To Manatee Pocket via Vero Beach
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Wed 16 Dec 2009 21:30
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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.
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