Tag Archives: Vero BEach

Bullseye – November 10, 2022, Vero Beach, Florida, USA

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Bullseye – November 10, 2022, Vero Beach, Florida, USA

Going to be a direct hit it appears
Not a sign you want to see. Hurricane watch

And just like that, we have been through two hurricanes in the last month.  Hurricane Nicole is the first hurricane to make landfall in November in over 40 years and only one of three in the last 100 years.  The odds were in our favor when we launched the boat to catch a crossing window and we expected to be in the Bahamas by now.  Clearly, we are not.  It started out likely to be a tropical storm so we prepper the boat for the high winds by adding more mooring lines, removing as much windage as we could (removing the dodger are made for starters), and lashing down the main sail.  We made a quick run to the grocery store since it was the last time we would be able to go for a while and we came across this on our dinghy ride.  It was inoperable but interesting none the less.

As the storm got closer, it was clear we were in for worse conditions than originally thought and Sailing Hubby decided it was time to get off the boat since there was nothing more we could do and the conditions on the boat would be very unpleasant at best.  We headed to the local Holiday Inn on Tuesday to wait out the hurricane.

Lines lines and more lines
Wrap that sucker up tight
Chafe protection is more important then lines.

We walked to the boat, pouring rain or not, twice a day. Good way to get our walk in since the marina was only about a mile and a half away. The finger docks were flooded, coastal flooding had started, but as of today, our boat & dinghy survived the worst, which was 75 mph winds with gusts closer to 85. The last time we experienced this type of wind was our first real squall in Royal Island, Bahamas and it was rather terrifying! I am glad we are on land.

Lots of water

The coast was hit pretty hard, and I am grateful we were in the intercoastal and dodged this bullet. Ironically it isn’t our first hurricane together and one of our friends who is weathering the storm in the Bahamas said “Gee, you guys are in great spirits since you almost lost everything.” I hadn’t thought of it quite that way til he said it and our perspective was we really didn’t want to lose the boat, but we had each other, insurance, and our passports. All is well.

Crazy surf!

Clearing the Cobwebs – Vero Beach, FL, USA – November 3, 2022

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Clearing the Cobwebs – Vero Beach, FL, USA – November 3, 2022

I have to admit, we are a little rusty. However, after 10 days in the water (4 of which we have travelled), 20 hours on the engines…Sailing Hubby’s honey-do list has only gotten longer. It’s to the point of silly now since we have things breaking that I didn’t even know we had. For example, there’s this thing that regulates the water pressure on the boat and makes it easier for you to adjust the hot and cold water in the shower and not get scalded. Yep, ask me how I can tell you that’s broke! Apparently, we need a new “accumulator” since ours has a large hole and no longer pressurizes. Then we found out we might have a leak in one of our diesel tanks, if that turns out to be the case Ron gets to syphon out all the gas in both tanks and weld them with JB Weld (whatever that is apparently fixes it). It’s not cheap to leak diesel and not really safe to have fuel in your bilges. One of the tachometers needed rewired, our speed over ground(SOG) isn’t showing up on the speed display since we changed our chart plotter, our chain snubber hook for the anchor bridal doesn’t work (and we get to replace that), and the list goes on……and on.

On the positive side, it looks like due to weather, we will need to stay in Vero Beach for about a week and will have time to do this stuff.  We can get our necessary parts shipped to the marina, we are still in the states which means we don’t have to pay import tax on anything we need to fix stuff, and my magically handy husband knows how to do all this crap.  As far as the weather goes, we are watching a storm that is going to pass through starting Friday-Sunday and hoping it isn’t a tropical storm.  We are all tucked in a little marina on a mooring to wait it out just in case.

We also got to see a launch as we headed down the space coast which is always very cool.

See it?

And after 10 days, the boat routines are starting to feel familiar again.  I drove a good chunk of the intercoastal to try and get some experience and learn the new chart plotter.  We have anchored a few times to test out our new chain (which is how we know it’s broke), docked a few times, and picked up a mooring so we are dangerous enough now to head south when weather permits.  A crossing window may be upon us after this storm goes through but will need to wait til we get closer to see.

For now though, Vero Beach is a cool little town with walking trails, beaches, and a terrific farmer’s market on Saturday.  We also have friends heading here in a couple days as well so I am sure we will find something to entertain us for a while!