Underway again # 7 Southport to Vero Florida.

Roman continued through South Carolina. On Oct. 30 the tide was with him and he made a phenomenal 71 miles.  That night he reflected in his journal about the beauty of the full moon reflecting on the Waccamaw River.

Going through Georgia requires patience.  Hell's Gate is named quite aptly but Roman waited for the tide and had no problems, but little Mud River was literally that and Roman led several boats through average depths of only 4.7 ft which meant he literally ploughed the channel for the other boats. 

Finally Roman made it to St. Augustine, Florida where he met up with John from Saber Tooth who was going to leave his boat in St Augustine while he and Nora went home for a couple of months.  They would not be back in Florida until mid January.

 

 Roman also looked for a place to leave his boat while he came back to Toronto to get me.  He decided to go to Cocoa where we had seen a great marina the last time we were here.


Cocoa Village Marina was a wonderful choice.  It is very well maintained with warm friendly staff and good security.

This is the dock where Moya Mreeya waited for us.

There is a park close to the marina and a village with quaint little shops.

 

 

Thursday November 15 Roman flew home from Orlando.  The days flew by.  We had a pre-Christmas dinner as we would not be here for Christmas.  Finally on December 7, I got the OK to go south.  I still am walking on two canes and the doctor said it would take two full years before the bone grew totally back but I can weight bear as tolerated.  On December 13 after all our errands were done, we left by car off the continue our adventure.

The scenery was beautiful.  The days sunny and warm.

We couldn't have asked for better travelling weather.

It had been years since we drove to Florida. and we were surprised how good the roads were and how quickly we got there.  It took two very pleasant days to get to Cocoa Village Marina where we stayed until January 9.

 

 

View from the clubhouse. 

 

 

 

 

It is very easy to stay at Cocoa Village Marina and hard to get away.  We met several very nice boaters and spent New Year's with them. 

 

After we left our car in our friend's Dave parking spot in Fort Lauderdale (Dec.27) we had no car but everyone was quick to offer to take us or give us the keys to their car.  Several boaters are spending the winter just at the marina.  It has great facilities and is spotlessly clean.  You have power, internet and even cable which we did not discover until just before we left. We were too busy to even think about it.

 

We did find time to go to the beach while we still had the car.  After that it was too hard for me on the buses as it is about 20 minutes by car but it takes 2 buses about 1 and half to the public beach which is very nice and surprisingly with few people. It was in the 70's in the daytime.  The tourists all wear shorts and bathing suits and brave the cold water (not us).  The Floridians are walking around with long sleeves and long pants and laughing at "those tourists". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It's all a matter of perspective.  When coming from the cold and snow 70's seem very warm indeed.  We have provisioned the boat well even buying several cases of beer as beer is very expensive in the Bahamas.  Yes we decided to go to the Bahamas this year and leave the Keys and Cuba and beyond to next year when I will be able to walk well and actually sightsee and explore.

So finally after a day with dense fog, another with heavy winds and then 2 days of computer difficulties, we left early in the morning bound for Vero. 

 

We anchored near Sebastian and the next day at Vero we took a dock where it be easier for me to get in and out of the boat.  Our friend Gerald lives in Vero and he came down to the docks in his little silver grey Miata and took me for a spin --too bad Roman, only room for one passenger.

We picked up some odds and ends and then we had supper together on the boat. 

Living on the boat is one chore after another.  We took advantage of the sunlight to dry a few things in Vero.

 One of the wonders of boating is having the time to really look at the beautiful world around us.  In the city how often do we stop and really look? 

The sky is different everyday and sometimes several times in one day.