We can't say they didn’t warn us!
Cruisers affectionately refer to Vero Beach, FL as “Velcro
Beach.” People love it, and they get stuck here. Some stay for a week or two,
some for a month or for the season. And some just never leave, like the two
boats at the dock who have been there for 10 and 20 years, respectively. There
is even a large community of former cruisers living here in houses and condos.
They proudly call themselves CLODs, “Cruisers Living on Dirt.”
We arrived in Vero Beach on Thursday, December 11th. It
was a cold day in FL. We had been invited to a party on Sunday the 13th, and
planned to leave on Monday to continue our southward journey.
The party was with the “Southern Cruisers”, a group of
people who travel south each year and are mostly from the Annapolis area. We
had met some of them during our Chesapeake Bay cruise with the Annapolis and
Philadelphia Corinthians in October, and we managed to have ourselves added to
the email list. The email distribution allows the group members to keep track
of each other as they are cruising, and also to warn one another of ICW trouble
spots, such as bridges with schedule changes.
Upon arrival at the Vero Beach City Marina that Thursday, we
went to the dock to do the 5 essentials: fill the water tanks, empty the
holding tanks, fill the diesel tanks, empty the trash, and gather intel. At the
dock, we ran into Mark Doyle, the coauthor (with his wife, Diana) of the "On the Water Chart Guides" books
we've been using to navigate the ICW and find good anchorages. I was thrilled
to be able to tell him, in person, how much we love their books!
Then we moved to our mooring. We rafted with an empty Canadian boat, near the mangroves.
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| Canadian boat with upside down dinghy, next door. |
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| View of the gas dock, from our mooring. Dinghy dock is to the left, out of view. |
We were given a mooring in the center of the
mooring field, close to the dingy dock, because we had been having trouble with
our dinghy engine and Chuck had to row it at St Augustine. (The dinghy engine
magically started cooperating again here in Vero). While tying up, I thought I
saw manatee circles, (the pattern that they make in the water), but didn't see
the manatee. They should be here, but it’s been an unusually cold winter.
On Friday we explored the free bus system, which is a wonderful
thing, and makes Vero Beach especially convenient for cruisers.
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| Bus stop at the marina. |
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| It must be 10 of or 10 after, the bus is here! |
If only more
ICW towns would realize that we need and want to spend money for provisions and
entertainment, we just need help to be able to get where the food and
performances are! The Vero Beach busses run every week day, plus a shorter
schedule on Saturday. No bus on Sunday.
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| The bus hub, where riders can change to a different line. |
Everyone benefits from the Vero Beach free bus system. People can
get where they need to go in a reliable manner. When they get there, they can
spend the “bus fare” and more on other things. It’s a quick and simple trip
from the marina on the #1 bus to the West Marine store or the grocery store.
With more planning and more time, we can take a combination of busses to get to
the big box stores or the marine parts supplier near the airport. Some cruisers
spend their days busily stocking up for their trip to the Bahamas. They
make bus trips daily, buying as much beer, “pop” and toilet paper as they can carry
each time. (These things are reputed to be prohibitively expensive in the
Bahamas.)
Our first stop was the Shandong Noodle House, for lunch.
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| Shandong Noodle House |
We have had lots of wonderful food along the ICW, but hadn't
had Chinese food since before we left CT in September, and I was missing it!
Then we
checked out the West Marine and the Publix (grocery store) for a few things
that we needed.
When we got back to the marina we took a dinghy ride through
the mangrove lined canals, where we saw birds, fish and porpoises, but again,
no manatees.
On Saturday we attended a briefing by Mark Doyle covering
the Florida section of the ICW. It was primarily for the group of cruising
boats organized by Sail Magazine that he was helping to lead, and we were
invited to join them. It was at a nearby marina, Loggerhead, which is far more
luxurious than the Vero Beach City Marina, with a pool, a golf course, and an attended
gate. CLODs volunteered to drive all of the cruisers over, since none of us
have cars and the bus doesn't go there.
After the presentation Chuck and I took the free #1 bus over
to the beach side, and had lunch at “The Lemon Tree,” a restaurant that had
been recommended to us. It was very nice and they even give everyone
complimentary sorbet for dessert. Yummy!
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| Lunch at the Lemon Tree |
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| Salad at The Lemon Tree |
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| Complimentary Sorbet at The Lemon Tree |
We walked along the beach and boardwalk, and decided to try
to find the location of Sunday’s party. On the way, we passed an “Open House”
and couldn’t resist taking a peek. The house was right on the ocean and really
stunning, but the asking price of $6.5 million is considerably out of our
league!
On Saturday night we had dinner with our friends Frank and
Suzanne, on their sailboat, Rockhopper. (Named after a penguin, not the New
England seascape). We had met them in St. Marys, GA over Thanksgiving.
On Sunday we took in “Art in the Park”, a (sort of) weekly
show of local artists and artisans which we really enjoyed. All of the artists
are present and eager to talk about their work, which I always find
fascinating. Then we rode our bikes to the Southern Cruisers party, stopping on
the way at a nice local market, The Village Beach Market, for cheese, pate, crackers
and drinks to bring. At the party we saw some friends that we had met in the
Chesapeake and met new ones, got info on cruising to the Bahamas, and met
Linda, the yoga teacher. Nearly everyone in the group goes to yoga with Linda
on Tuesday and Friday mornings, which only costs $4 per person. Chuck often
wakes up on the boat with stiff muscles, so it wasn’t as hard I expected to
talk him into going to yoga. So we decided to stay until Tuesday, to go to yoga
with our friends. (Turns out he loves it!)
Southern Cruiser's Party
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| Southern Cruiser's Party |
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| Southern Cruiser's Party |
We were prepared to ride home in the dark.
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| Sandy & Chuck, leaving the Southern Cruiser's Party |
It didn’t take long before we found ourselves in a routine
at Vero Beach – Yoga on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Farmers Market over by the
beach on Saturdays, Art in the Park on Sunday mornings (by bike), laundry on
Sunday afternoons (no bus on Sunday), and cocktails at the marina on
Thursdays. The weather was warming up
and we were so very comfortable. We even saw people we knew. Quite a few of the
boats that we had met at St Marys, GA over Thanksgiving were now here in Vero with
us.
So we decided to stay for Christmas. Boats in the marina
were decorated with colored lights, and plans were being made for the holiday
dinner. A signup sheet was posted on the cruiser’s lounge door for potluck
dishes. The marina doesn’t have a restaurant or even a room big enough for everyone.
But it does have a walk-through laundry room, with 6 machines for washing on
one side, and 7 dryers on the other side. For Christmas, they covered all of
the machines with brightly colored plastic table cloths and created a double
sided buffet line to hold all of the potluck dishes that the cruisers brought.
We ate outside at the picnic area and had a feast!
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| Boats decorated for Christmas |
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| The laundry room |
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| The laundry/buffet line transition |
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| Cruisers waiting in line |
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| Dressed up for Christmas |
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| New friends Rhonda, Richard, Linda, Dawnell, John, and others |
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The picnic area
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| Back for dessert, with Karl, John and Dawnell |
Our psychological anchor was set, and was being buried deeper and deeper
at Velcro Beach. We met more new friends at Christmas. We continued taking the
bus for errands. We found fun places to eat, such as “Patisserie Vero Beach,” a
treasure that we found by accident. One afternoon we decided to explore the
thrift stores and art galleries that are along the route of the #4 bus. Late in
the day we were feeling in need of a coffee pick-me-up. We entered a café, but
the woman was closing. She directed us through her café, to the street behind
her, to the Patisserie, which is on “Old Dixie Highway.” It’s not very
noticeable from the outside (I almost miss it every time we go by), but inside
the décor is a wall of perfect French pastries, baguettes, croissants, and
cheeses, a coffee bar and the window through which guests can watch the bakers
work. We have now been back several times for pastry, and also for lunch. They
serve sandwiches, quiche, soup, salads etc. Everything is special and
wonderful, and a little out of our budget, but well worth it.
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| Patisserie Vero Beach, interior |
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| Baguettes, croissants and other goodies |
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| Incredibly wonderful fancy pastries |
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| Croissants, Pain au Chocolat and other variations |
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| The bakery, visible through a window |
We rode our bikes all over town.
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| Chuck, in his favorite cruising hat |
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| A sandwich that I really want to try |
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| A place where we did not "stop" |
We asked questions in the
most unexpected places and got incredibly useful answers. When we couldn’t find
the Lemon Tree restaurant that first Saturday, we stopped in at a Real Estate
office, and the agent gave us a great map of the city. When we stopped in the
Holiday Inn looking for a water fountain during our run on Christmas morning,
the woman behind the desk said, “Wait a minute!” and handed us two bottles of
chilled water. When Chuck had us bike all the way over to “his” bank to get
cash, he asked the teller something and ended up with
directions to a nearby hidden beach path. The beaches are public, but the
access paths are well hidden. We visited the beach and then stopped on the way
home for terrific pizza as it began to drizzle.
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| Beach access, almost hidden |
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| Beach access path, looking back toward the street |
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| Beach access path continues |
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| And finally, the beach |
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| A quiet (cold) day at the beach |
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| South Beach Pizzeria |
We returned to the secret beach the next sunny day, with
bathing suits and towels. We swam and jumped in the (really strong) waves and laughed like
little kids!
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| We swam at South Beach on a sunnier day, with big waves |
Somehow we heard about a
park at “Round Island,” where we’d be able to see manatees. As we left the
beach, we asked a local kid where it was. He told us the direction and said it
was very far. Kids don’t really walk or ride all over like we did as kids, so I
thought it couldn't be as far as he said. But I was wrong! We rode and rode.
When we could, we asked people where it was. “A few miles further.” We rode for
over an hour. Fortunately it was very flat and we were able to ride on the
sidewalk, away from the traffic.
In all, it was about 7 miles away from the marina. When we
got to Round Island, the park was beautiful, and was well worth the trip. There
are paths through the woods, connected by bridges with glorious views of the
various bodies of water. It was very relaxing and the people we met were fun to
talk to, but there were no manatees this day. We were advised to try the power
plant, (which we finally did, another day).
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| Bridge and viewing area, Round Island Park |
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| Wooden Bridge at Round Island Park |
When our new marina friends started asking about plans for New
Year’s Eve, we decided we had to stay until New Year’s. We had a bottle of
champagne from my sweet nephew and brother in law chilling in the fridge, and
we could certainly bring some appetizers. It would be an early affair, since
everyone knows “Cruisers Midnight” is 9:00 PM. We started at 5:00 and
celebrated “Happy New Year!” at 8 PM.
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New Years Eve in the Cruisers Lounge,
with Dawnell, Ursala, Michel, Chuck, John |
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| New Years Eve in the Cruisers Lounge |
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| New Years Eve in the Cruisers Lounge |
Chuck and I had decided we would leave on the first of
January. We paid our marina bill in advance, said goodbye to all of our
friends, and we finally unstuck ourselves from Velcro Beach on 1/1/15. (But not
for long!)
Sandy & Chuck
on s/v Summer Wind
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