29 53.501' N:81 18.42' W

2024-12-09

St. Augustine and Vero Beach Brrrrrrrr!

We had to pull out all our warm layers again for a very chilly but pleasant sail to St. Augustine.  We caught the 11:00 opening of the Bridge of Lions and snagged our mooring ball on the south side of the bridge.   We were a little deeper in the mooring field than we would have liked but St. Augustine is a very busy place and we were lucky to get a mooring.  As it was we could only get one for three days.  

Time to giddy up and layer up for a very chilly dinghy ride to shore.   After a walk around town and a coffee with Greg & Glenda we set out to track down Dewey Via for an evening of music.  We found him at Meehan's pub in the backyard.  A couple of very nice locals invited us to join them at their front and center fire table!   It was a great seat and thank goodness for that fire table because it was cold!   Dewey is our absolute favorite St. Augustine musician and probably the biggest reason we stop here every trip south. https://www.deweyvia.com

The weather continued to be very chilly especially first thing in the morning!   Lucky for us we have heat and the boat warms up quickly when it is on.   On Sunday we enjoyed at late lunch at Harry's courtyard with Greg, Glenda and "the boys" (2 Yorkies).  We set out for a big walk then of course we caught Dewey's early evening set at the Dog Rose Brewery. https://www.dogrosebrewing.com/

The Boys...Cooper and Jackson....

Monday morning was spent doing chores and prepping for our departure on Tuesday.   In the afternoon we walked a good distance to the Sailor's Exchange's new location.   On the way back we stopped for a visit with Greg and Glenda (Paradigm Shift) as they were remaining in St. Augustine for a couple more days before heading for points further south.  We probably won't see them again until after the new year in the Bahamas.

We departed St. Augustine on Dec 3, in bright sunshine but cold temperatures.  With an all-day push from the tide we were able to make it all the way to New Smyrna south of the last fixed bridge.    We made a beef stew in the pressure cooker which was the perfect meal for such a chilly day!  We had another day and a half of sunny, chilly, motoring but were able to make very good distances with help from the tide.  We arrived at Vero Beach City Marina on Dec 5 shortly after noon.  By 2pm we had fueled up, pumped out, filled the water tanks, picked up our new solar panels and rafted-up to another boat on a mooring ball.   At this mooring field if you don't want to raft you best find another place to stay!   They will put up to three boats on one mooring ball!

Finally, it is warmer!   I put away some of our winter layers which I hopefully won't need to pull out again!

Vero Beach has free public transit!  The bus stops right at the marina and it is very easy to get around making it a good place to finish up our provisioning.  By the time we leave Vero our freezer is full to the brim! The fridge is full to the brim! And Paul is always concerned that the snack cupboard is not full enough!