Vero Beach is a large mooring field, with 50 mooring balls. However, since Vero Beach is a popular place, there are sometimes up to 3 boats on one mooring ball. We shared a mooring ball with a woman and her golden retriever. Our first night there a group of kayakers were paddling around the anchorage singing Christmas Carols. Some of them were wearing Santa hats and had their kayaks decorated with Christmas lights. That was a fun welcome. There was also a lunar eclipse that night, so we all tried to stay up and watch that. Some of us were more successful than others. :)
One reason why Vero Beach is so popular is that there is a free shuttle bus that which stops at Wal-Mart, grocery stores, West Marine, Lowes, Best Buy, and a mall! So the first few days we were there we did lots of provisioning for our time in the Bahamas. We couldn't find a small Christmas tree so we decided to wrap garland and light around our mast and hang some ornaments there. It was quite festive. We also made a gingerbread village, which Tazzie proceeded to eat two days later! Needless to say, Tazzie was not very popular that evening.
We had a nice Christmas morning on the boat, and the weather was actually warm enough for Mom and Christine to take a walk on the beach. At 2 o'clock(or 1400 hours, or 4 bells), we all attended a cruisers Christmas potluck. Dad and Erin joined two other musicians and played carols and other songs.
On Monday we had a nice visit from the Bruckels. They are a couple we met many years ago when we volunteered at TrawlerFests. Mom and the girls would work the registration table with Esther. Michael, at age 7, was Dennis' assistant. His fondest memory was setting up the beer coolers! The Bruckel's are still a lot of fun, and they brought some games and snacks (crab salad-yum!). They also brought some brain teaser puzzles to keep us out of trouble! We laughed a lot as they shared stories from their years of cruising.
Taking advantage of access to a mall, the kids went shopping on Tuesday! They were loaded with Christmas money from all of our generous relatives. Of course they had to keep their purchases small to fit on the boat!
Wednesday morning books were delivered to us from The Operation Bahamas Project. This a group who coordinates the delivery of schoolbooks to children in the Exumas. We only had space for 3 boxes, but it feels good to be able to participate. Wednesday afternoon, we left Vero Beach, and anchored out halfway to Lake Worth.
Thursday we arrived at Lake Worth, which is were we will wait for good weather to cross to the Bahamas! Tonight is New Year's Eve, and we are having some friends over that we met in Vero Beach. Michael is planning on jumping off the boat and into the water at midnight! Check back next year to see if he was actually brave enough! Happy New Year!
(edit: I was hoping to put up more pictures, but I'm having trouble with the internet, so I can only get these two. Check out the Picasa link in a few minutes for more pictures!)
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| Our "Christmas Tree" |
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| Dolphins! |
1 comment:
Sounds like you guys had a great Christmas! Vero Beach is a nice provisioning place. Lake Worth has a Publix right by too, the West Marine is a ways down the road but it's walking distance. We are making our way to the Eleuthera's next week then Exumas, Abacos have been great though, the beaches are quite pretty. Hopefully we will see you in Georgetown?! Another family is saving us a spot. We heard there might be a weather windows in this week.
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