Velcro Beach

Life at "Velcro" Beach is drawing to a close.  People call Vero Beach "Velcro" beach because many who are just planning to make a short stop here end up staying.  Not us.  Not this time.  We'll be off in a week or so and to be honest, as much as we've enjoyed our stay here, we're both chomping at the bit to get moving.  I guess we're tumble weeds at heart.

So, how have we spent our time?  Jeff got a surf fishing lesson under the superb tutelage of fisher extraordinaire Grant.  We spent the day with Grant and Cindy at Sebastian State Park.  It appears there are very many catfish in Sebastian Inlet...  OR the SAME one was determined to get caught.  Jeff even took it off the hook by himself (squealing like a girl, twice, three witnesses). Either way, the guys were kept busy and Cindy and I enjoyed some relaxation in the sun.

Christmas 2015

On Christmas morning we were blessed to receive a Facetime call from my granddaughters as they were opening our gifts.  It was such a joy to be involved and to receive such warm thank-you hugs, even if they were through the computer.  Christmas away from home is just weird.  I don't know if I'll ever get used to it.


Fire!!



Today we had some excitement.  While we were happily engaging in our "morning chores" (Jeff organising the lazarette/me scrubbing the summer grunge off our water hose) we noticed a terrible smell.  We looked up to see smoke - lots of it and black - coming from a neighbour's boat. Jeff rushed to the scene and sure enough the boat was on fire and it was very quickly spreading out of control.  Luckily there were fire hoses on the dock and after smashing the glass to get them out of their stands, Jeff and a couple of other guys held things under control (barely!!) until the fire trucks arrived.  It was pretty dicey and could have quickly gone very badly.  Scary!  We feel so badly for the owners, fellow Canadian boaters who were fully stocked up and all ready to head off to the Bahamas in the next few days.  What a heart breaker.  We understand it was an electrical short that caused the fire.  They were out for the day and no one was hurt.

On a happier note, our friends Joe and Connie on the boat Chesapeake will arrive later today to spend a few days and help us bring in the New Year.   Fun!  It will be nice to catch up again.