Thursday, November 21, 2013

Rafted Up, Rained In, & Running Dog Wild!

Here comes Jib! 1st day off the boat in 4+ days....Does it show?
Whew! It's been a crazy 36 hours. We started out yesterday with great weather & a beautiful sunrise (motor) sail down the ICW.
Things were awesome for about 4 hours....and then the latest cold front/weather system rolled on in.
Finally tucked in at Vero Beach mooring field.
Rain, rain, & more rain. As I write this blog, it has been raining now for 28 hours with brief intermissions here & there. It's really not that cold--70's with 100% humidity---just wet. We've never been to Vero Beach but have heard many great things about it. In fact, people call it "Velcro beach" because cruisers often end up staying longer they ever expected. While the Marina/mooring field are awesome...I don't really see the attraction. Grocery stores, boat stores, etc. are only accessible by bus, which does stop at the Marina every hour so, that is a convenience. And I must stress that the Marina & it's staff are great. There are awesome showers, huge dinghy dock, trash dumpsters, & laundry. I guess, for Malaika, it's much easier to be able to walk to stuff...then we can take Jib too. I can see why people like it here but for us....no velcro.
Did I say massive?
As I write "no Velcro" I have another bonus at Vero to tell you about. There is a MASSIVE dog park within walking distance of the Marina. There was a break in the rain this morning so we jumped at the chance to get jib off the boat....literally
Jib jumpin' into the dinghy

Woo Hoo! So excited!

Jib with his new buddy
We me a few dogs at the dog park & Jib ran & ran & ran. He was happy, happy, happy!!!
Hey!?! How'd this coconut get here?
So, we also met a pit bull today. We always do at dog parks. She was sweet & played with the other dogs briefly. I looked over & her owner was strapping a weird harness on her so I went to take a look.
I talked the owner about it...apparently "weight pulling" is a competitive sport with pit bulls. So, this 1yr old pup was training today. She did have a lot of muscles.
I think that's weird. Again, she was well behaved & seemed sweet but....why weight pulling? She didn't look like she was having any fun. Unlike the 2 Golden Retrievers in the park. We'll stick with ball chasing & coconut eating.
Notice both dogs tongues are hanging out....they want that ball so bad they can taste it!
After the dog park we walked over a mile to the beach only to find out..No Dogs Allowed!! Grrrr.....Florida beaches are not dog friendly. It sucks. So we trekked home just in time to beat the next down pour. And I do mean down pour. Within a couple of hours our dinghy was FULL of water.
Notice the floating flip flops
Scott had to get in and bail out like 30 gallons of water. It was unbelievable how much water dumped on us in a few hours. So, even though I said no Velcro for us...we're staying another day as the weather looks crappy tomorrow too. Hmmm....maybe there is something to this Vero vortex.
Malaika rafted up with our buddies Dan & Laurie on s/v Glory Days
So, maybe one more day here, then headed south again to Stuart, Florida. Another new place for us and all the cruiser's say it's an awesome place to hang out while waiting for a weather window to take off for the Bahamas. Plus.....several good friends are already there... Yay!!
Love & Miss everybody mucho!!
Michelle, Scott & Jib

3 comments:

Laura and Hans said...

I recognize that park! We were in Vero Beach and took Wilbur there. I made the mistake of letting people talk me into letting Wilbur off his leash (he does NOT listen) and before I knew it he was off and running toward the road and I swear he turned around and stuck his tongue out at me. Luckily a man coming into the park realized what was going on and called Wilbur to him and of course the big stinker went straight to him!! Thank god! Anyway, I heard the same thing about Velcro Beach but to each his own I guess because we didn't feel the need to hang around any longer than needed either. That's what's nice about living on a boat, you can always move. BTW, Jib is a beautiful dog.

Scott , Michelle Jesse, & Jib said...

Thank you so much re:Jib. We think he's pretty darn handsome too. What kind of dog is Wilber? Vero Beach isn't a "long time" anchorage for us but I must say....that dog park is amazing!!

Laura and Hans said...

Wilbur is a red nose pit bull. We're currently in St. Petersburg, FL where I'm extremely thankful that pits are accepted and we go to a fenced in, off leash park at least 3 times a week. He's just a fabulous boat dog and we love him to pieces.