I fed Byron a great chicken dinner with all the fixings and the next morning we cast our lines from the dock in Titusville with plans to anchor somewhere for the night. Instead we were flying and made great time (all relative for sailboats) and made it all the way to Vero Beach. The mansions on the way were becoming larger and the inlets are unbelievable with mega yachts pulled up by the houses.
The boat houses were larger and nicer than my house. It was quite the show!
On our way there was a display of dolphins again. They are always so beautiful.
Well then we entered Vero Beach.....All the sailors call it VELCRO Beach....and we know why. You never want to leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We knew before we arrived there that we would have to raft along another boat and lucky for us the boat we were next to was vacant for our stay. The anchorage was well protected.
We had planned to stay there 1 day but the area was so nice we stayed there 3 days. The area was beautiful to walk around and they also have a free bus that will take you to the beach area and the shopping area. You can't get any better than that!!
There were lots of houses with their hurricane shutters on with owners up north not here to open them up yet.
Finally we left as our date to get the boat out of the water was getting close and we wanted to be there in time. We went to Loggerhead Marina for the weekend as this marina was only 6 miles from Cracker Boy Boatworks and we needed to be to the boatyard early because of tides and current. Glenn and Mike were waiting for the boat with little steerage. Once we entered we knew why!!!! All yachts were lots of millions!!! It was a WOW moment for sure. The Marina was on the Azure Properties where condos go for $4 million.
There was security at the gate to the property and in the buildings and there were 3 pools; 1 for us in the marina. It was very fancy!!
And the boats there were even fancier (although
I only took pictures of boats Mark would find interesting lol). All we could say was WOW!!!!
Anyway enough of daydreaming. We had some work to do while there and my task was to spray weather proofing on the canvas (the Bimini and dodger) and since I had 4L of it I thought I may as well do the new cockpit cushions we made. Things were going great... all were saturated... all I had to do was let the sun dry it and all would be weather protected... So I thought!!! Things became very slippery on the boat and when I had used that chemical before that never happened. I thought "well maybe it is my imagination "?? Duke was slipping around but I thought" well he needs his nails trimmed"... Hmmm. Well the next morning it rained. We were all sitting in the cockpit AND got soaked!!! The protectant I used was not for fabric but for vinyl like we use on the vinyl in the car. We had bought the wrong stuff. I could not believe it. We now had no protection from rain. It was not funny then lol. Anyway now I have to repeat the same job with the right stuff!!!! And everything else, besides fabric, got a wonderful coat of protectant on it!!!
After the beautiful weekend, off we went to the Cracker Boy Boatyard in Rivera Beach where the crew there who took her out of the water was fantastic. I wish I had captured their expressions when we could all see the rudder emerge out of the water!!! It was twisted, cracked and half of the fiberglass was taken off... yet we have no idea what was submerged in the channel...
Again I do not know how Byron was able to steer!!!! Lucky we have 2 wheels as the port wheel turned to port and the starboard wheel turned to starboard. Either way took too much muscle for me to be of any help to him. On the positive side we got here safely and he is getting some pumped!!! haha.
It was not long before Steve Evans and his crew was there to remove our rudder and steering lines. He was a workhorse. His knowledge level and skill surpasses most people I know. We are so pleased thus far.
Since it is Thanksgiving week in the US there is little work done as most people take vacation so we are in a holding pattern. New Rudder needs steel cut and is at the shop. Steering lines just got here and Steve is off to Orlando until Monday. So we got more provisions, vacuum packed out meats, and off to Margie's and Lens we go for Thanksgiving. Life is good !!
And of course taking to my 92 year old mama every couple of days is always great!!!
Just as a side note. Here we were 2 naive people minding our own business, and me with my patch on for motion sickness, motoring out of the Beaufort, NC when we hit something. We were stunned and what do we do now? Thank god we continued to move. Thankfully Byron called Catalina Yachts. They gave us a contact at Massey Yachts on Florida's Atlantic Coast, Bill Hall. This man is amazing. We have never met him yet. Yet he arranged the boatyard, Steve the master of all trades, and the marina for us to stay in prior to the boatyard. We are so blessed!!!
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