TOBIAS on the left and AURIGA on the right. The completion of the marriage of the Townsends and the Kidlarks. We are now the TOWNKIDS!

I think we have made it south. It is warm and there are bugs. We all got pretty chewed up last night but we will learn to put on "Bug Juice" before going out just like we did in Mexico.

We arrived in Vero Beach on Tuesday and were directed to mooring ball No. 3. No anchoring allowed. But the good part was that we got to raft up with Rick and Tanya on "Auriga". Shortly thereafter another boat joined us on the mooring. Linda and Steve aboard "Brass Dragon". We had never met them; all mooring balls have up to 3 boats on them and we were fortunate to get such nice people.

This is a very cruiser friendly place. Large dinghy dock with triple rows of dinghies tied up, 6 washers and 6 dryers, plenty of large showers and a shuttle bus that comes right to the customer lounge and goes to all the shopping one could want. It all makes it so easy and people get suck here because it is so nice.

Both nights we had dinner on Auriga and Rick barbequed for us. Last night Steve and Linda joined us. They have been to the Bahamas before so we picked their brains just a little.

We love it here and would love to stay but we have a date in Jupiter this weekend with really good friends Jim and MT and we are really looking forward to seeing them. We are leaving this morning - and it is raining! We will only go 20 miles or so and then the rest of the way tomorrow. The sad part is that Rick and Tanya have elected to stay and do some more shopping and getting ready to go to the Bahamas. They will catch up in a few day. We will miss them as we have traveled together every day for almost 4 months.