Vero Beach

Apr 7 thru Apr 9

--Blogpost written by Bob

Saturday, April 7

It is sunny but still cool this morning. We are having a peaceful breakfast at Cravings, a small cafe one block off the beach, as I get back to my low-carb diet.

Cravings occupies the northeast corner
of the single story building

Most of the cafe's seating is outdoors.

The current weather forecast is for rain on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We were planning on leaving Vero Beach on Tuesday morning but I think we will delay our departure until Thursday morning and avoid traveling during the heavy rain showers.

We went to a great farmer’s market at a beachside park after breakfast. All the produce looked fantastic! We bought tomatoes, strawberries, and peaches. 

The remainder of the day was very frustrating. We tried to get our propane tanks filled but all the propane dealers closed at noon (it’s Saturday) and we just missed out. We went back to the beachside park to get more strawberries but the farmer’s market had already closed for the day.

Late in the afternoon, the atmosphere was very hot and humid, even though we had a nice southerly breeze.  It seemed as though a thunderstorm could develop at any time.

Sunday, April 8

It has been cloudy and overcast all morning, rain is expected in the afternoon.  A day or two ago, I inquired (by email) about a cute Maine Coon kitten that is available at a Maine Coon Cattery in Maryland and another cutie that is available in eastern Pennsylvania.  Were anxiously awaiting a response from the Maine Coon cattery but it may not come until tomorrow.  I hope we hear from them tomorrow!

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We're on our second peach daiquiri each and we're now out of peaches and we're thinking about tomato daiquiris--its the only fruit we have left besides apples. 

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The sky is still overcast and it seems like a storm will cut loose at any second.  We hear thunder but its far away yet.  I had to run the engine this evening for about an hour because the solar energy generation wasn't great enough with the overcast skies we experienced all day.

Monday, April 9

We were up early this morning and had breakfast at Cravings again. The sun is out and it is hot and humid. We got two of our propane tanks refilled this morning after breakfast. We did some other shopping—mostly Maggie’s was shopping. Of significance, we picked up more strawberries for this evening’s daiquiris (so we wouldn’t try and use the tomatoes we have on hand).  I can see why a daiquiri was one of Hemingway's favorite drinks.

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We had some more email correspondence today with the Maine Coon cattery. We described how we would address the safety concerns about a little kitten going overboard while we are underway. In addition to the large net we carry onboard for possible cat retrieval, we intend to add lifeline netting all around our boat.

Here, Maggie demonstrates the use of our cat retrieval
net.  We’ve had it for 2 years and haven’t had
an occasion to use it.

We intend to add lifeline netting like shown on the
above photograph of someone else's
sailboat in Vero Beach City Marina.

As the afternoon progressed, it was still hot and humid but with a nice warm southwesterly breeze (12 to 15 knots). We fixed the two dinghy painters, turning them end-for-end, cutting off a frayed area, and making them both the same (shorter) length. 

These green lines are our
shortened dinghy painters.

Gradually, we’re getting ready to leave Vero Beach but before we depart, I want to get resolutions on the following matters: 

(1) our new Maine Coon kitten

(2) our RAINMAN water maker previously dropped off for service

Stay tuned for our last couple days in Vero Beach--a lot of surprises await.  Thanks for following our blog!