To Manatee Pocket via Vero Beach

AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Wed 16 Dec 2009 21:30
27:09.18N, 80:11.76
 
We are now in Manatee Pocket, a large creek off the ICW home to numerous marinas but as yet no obvious signs of any elusive Manatees. Will we ever see one?
 
Leaving Titusville behind we've had a couple of balmy warm - hot even, days with the penalty of early morning fog. In fact we anchored just south of the Melbourne bridge by the causeway overnight and despite being 200yards off shore we could hear the traffic coming off the bridge but couldn't see a thing. Despite several false starts when we thought the fog was clearing the following morning it would envelope everything once more and the bridge would disappear into the mire. Very frustrating. Ships diver went in to clear the log and inspect the undersides. After several days the log is working again.
 
With the fog clearing around 1000am we made it to Vero Beach that evening which is affectionately known with cruisers as Velcro beach as once you arrive you tend to stick around for quite a while. It's understandable as the location is perfect with all-round shelter with all craft not berthed in the marina secured to mooring balls at $13.90 per night. No anchoring is allowed and to be honest its understandable as it would be chaotic in the close confines of the creek. The downside is that at busy times you have to raft on the mooring balls so never know if you will have a neighbour for the night. We didn't.
 
Once again this morning we were enveloped in fog which cleared much earlier due to a rising north wind which was scheduled to blow 15-20 knots by late morning. And it did, assisting us with our southbound progress to Manatee Pocket. This location puts us due east of Lake Okeechobee the large lake situated in Central Florida shown on most maps. The weather is now much warmer and we are back into shorts for a while as it's going to cool down over the next few days with one of the Gulf of Mexico lows heading through Florida over Friday/Saturday.