awhile. We stop briefly to chat and query "Hey ya'll- did ya sail down from Lake Hartwell?" Lots of laughs and a British accent came back with a "well no, that would require going over a few dams!" So the usual stuff followed- Where you from? Where ya been? Where ya going? Wait! They had a boat on Hartwell (So did we) They used to keep their boat at McCotters in Washington NC (So did we) Then they kept it at River Rats on Jordan Creek (We knew others from there) They had friends in Sylva (We know these people!) Ta Day! Welcome to the Cruisers vortex of 2 degrees of separation!! Yep, cruising is really about the connections you make.
So, we've been home 2 days, done 5 loads of laundry. Most of our co-workers dropped by the office today to welcome us home. We really have the best of both worlds. That's all for now. Have a great Spring and Summer!
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02/22/2012, Vero
Wow! It's already been 2 weeks since that last post and much has happened. We're on a mooring in Vero, visiting with friends, soaking up the warmth, contemplating boat projects, getting some exercise... Life is good. We had a slow sauntering sail down the coast of Florida. Fernandina to Pine Island anchorage, Pine Island to Palm Coast where we hunkered in the marina with the heater running full blast- yep it sometimes freezes in Florida. In Palm Coast we visited with Bonnie and Jerry - folks that retired there after jobs that took them to some far flung corners of the world where they met my parents. Palm Coast to Rockhouse Creek anchorage, Rockhouse to Addison Point anchorage (too bad there was no space launch- we would have had front row seats). The great thing about traveling at this time of the year which is a little late for cruisers, is the we have the anchorages all too ourselves. No worries about dragging into another boat, being too close to your neighbors, anchors tangling- so much easier.
The final leg to Vero is a doable but long day 57 miles from Addison Pt. At first we planned to get up at first light- nah- no rush. Once we got to Melbourne we knew we couldn't make Vero by dark especially not with a south wind on the nose, but it was too early to stop, so we plowed along and just at sunset tied up to Jones Fruit Dock about 5 miles from Vero. Now, Jones Fruit Dock hasn't sold fruit in awhile, and Captain Jones passed away last year, and the dock looks a little questionable, but it has the reputation of being a place you should stop at least once. They used to charge $10 a night to tie up there. Now the gate is locked, the sign has been painted over but we read that you could still tie up there at no charge. How long will the fruit shack and the dock be there? Not long unfortunately because it's surrounded by mega homes with manicured landscapes and Jones Fruit Dock is Old Florida. Glad we got to experience it.
We pulled into Vero Thursday morning with plans to rent a car on Friday, zip up to NC for a quick family visit and then pick up our car in Brunswick on the return trip. At the Thursday night happy hour, a fellow cruiser said he'd drive us to Brunswick. So the next day Ron and Mike (2 single single-handlers) and Earl, me and George piled into the Prius for a 4 hr trip back to Brunswick. Yep, 4 hours by car and we'd spent a week on the water.
We had a great visit with family and a long ride back pulling in after dark on Monday. When we woke up Tuesday morning, there was a boat on the mooring in front of us from Washington NC (our home port) so we knew there'd be some connections. Turns out we connected with Paula and Norman on Madame- friends of Rick and Carla from Euphoria. He is French Canadian, so Earl gets to practice his French, she's a knitter so we get to talk knits and purls! YAY!
So, here we are in Vero- a place that feels like home. Earl's going to the city fitness center to continue to rehab his knees, we have a list of boat projects which may or may not get done and that's OK.
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