Family Matters

Why did we stay so long in Vero? Before we started cruising we swore we would never be one of those cruisers that settled down for a month in one spot. Huh! Guess we were wrong. We fully intended to get to the keys or to visit the Bahamas even it was for just a month, but life had other plans.

The day we left to go cruising Deb's Mom called and told us she sold her house. This was great news! This was also a surprise! We were not prepared for this event. We knew we would be helping her pack and move, but we were floating down the ICW. So, with a closing date of May 15th we had to find a place rather quickly to keep the boat while we drove up to Ocala. We started to search for a place to park the boat as we continued moving south. We pulled into Vero Beach and picked up a mooring for a few days to think about it. We soon realized that the closer we got to Miami the more expensive a car rental and a slip would be, plus the number of well protected moorings started dwindling. Why not leave the boat here? We talked to the marina and they told us the boat would be fine and they had someone to look after it. Cool. The price was right as well. Car rental in Vero was also a snap and convenient. So we velcroed ourselves to the mooring for a month and took care of business.

Mom was successfully relocated and while we had a car we attended our daughter Nicole's graduation with a Masters degree from Georgia Southern! Pretty proud of our baby girl.

Nicole and Jonathan

Nicole is expecting in August! Savannah is awesome by the way.

I think we made the right choice even though our plans were interrupted. Actually it worked out well as we met some great people in Vero. The River House got us cruisers together once a week for a happy hour. We really enjoyed Bob and Deb's company. We also met the crew of S/V Country Dancer and we had some nice evenings together. Gary, Jodi and Rio were fun to be around. Country Dancer has the distinction of being our first boat to invite us to dinner as cruisers. They say you never forget your first :)

Good company.

Beer run

While in Vero we decided that this would be the ultimate spot to have doctors and any yearly medical check ups taken care of, so we made appointments with new doctors. Our old Doc's were a big disappointment in Jax. Horrible service and care. Unfortunately for us we couldn't get an appointment with the new Docs until the end of May. Bummer. So we settled in for another two weeks of Vero time. Vero time is pretty slow. Kind of like island time. Everything happened at it's own pace. The mooring field was quiet (except for the damn planes) and folks were friendly. I can see how people get attached to the place. There are a group of regulars at the clubhouse every morning. They set their watches to our arrival for showers. Apparently we're pretty regular. It's a vegetarian thing. I was usually fifty paces behind Deb in the morning walk because I would tie off the dinghy, and I'm a little slow and groggy. The regulars asked if I'm always fifty paces behind her. "Depends on her mood" I said. These guys are pretty interesting if you ever take the time to talk to them.

This was a good place to leave her for a while.

We had some quiet nights in Vero

Now that our responsibilities have ended for now and we are free to become boat hippies again we are heading north. Somewhat disappointed at not reaching the Bahamas we are still happy to have helped and visited family. We never assumed we were going to sail around the warm climates without ever having any family contact. We would not want it that way. It's tough enough not seeing the kids and Mason and I couldn't imagine going a whole year without their hugs. This does not by any means indicate that we have scaled back our agenda, Oh no. We are definitely heading out to the islands. The Bahamas will be nice, but we intend to go further. Hopefully we will have enough money in the bank to fly home every now and then and see the kids and grandkids. It will be fun for them to see their dark skinned gray haired, sandal wearing, tattooed grandparents that smell like the sea - once they stop crying.

Cheers!

P