Officially in South Florida!

13 December 2016

Melbourne – Vero Beach, Florida

Amongst cruisers, Vero Beach, Florida is known as “velcro” beach, because once you get here you are stuck and never want to leave.  Although we could have made it to our final destination of Fort Pierce in one long day, we opted to stop by Vero Beach to see what all the fuss was about.

Along the way we officially entered “South Florida”.  Per the cruising guide at mile marker 935 we should start to see the turquoise waters of South Florida.  Do you see the difference in the photos?

p1030206To be honest we didn’t really notice much difference.  We were definitely entertained when we entered a dolphin zone where we saw quite a few.  They seemed to be adults and juveniles as they swam together.    p1030205

p1030196Throughout the day we would see many random islands in the middle of the Waterway which broke up the scenery of open water we couldn’t navigate due to being too shallow, as we were forced to stay in the 200 foot / 60 metre wide channel.

Vero Beach Municipal Marina has a large mooring ball field where boats can tie up for a very reasonable fee.  The area is so popular that boats often have to raft up with multiple boats on a single ball.  We opted for a marina slip as we were only going to be here for one day.  p1030200

We can see why folks stay here for extended times, as the marina and mooring balls are in a very protected basin.  We will plan to come back in the future for a longer stay and take the time to explore the area.

But for now, we are ready to depart for Fort Pierce in the morning.