Go swimming water

We are still in Velcro Beach working on second guessing the weather. A cold front went through a few days ago. With a pretty tight mooring field, my modest boat handling skills, almost empty water tanks, almost full holding tank, and a wind forecast in the 30 knot range, it seemed like a good idea to get to the fuel dock and back before it got here. And it was. By afternoon the winds were ramping up, Kintala was dancing around the mooring ball like a puppy trying to pull out of its collar, and the temperature went into free fall. (It was a modest free fall by the standards being set by this winter, but still a free fall in FL.) Wind chills dipped below freezing and the watch cap and heavy coats were pressed into service once again. This didn't stop us from having a good time during Joel and Emily's visit, but we didn't do much beach walking either.

Then the cold front turned into a warm front. The winds didn't ease much, just switched around after picking up a load of water. When it rains hard for 24 hours an amazing amount will collect in the dink. We finally found a use for that ungainly West Marine pump we have been dragging around for a couple of years. After nearly 36 hours of steady rain, then another 12 of intermittent showers, we woke this morning to sunny skies, warm temperatures, and slowly building winds. Yep, the cold front turned warm front has turned into a cold front again. It is supposed to pass over late this afternoon and early tomorrow. But then there is a rumor of a two day weather window that might see us to Ft. Lauderdale on an outside, 21 hour run. Might. Like I said, second guessing the weather.

There really is no big push to get further south. Velcro Beach earned the title with modest mooring ball fees, good facilities, free pump-out and water, and a free bus into town and to the beach. The beach and the user friendly boardwalk area are within a longish stroll of the dingy dock, which is also included in the mooring fee. (This has been our first experience with a dink dock where the little boats pile up two and three deep ... kind of funky fun in its own way.) Over all cruiser friendly, and with a couple of first rate ice cream stores to boot.

There are only two downsides. The first is that, like virtually every marina we have been in so far, when they say "Free Wi-Fi" don't get too excited. It is free alright, but it is also miserably slow and doesn't span the mooring field out as far as we are. (And we are not that far out this time.) If Internet accessibility is the measure of a First World society the USA is falling way, way behind.

Worse though, at least for me, is there is no good place to swim and snorkel, and I really want to get back into swimming and snorkeling. I would think about doing a little SCUBA again but we stopped in a dive store to pick up some new masks. Damn, when did SCUBA turn into space walking? All this gear and $$ to bob around in water that is, most of the time, less than 50 feet deep, usually less than 20? I mean, it looks like good fun and all, but if I'm going to gear up like Neal Armstrong about to go walking on the moon, I want to go walking on the moon. Beside, put all that stuff on Kintala, and I'd have to sleep on the deck.

Vero is a nice place, but we will still try find some clear, warm, go swimming, water before we stop going south.