Cheryl's Notes:

We have been in Vero Beach now for a week. I am trying to be polite and love this place as much as all of our friends, but it keeps coming up short. The free bus system is great, but it takes so long to get from place to place. There is really nothing within walking distance. We did dinghy up the river the other day and pulled into a park area near the beach. We tied the dinghy to a tree and set out down the beach. The best part was the ice cream parlor we found on the way back. I had key lime pie ice cream and John had a white chocolate ice cream with chocolate covered cherries in it. On Wednesday, I went for a hair cut while John got us new walkie-talkie's to use for anchoring, and for communicating with each other down island.

We are going to try to head south on Saturday. It looks like we might have a weather window to cross to the Bahamas on Sunday. We would do an overnight and arrive on Monday afternoon. We plan to follow Scandia and a couple of other boats. It looks like this is our best window for the next two weeks. I do not want to be stuck here for that long. We will have to find some place south to hang out if this window doesn't work.

We have stocked as much stuff as the boat will hold, and cannot open any cupboard without something falling out. I did laundry the other night, so we are good to go there. John's leg has finally stopped weeping, but it still looks nasty. My biggest concern is making sure that it doesn't get infected. I think that we are as ready as we are ever going to be.

John's Notes:

Well, it is now Friday and we still are not moving. The weather is the problem. Not sure what our plans are now.

Yesterday I spent considerable time with Arnie from Scandia. He needed to replace his house bank batteries. He has three 4D's that are the same size as ours. The difference is that his are a bitch to get out. He replaced them with 6 Trojan T-105's which are much easier to handle. The funny part is that most everyone who knows me very well knows that I have had a bad back for most of my adult life. So why is it that I did most of the heavy lifting. I'm guessing that the reason is that Arnie and his mooring ball neighbors have worse backs than I do. At least that is what they said. I thought I would be really stiff today but so far so good.

We are fully packed and ready to go. I can't wait to just go someplace else for a while. I know that this is going to sound elitist or snobby but this place is depressing. The neighborhoods are depressing, the weather is depressing, the people are depressing., being on a shared mooring ball is depressing. No TV and limited wifi access is depressing. I'm in a funk.

Remember David Jansen from TV who kept looking for the one armed man he thinks killed his wife? He should have looked on the free Vero Beach bus. We see him just about every day.

Note to Glen. Yesterday I saw the eighth boat with the name Carpe Diem since we left New Bern. You might want to reconsider........................seizing the moment!

Wednesday we were out shopping and just missed our bus back to the marina so we decided to have lunch at Kelly's Pub. Some our friends said that the food was great and inexpensive. When we got there the place was packed. We took a table for two just as the people got up to leave. As we ordered, I looked around and decided that not counting Cheryl, I was the youngest person there. If this were a neighborhood I would be a teenager and Cheryl would be in diapers. I haven't seen so many wrinkles since the last time I took the aluminum foil off a baked potato. I'm wondering if there is going to be a new game for Christmas for the geriatric set this year. Mr. Prune Head. If I'm looking at my future, it's not looking good. Even the waitress had skin you could make boots out of.