I can't believe it's 10 days since my last blog....time flies when you're having fun! So after leaving Palm Coast we headed to an overnight in New Smyrna at the City Marina. The ride down was very nice with light winds and a good push from the tide. Once tied up, Donna went shopping in town and I cleaned up the boat. We went to a Thai Restaurant for dinner in town and I haveto say it was very good although it was a little spicy! The next morning we headed 50 miles down to another favorite spot at Cocoa and Merrit Island. Cocoa sustained alot of damage from Irma so the dinghy docks were destroyed and unusable as a result we anchored on the Merritt Island side and went to shore there. We met up with Deb and Ron from Sheharazade in the anchor area next to the causeway to Cocoa. Great to see them again! We dyngied to town on the Merritt side and went to West Marine to get some new dyngy life jackets. Donna went on to TJ Maxx while Dylan and I went back to the boat. Donna picked up some Wendy's junk food on her way home....we loved it! The next morning after a quiet night on the hook, we pulled up anchor and headed to Vero Beach...aka...Velcro Beach! Ron and Deb left at 7:00am and we left at 8:30...took us all day to catch them on the Indian River but just before Vero we gave them a slow pass and headed in to the Vero Beach City Marina. We picked up some fuel...200 gals. and then headed to our mooring which Ron and Deb had already picked up. Vero allows rafting up because it is so protected and we both rafted up to a sailboat named Gelato with nice folks named Allen and Sue. Velcro so named because it had everything, good weather all winter, free bus service all over town, active cruising community, dog park near by, beach near by and great restaurants, bars and movie theaters! Its hard for folks to leave and many decide to spend the winter hear. Monday we went to Mr. Manatees for $5.00 hamburger night with Ron and Deb....very large and very scrumptious burgers! Cheap beer too! Thursday was a cruisers happy hour pot luck where we met new friends and saw old ones too. Friday I went to a movie at the mall while Donna went to Wal-Mart. The free bus takes you all over the place! Saturday Jacque and Dan from Horizon Chaser showed up by car. They are staying nearby at the Suntex Vero Marina for the winter. We all walked down to Vero Beach to watch the Christmas parade....92 floats! I forgot to mention on Friday, John Bacon Jr. and his girl friend Connie tied up to us in his new to him Regal Cruiser. We had a beer and talked about what everybody had been up to since last spring when we saw John last. Connie wad out of town in the spring so this was our first time meeting her. You're a lucky guy John! So back to the parade...it was very well done but half way through we had seen enough red and green lights and decided to go to Bobby's for Dinner with Dan and Jacque. Great food in a nice atmosphere. Yesterday we met Ron and Dianna Heagney for lunch at Riverside Bar and Grill to watch the Patriots and 19 other games. It was great to see them again. If you have followed this blog you will remember Ron and I worked and played together at Pfizer Animal Health for over 25 years. We even went to Ireland with them once. They own a condo on nearby Hutchinson Island. We had a great lunch and you guessed it...cheap beer and in fact, Jacque and Dan joined us at half time. A good time was had by all. I think they will get together there after we leave on Wed to watch the Pats. My Giants played at 4:30 and U watched the horror show of the Eli Manning benching on the boat. Thankfully they fired the coach and GM today!!! Rebuilding starts now! Tonight we are heading back over to Mr Manatees for $5.00 burger night and we may meet Sue and Dean from Autumn Born who got here from the Hudson River a few days ago. Old friends of ours that we met through Elle and I, Lawrence and Elaine when they were cruising. Should be fun! I put on some 36 gallons of water today...6 gallons at a time... We got pumped out by the pump out boat...more reason to stay...maybe in the future. Tomorrow we go to breakfast with Jacque and Dan at Mrs. Macs Filling Station....a Vero Must. The menus are on old license plates! Wed we will achieve escape velocity from Velcro and head to Stuart where we will stay for a week. We plan on installing some new solar panels there as our current ones are not doing the job. Our oldest two 100 watt panels have given up the ghost! Besides the newer panels work better even if shaded. The prices have also come way down. Two 180 watt panels for $370 dollars! We are looking forward to Stuart and we hope to see Larry and Margie from Osprey Marina on Wanderin' L&M and maybe Bill and Maureen from Sweet Freedom who just bought a condo near Stuart. They have become CLODs...cruisers living on dirt! Anyway, we will be moving on to Marathon around Dec 14th with arrival around the 20th...looking forward to seeing the gang!

Fair winds and Calm Seas