Cheryl's Notes:

We got to Vero Beach on Thursday. The weather has been really crappy. The only good thing about the rain, is that it keeps the no see-ums at bay. For those of you who have not experienced these ferocious bugs, you are lucky. You look down and it looks like your legs are covered with pepper, but it is biting you. My legs look like I have the chicken pox and they itch just like mosquito bites.

Right away Friday, we figured out the bus system and took a bus out to the mall. It drops you right in front of the movie theatre. Awesome! We went to see the movie "The Blind Side" and I ate my body weight in buttered popcorn. The movie was really good too. The movie ended right in time to catch the next bus back to the marina. Actually, if we had missed the movie, the bus ride would have been entertainment enough. Some very interesting people ride the buses down here.

Saturday was spent hitting the West Marine store and then a small stock up on groceries at Publix. We got all of the groceries put away and then it was time for the weekly cruisers Happy Hour. You really get to meet some great people in this lifestyle. We even had a guy with a guitar singing ballads for us.

Today we are going to work on getting the new anchor chain attached to the anchor and I will have to re-splice the rode to the chain. I also have to make eye splices in the ends of our snubber line. There is always something that needs to be done around the boat. We can't get many TV stations on the boat, so John will have to watch football in the boaters lounge or the little sports bar down the street.

John's Notes:

We've only been at Vero for four days and I've already decided that I don't want to stay much longer. All you see, everywhere you go, is old people. Then there is what you don't see, the dreaded "no-see-um's." They are also like old people, everywhere.

Note to all concerned. I'm not hurt and am healing. We'll talk about the 6" scar I'm probably going to have when I get back home. I'll have enough time to invent some really good stories as to how it happened.

They have a really good free bus service here. The mere fact that it is free is probably the overriding cause of the buses being filled with really, really weird people. Like the big one armed guy yesterday in the back of the bus. We heard him talking and without being obvious and looking around at him, we just assumed that he was talking on a cell phone or Bluetooth. Donnie and Vicki from Freedom were sitting across the isle from us and Donnie became a little concerned when the guy started talking about sailboats and sailors. We just ignored the guy when he got off but he kept up the unsavory dialogue about sailors and their boats. It appeared that the guy was looking for a confrontation. That will be the day when I can't whip ass on a one armed guy, albeit totally bad form on my part. I would probably be clubbed to death by gang of old ladies who seem to ride the bus on a daily basis. The driver seems to be on a first name basis with everyone except us cruisers. Looking back on our experience in St. Augustine, they have a higher caliber of weird people who ride their bus. Strange how a dollar fare can totally change everything. I've never considered viewing people in varying degrees of weird but this trip has forced my hand. I can only imagine how I would be classified.

I'm still waiting for "warm" weather. From what we have heard, some of the people from our marina who are ahead of us are not having all that much fun in the Bahamas. They are supposedly holed up in a marina in West End waiting for the wind to lay down. I heard on the NOAA weather a couple of days ago that on Grand Bahama Island that the wind was a constant 20kts and gusting to almost 30kts. I think we will try and stay farther south when we cross over.

Everyone should go see "The Blind Side." A great feel good movie. Even better that it is a true story.

BTW, check out the picture of the dinghy dock here. It is easier to find a parking place at Walmart than at the dinghy dock. This marina is like living in a trailer park on the water.