We continue to mostly hunker-down at our marina in Vero Beach.  The COVID rates have been on the rise over the last several weeks & will continue to increase, especially as more snowbirds flock down after the holidays.  We are being even more careful now, relying mostly on grocery & other delivery services (which works out well since we turned in our rental car last week).

Projects are a constant reminder that we live on a boat!  This one was a 2 hour fix after 2 months of head-scratching.  Rainy days would result in a tiny puddle of water accumulating under the galley fridge.  It turned out the fuel fill deck plate was leaking, running along the hose, under the fuel tank, thru a weep hole, down the inside of the hull to about 5′ away from the source!

Other fun projects have included re-installing our re-built watermaker & the arduous task of waxing the hulls.

There is always something to be on the lookout for – Momma Manatee and her calf cruising around the marina.

There have been a record number of launches from Cape Canaveral this month. Always cool to see even from afar!

Florida weather has been kind to us with daytime temps mostly in the 70’s to low 80’s.

The big news is the Christmas weather – the coldest in 21 years!  Floridians are actually excited to have a Christmas in the 50’s! Nighttime to the low 40’s … burrrrr! The news stations are even warning people to watch out for iguanas falling out of the sky (some sleep in the trees, get stunned by the cold & fall down)!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all!  Keep safe!!

This has been a challenging year for cruisers heading south. While there was only the one recent east coast tropical storm (the east coast being the exception) the winds have been nearly endless & the rain in the southeast has been way over normal. While we arrived a week earlier than planned, most cruisers are many weeks behind.  In addition to the challenging weather, there have been the COVID issues & delays, along with a few drawbridge breakdowns further up north.  Ahhhh…. 2020.

This little (expensive) lump of metal & composites turns salt water into perfectly good, pure drinking water

Jupiter Donuts “They’re Out of this World!”

For us, the projects progress in spite of the wind & rain with lots of heat & humidity thrown in too.  First on the list was removing & bringing our watermaker to the “spa” for some R&R.  While I’ve made various minor repairs over the last 4 years, it has became time for more attention than my abilities allow.  Facing a 5 hour round-trip drive to Fort Lauderdale, we knew we’d be getting hungry, so ….

Other exciting projects include oil changes, water pump impeller replacements, upgrades to various systems & other fun stuff.

COVID concerns are dictating our life (as with most of you), so Florida’s somewhat slackness takes some getting used to. While grocery stores are pretty good (the Publix stores do a good job including wiping down carts between customers), smaller stores are a different story! At the hardware store, I didn’t even immediately notice that the employee who came right up to me face to face to “help” didn’t even have on a mask & only half of the customers did. It took me a while to check-out, as I left the line when a couple of guys were literally bumping into me, yelling over to their friends in front. Rationally I know non-N95 masks only help minimally, but it’s still unnerving to have non-masked people “in your face”. On the other hand, the COVID rates in most of Florida are much lower than the national average, schools are open, there have been minimal large spikes in cases & the fatality rate (at least in this county) has dropped drastically … so maybe that warm air & Florida sunshine makes the difference?!