Waking up on Christmas morning and putting on shorts is my kind of holiday!
Vero Beach morning–the dolphins swim around us throughout the day!
We’ve been here a week and it’s already a blur of shopping and visiting friends. After the weekly cruiser’s gathering in the marina on Thursday we followed Larry and Suzi (formally Kanau, now CLODS – cruisers living on dirt) to their new home in Vero Beach. They kindly invited Bailey along and he proceeded to plop himself on their sofa and pretend like he’s home!
Moondance in Vero Beach
John and Carolyn Smith invited us over for dinner to see their beautiful new home in Port St. Lucie. We had a nice time catching up with them along with Jim and Binnie. We’ll still be here for a while so we can catch up with the rest of the former Chesapeake Sailing Club members!
Sunday afternoon we joined Sara and Tim (Tommy Dundee) for lunch at the Riverside restaurant near the marina. They’re crossing to the Bahamas for the first time so we provided our ‘expert’ advice. Coming back to the boat we ran out of gas in the dinghy. It was too far to row back so we made our way over to the nearest raft of boats and begged for a tow. Barry (Cantabile) was gracious enough to tow us all the way back. We haven’t used the dinghy since Wrightsville beach and are a little out of practice!
We went dinghy caroling last night in the mooring field. The announcement said that we could join the carolers or stay on board to offer libations. We decided that the receiving of libations outweighed the giving! Accompanied by an accordion and a guitar, we sang our way around the mooring field. It was fun!
Bailey is excited about going caroling
As far as future plans, we’re not sure when we’ll leave. Skip just finished taking a round of steroids to reduce the remaining swelling in his finger. Although it helped, he’s still not convinced that it’s fully healed. He still has some stiffness and pain. We’re going to wait and see whether it gets any worse in the next few days as the steroids wear off.
We are watching the weather for possible crossing opportunities to the Bahamas. The boat is almost fully stocked, maybe another run to the liquor store. We had to pull out the sleeping bags out of the box of cold weather clothes we planned to send home when the temperature dropped into the 30’s for a few nights. Maybe I’ll keep them on board for a while…
Hope everyone is having a great holiday. We decided to forego the cruiser’s pot luck and are joining a small group at Mulligan’s on the beach later!
Beyond the Boat 
December 25, 2012 at 11:26 am
Merry Christmas from Wisconsin. It’s white and cold here and reading your blog makes me think staying where it’s warm would have been fun. Dinghy caroling sounds entertaining. I hope Skip’s hand improves. We’ll cross to the Bahamas early February. What is email address there so we can find you?
Peace & love,
Laureen & Miles
December 25, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Merry Christmas from Little River. We would be leaving tomorrow, but have severe wx predicted with Gale Watch in effect. At least this place is secure and calm enough for serious cooking. Last night Janet whipped up deep water scallops wrapped with prosciutto, latkes, and brussel sprouts. Today is tenderloin and… It isn’t just armies that travel on their stomachs!
December 25, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Kira and Minnow send Christmas greetings to Bailey! We are enjoying being at anchor at Tenacatita, our favorite place. Today we will make a Christmas dinner from a rack of lamb and whatever else we find around the boat. Here’s hoping that Skip’s hand continues to improve. s/v Legacy, Tenacatita, Jalisco, Mexico
December 26, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Hope that you both had a great Christmas…. we did with about 120 other cruisers here on Green Turtle Cay. Weather, for a change, was perfect for the day. Hope to see you once again in the not too distant future over here, we will likely be in HopeTown for February but might venture further south in March. Look after the hand Skip! Best D & C.