On a mooring at Vero Beach City Marina, you can spot the boats with the brown mustache, like us, who have arrived recently from the tannin waters of the mid-Altantic states. Boats come and go each day on their trek south, but we’ve stayed here about a week with a rental car which made things very convenient to run errands and get some visits in!
First to greet us were Scott & Tina (Sangaris), who just beat us here (by car) from Annapolis. They have a lovely place on Orchid Island and fed us a lasagna dinner the day we arrived, ground still moving under our feet. We’ll save them a spot in the Bahamas after their trip to Nairobi!
The next day we all met with Jeff, Jane & their daughter, the happy new owners of a Manta 42 catamaran Carina, a boat that we knew from our Connecticut days.
With an excess of eggs, I was inspired to make a brussels sprout, scallion, bacon & feta frittata that turned out yummy.
The next day we took a two hour drive north to visit Mom & Chuck, who unfortunately we had to take for a brief stay in the hospital to stop some uncontrolled blood-thinner bleeding. Both Chuck and I were wrapped in blankets in the over-air-conditioned hospital! We shared some good meals with Cathy, including a bacon-filled brunch.
On the way back to Vero Beach we made a few pit-stops. First stop Titusville to visit Nick & José (Jedi) who in addition to their Sundeer are now landowners (!) at their lovely RV park/home where we had lunch with her visiting parents.
After a compulsery Walmart visit we stopped by the Titusville City Marina to see if we’d run into any cruising friends. Go figure ~ there was Sam the Skull! It’s been seven years since we sailed with John & Barbara, waaay back during our first year out and here we are again, ready to go sailing and get some lobsters.
In the evening we swung by Melbourne to visit Spencer, Rachel and Sebastian ~ already a smart 5th grader!
It was great to see them again, catch-up on the past few years and meet their newest family member Lego with his adorable ears. What a wonderful day.
On our last day with the car, we completed a final errand with Homeland Security at the St. Lucie International Airport to get our Local Boaters Option (LBO) numbers so that we can leave the country and check back into the USA with just a phone call and the LBO number.
Eventually we had to return the car, but not after getting fresh foods all stocked up so that we're ready to go to the Bahamas this weekend.
