VERO BEACH TO MIAMI FLORIDA
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DATE: December 16 to January 17,2001
Miles Traveled (statute)
Engine Hours: 30(charging) |
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VERO BEACH
This is what we have come here for: blue sky, sunshine, beaches and lots of happy sailors. The facilities are great and there are free busses to practically anywhere you may want to go. There is a beautiful marina with clean showers, laundry, picturesque anchorage and a nearby beach on the Atlantic which is accessible by dinghy. We are on a mooring ball ($8.00 per night) and all our friends are here: Lady Simcoe, Sea Turtle 5, Rolger II, and many more. We celebrated Christmas here and had visitors from the UK and a daughter from Toronto. We shared a mooring ball with Whim of Arne and our boat was safely left with them while we toured to Disneyland and the Florida Keys with our daughter Judi.After three weeks in VERO BEACH MUNICIPAL MARINA we headed south to Miami with Gordon and Enid of Whim of Arne. They are from Manchester New Hampshire. The skipper is a handsome Brit. in his 60s with a gray beard and a shock of gray hair who built the boat from a bare hull in England and sailed it across the Atlantic, after extended cruising in the Mediterranean. His wife Enid, is a petite, distinguished-looking bundle of energy with a French-Canadian background.
We also traveled with Barefoot’n, a very roomy Hardin 45. The skipper Steve, is an ex submarine electronic engineer with a very dry sense of humor and the admiral Val is a no nonsense, very young looking grand mother, who loves to cook. They keep their boat in Hampton Virginia and operate it as a charter boat there. We decided to take on the Gulf Stream together.
Our first stop was JENSEN BEACH BRIDGE where we anchored on the SW side of the bridge. It was only a little sheltered, but it did the purpose for one night. The second stop after 7 swing bridges was at LAKE WORTH where we reconnected with Seaturtle 5. They were waiting for the return of their instruments that were being repaired. The third anchorage was at Lettuce Lake after 14 swing bridges. It is very small and shallow; the homeowners around the “lake” evidently did not like cruisers. We were approached by an officer in a sheriff’s boat who warned us that it was not an anchorage but still let us stay the night.
MIAMI YACHT CLUB
We finally made it to Miami after a further 13 swing bridges. We had stopped to pick up Diane’s prescription drugs, which had been addressed to a marina along the way, but they had not arrived. Upon arriving at the anchorage south of the Venetian Causeway we were reacquainted with Peter and Jessie on Rolger II. Unfortunately (for us) they departed early the next day, as there was a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. We also reconnected with Barefoot’n, which had been forced to go outside because of a fixed bridge, which was too low for them. They made a much faster trip by avoiding the swing bridges. Although there were a lot of bridges, we did not find it a problem.The Miami Yacht Club is beside the anchorage and owns some moorings in the bay. They charge $5.00 PER DAY for landing privileges, $10 for non-club members. That was as close to getting reciprocals that we managed, in the USA. We used their address for delivery of my credit card, which I had left at Vero Beach, and for a second (and this time successful) attempt to get Diane’s prescription shipped from Canada.
We rented car between the 3 couples and shopped for groceries, marine equipment, hardware items, We dinked to the Bayside Center, a Shopping plaza with a Spanish flavour, partly built around a marina, and to the east side of the causeway for groceries and movies.
And we waited for the weather window.
