March 27, Day 275 – Causeway Island, Fort Pierce to Vero Beach

We raised anchor today at 9:30 and headed out for our short trip to Vero Beach. We had a pretty easy run, arriving around noon. It was a very nice day and, since it was a weekend, the waterway was a little busy. We radioed the marina to ask for our mooring assignment. In this mooring field they often put more than one boat on a mooring ball. We had asked to be moored together. However, they told us there were no empty ones and assigned each of us to pair up with two other boats. In the meantime, Second Star decided to cruise around the mooring field and spotted an empty ball. We asked if we could use that one and were told to “go ahead”. We got all settled in by about 1:00 and then dinghied ashore to wait for our friends, Steve and Karen, who were driving from Orlando.

When they arrived we sat at a picnic table and had a cold one and chatted for awhile. Then, the 6 of us piled into their car and they proceeded to cart us around town to run errands. It’s great to have friends that are willing to do that. We stopped for lunch, took a quick ride to the beach (so they could say they’d made it to the ocean) and then back to the marina. We all dinghied back to the boat where we had happy hour on the Vineyard’s flybridge. All too soon, it was time for them to leave. We tried to talk them into staying, but since Steve flies out tomorrow, they felt it best they get back to Orlando. We took them back to the marina (after a very short ride out to the Intercoastal) and said our goodbyes. We certainly enjoyed seeing them again and sharing stories.

Back at the boat we watched the sunset, did a few chores and then off to bed. It had been a great day.

Second Star in the glow of the morning sunrise

Dolphins at play. As we left our anchorage and started up the Intercoastal, we were joined by many dolphins swimming about

We passed under a couple of bridges before reaching the Vero Beach Municipal Marina

This power plant was right after the bridge

Here is Monk's Vineyard and Second Star in the mooring field. The marina has both slips and mooring balls. We choose the mooring balls (much cheaper, plus we'd recently spent several days in a marina)

Jana, Gerry, Steve, Karen and Michael -- having a little refreshment

The mooring field just before sunset