Tuesday July 6, 2010 10 PM

So why are we in Vero Beach, 15 miles from the closest access to the Atlantic? No we are not going to start motoring up the Inter Coastal Waterway, we are here because Martha H told us to stop here. (When Martha H tells you to do something you better do it, just ask Terry H.) We plan to head back down to Ft Pierce and out into the Atlantic later this week. We’re still haven’t decided our next destination – we’ll let the weather help us decide.

Actually it is a very good place to stop to do shopping and make repairs. (All stops include making repairs.) There is a shuttle bus that stops about 20 ft from the dinghy dock and it will drop you off in front of the grocery store. (West Marine is across the street.) Should you need a trip to Target, Lowes, the Mall or Walmart, a simple bus transfer will get you there. The bus routes are set up so it’s impossible to miss the transfer. It is a hub and spoke system where the routes are all a half hour long with 2 buses per route. On the hour and half hour the busses start from each end. There is a central transfer station where the inbound buses meet and wait until they have all arrived and everyone has moved to the bus of their choice and then off they go.

We went to Vero Beach beach the other day and it is different than any other Florida beach area we have been to - not one trashy T-shirt shop. There were a number of brokerage offices, a Sotheby’s office and a Cartier’s. The clothing stores were of the high end type, with clothes that even I’m not old enough to wear yet. Must be plenty of old money around.

The beach is somewhat typical of Florida beaches with condos and hotels along the waterfront and little public  access. The open beaches we did see looked nice.

We watched the Vero Beach fireworks from the boat. They were being fired off about a half a mile away so we had great seats. Of course after the fireworks there was the Lemans type start as all the boats headed home. And of course many of the boats came through the mooring field causing some rocking and rolling of our boat.

There is an interesting phenomenon here with regards to the bugs. Yes there are bugs, but they are biting Roberta not me. She must have 50 no-see-um bites, I have none. There was another couple who just left and they reported the same thing – wife eaten alive, husband untouched. Don’t understand it, but I’m not complaining.