Saturday 27th November Vero Beach, FL mile 952 (0 miles)

Cleaned boat sponsored by Limex, Clorox, Bounty and some other chemicals that I forgot.

Reprogrammed the Not So Smart Regulator, dumb as rocks.

Picnic on the Beach with Polar bears – the Sunshine State is sunny but we’re freezing.

The wife prepped a lovely picnic full of tremendeous cheeses, prosciutto, roast pork, olives, pears, Potato salad that I snuck in to the shopping cart and a C(h)ardonnay from Oz.

Cruizers pardy on the dock oh boy - jeezus - ready to leave bingo land!!!

Friday 27th November Vero Beach, FL mile 952 (0 miles)

Read books and relaxed.

Came out of turkey coma.

Another fab sunset



Dehydrated and hallucinating

Thursday 26th November Vero Beach, FL mile 952 (0 miles)

Turkey day.

Coma.

Cajun Spiced turkey wings roasted aboard..



Roasted stuffed turkey breast squished into the same oven



Thanksgiving dinner aboard Querencia



Later that night

Wednesday 25th November Vero Beach, FL mile 952 (0 miles)

Reprovisioning day! Yeeeehaaaa! We where in bad need of reprovisioning, running low on all essentials such as wine, beer, water, filet mignon, brie, eggs and bacon , crisps etc etc. Not to mention the Morbier.

Interesting how such a minor chore such as buying groceries can turn into a half days project when cruising on a sailboat…

The procedure is as follows:

1. Hop into to dinghy loaded up with cooler bags and credit cards, (they take up a lot of space).
2. Dinghy ashore to dinghy dock - must stand up to keep arse dry!
3. Catch public transport (Yikes – Haven’t caught a bus in 20 years…),( two things you never run after a bus and a man FYI)
4. Fill up two shopping carts to the brim- that was easy we were hungry………
5. Have grocery store call Taxi Van for transport back to Dinghy dock. – missus we have two carts, filled to the brim, by the way, don’t send Micky with the Lada.
6. Load dinghy to the brim and try to make space to fit wife
7. Dinghy back to mother ship and unload.
8. Make the stuff fit in the fridge.

You get the idea – four hours later one is definitely ready for an adult beverage.

Sardine Bay - we are all packed in 3 to a mooring ball - here's Bog Q on rhs of ball in foreground



Sunset Vero Beach



mooring Ball 6 shared with Cookie Monster and Whispering Sea

Tuesday 24th November Vero Beach, FL mile 952 (55 miles)

The Chart plotter decides to crap put every now and then, usually at the most inopportune times, and close to tricky bends. It seems that it is loosing power or maybe the elves have joined the union. Probably a bad connection but I have not yet been able to find the problem, possibly nasty gremlins. Thankfully we have plenty of handheld back up units and navigation is pretty straight forward on this stretch anyway thanks to the helpful hobbits.

Coast guard announces that waterspout has formed 5 miles off shore - batten down the hatches this could get snotty........ luckily Big Q outran it!!

Arrived in Vero Beach around 14:00 and hooked a mooring ball. The interesting thing with Vero Beach is that it is so popular with cruisers, especially around Thanksgiving, that several boats raft up to one mooring ball. We never experienced anything like it. It's gotta be the free bus rides (more about this later) that attracts the bingo crownd. Oh well, it should be interesting to raft up to some absolute strangers for a couple of days. We could always scare them off.

Pavarotti at max volume tends to confuse some people... Whatever - rest in Peace Luciano...

Sunrise at Cocoa............



Ooh the sky shouldn't look like this at lunchtime...



That's one weird looking formation.........



entering Vero Beach - mad clouds and beautiful homes.........

Monday 23rd November Cocoa Beach, FL mile 897 (52 miles)

Got up early to refill our propane gas bottle (that is the ting that keeps the stove and oven going and us fed - importante!!!). Bicycled up to the town and had the tank refilled. Now this sounds simple, but really it takes skill and determination to complete a task as this – Jorgen skillfully wiggled his bicycle thru horrendous traffic situations while balancing gas bottle between his teeth (and it was raining). Meanwhile Maria had to just make it through traffic on a flat banger with no brakes – padded pants where definitely required on this heap. The best one was, while trying cross a major intersection on the marina archived cycles, Stephen Roche passed us by on his shiny Peugeot and tight pants, almost fell off his bike laughing at the two of us, I was too focused on stayin’ alive, to give a shite!

Left New Smyrna around 10:00 and planned to head down to Titusville. Once in Titusville we decided that we did not like the look of the place and pushed on towards Cocoa Beach. Cocoa had a great anchorage, plenty of space, good holding and protected from wind and wakes, but no bicycles we had enough for one day thanks.

Chocolate Smoothies were enjoyed after dinner!

Skinny Canal and bridge on request........



If you look real hard NASA launch pad off to the East of our port

Sunday 22nd November New Smyrna Beach, FL mile 845 (0 miles)

Day of laundry and recovery from party. Walked to main street of the small town of Smyrna Beach, Nothing much there really. Had lunch at Jason’s which was shocking, don’t order anything with cow involved, yuck, no really yuck.

Happening place- killer traffic.........