Vero Beach, known to many cruisers as “Velcro Beach” because it’s so pretty, relaxing and the town so easy to get to, will be our home for a few days and where we will share a Thanksgiving feast with 200 of our newest best friends!

We just knew this was a terrific place when we were greeted by this rainbow at breakfast our first morning here.

We arrived Sunday and stopped at the fuel dock for diesel and a pump out. Forgot to get water so we’ve been lugging our 5 gallon tank back and forth with each trip in to get more water. The marina is not very big, but they have the most washers and dryers I’ve seen anywhere. A plus for the 3,000 boats who spend 20,000 nights here each year, mostly during the winter months.

We are also experiencing our first “raft-up”.  Monday we were joined by POLAR PACER, a Prout catarmaran. Tom and Chris from Toronto, Canada. They’d been here before and helped us get in the “know”.

Tuesday was food acquisition day. We took the local bus into town for breakfast, a walk to Panera ( because I longed for a bagel) and then a large grocery trip. In the south, the grocery stores sell wine; so convenient when you often can only make one stop.
We dinghy back to our boat, and discover that we have more kids! Another catarmaran named MING (the boat was named after the original owner’s cat Ming- perhaps a Siamese?) was on our starboard side. Quite the Cat compound, as another two cats are rafted up on the mooring behind us.

Cat Raft- featuring the Big Cat

Soon after, SANUK, a Baba 30 monohull arrived (friends of POLAR PACER) and they became neighbors on the adjacent mooring.