Vero Beach

Mar 29 thru Mar 31

--Blogpost written by Bob

Thursday, March 29

This morning began with overcast skies, pretty much like yesterday.  We went out to Cravings (a cute little cafe near the beach) for a delicious breakfast sandwich and coffee.  

The beach under cloudy skies in the morning.

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Little by little we are getting back to normal after Lizzie's passing.  Our other (now, only) cat, Captain Jack, is finding himself with much more attention lately and he takes it for a while then retreats to some quiet hiding place onboard.  His name is certainly not appropriate for his personality.  At the shelter before we brought him home they named him "Just Jack" and as it turned out, his previous name pretty accurately reflects his personality.

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Today, we pulled up the boat's floorboards and traced the wiring for the masthead light from the base of the mast to the breaker on the electrical panel--it is a 2-conductor cable.  So, we determined that we have to run a new 3-conductor cable from the top of the mast to the electrical panel so that we can properly wire the anchor light. 

We purchased the above selector switch for use with the
TriAnchor Light so that we can switch between the
masthead tricolor light, the anchor light, and
the strobe light (used for emergencies).

More on this subject later as we get more into the re-wiring project...

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Vero Beach began as a citrus shipping point.  Henry Gifford started the first post office in the area in 1891 and used the name Vero.  Most historians think he named it after his wife, Vero.  As it grew into a city, it was incorporated (in 1919) as the City of Vero.  In 1925, the City of Vero was re-incorporated as the City of Vero Beach and was transferred from St. Lucie County to Indian River County.

The City of Vero Beach consists of 13.1 square miles and is located about 190 miles south of Jacksonville and 135 miles north of Miami on Florida's east coast.  The City's population is currently estimated at 15,220.

It is noteworthy that Piper Aircraft Inc. has been building Piper airplanes in Vero Beach since 1957 in a plant at the Vero Beach Municipal Airport.  Piper was at one time the largest private employer in Indian River County and is prominent in the history of Vero Beach.

Friday, March 30

This morning just as I was sitting down at my navigation desk and wondering about the day's goals, Maggie called my attention to the leaking faucet in the galley.  Well, it wasn't leaking past the packing and out through the nozzle, but from the base of the spout.  I backed off the packing nut and the spout fell off in my hand.  The base of the spout had corroded thru all around just below where the o-ring seats.  I had just replaced this entire faucet in late January 2016--it's only 26 months old!  (The original faucet lasted 33 years and we only replaced it because it was starting to look ratty.)

The broken spout lies on the stainless steel
surface behind the two spigots.

The area that is corroded is constructed from chrome-plated brass.  The corrosion was probably caused by some of the questionable water quality we encountered in the Bahamas, probably a little salt content in the water.  (Some of the water that we put into our fresh water tanks in the Bahamas was measured to have up to 470 ppm solids!)

I managed to find an identical (complete) replacement in Stuart, FL.  We drove to Stuart this morning only to find out that their inventory is kept in Fort Lauderdale and we couldn't just drive there and pick it up.  The best we could do is have it delivered to us at the marina on Tuesday.  So we ordered it.

The tough marine environment and the age of our sailboat provide an unending source of maintenance jobs for me.  I guess I should be glad for these many opportunities but I'm not so fond of them.

Saturday, March 31

Again, the day started out overcast, but with wind from the north.  Maggie just left to visit her friend in Sarasota--she'll be gone until sometime Monday afternoon.

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As I’m sitting in the cockpit on this cool Saturday morning, I hear a rhythmic swishing sound approaching the boat.  It gets louder by the minute. Then a rowing scull powered by about six young women appears about 30 feet off the port side the boat as they quickly traverse through the mooring field.

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Captain Jack sleeps on what we 
call "the catbird's seat."

This morning as I am writing this blogpost, Captain Jack is asleep in what we call the "catbird's seat."  We use this phrase because the position offers visibility in all directions and the breeze blows into this area when the front window is out.  "Catbird's seat" is an American expression meaning in a position of advantage or "sitting pretty."  (A catbird is a small thrush known for its ability to imitate the call of a cat.)  The phrase was first used in print in a short story (called "The Catbird Seat") by James Thurber published in The New Yorker on November 14, 1942.  It's funny how such an unusual phrase continues to be used to this day.

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One of the difference we’ve noticed since returning from the Bahamas is the abundance of insects here.  Apart from the few areas where no-see-ums were present, there were very few insects in the Bahamas.  Here in Florida it is common to see flies of all different sizes and various gnats.  I also don’t recall seeing brown pelicans in the Bahamas and they are so numerous here in southern Florida.

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The mooring field at Vero Beach City Marina.  This
view is looking north and our mooring (#52) is
way in the background on the left
hand side of this photo.

More on our adventures in Vero Beach in our next blogpost...Thanks for following our blog!