Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thanksgiving in Vero Beach

Thanksgiving in Vero Beach is a wonderful event for cruisers. With inexpensive moorings and being rafted up with like minded people, the community is strong. Hundreds of cruisers shared a terrific potluck Thanksgiving dinner. We came across several friends boats we had met in previous locations including "Bird on a Wire" and "Salty Paws". "Bird on a Wire" has two young ladies on board that became friends with Emma and Ally when they shared trick or treating in Oriental, NC. We met "Salty Paws" in Cape May, NJ where they spent a lot of time educating us on places to go and things to see along the East Coast.

Vero Beach has a nice park that you can dinghy to and walk the 100 yards to the ocean. There is a great little beach restaurant (Cash Only) that has good breakfast and lunch. This spot became a favorite because they had Chicago Hot Dogs on the menu. Being from Chicago, the Red Hots were a little piece of home for Jennie. Emma fell in love with the corn dogs (she swears that these are the only ones she likes). Ally fell in love with the spicy peppers on the Chicago Hot Dogs and with Chula Hot Sauce. The girls were thrilled with the bunny rabbits and large turtles that freely roamed the park.
Getting in the Christmas spirit wasn't hard for the residents of Vero Beach. We attended their Christmas parade complete with a Manatee for Santa's sleigh. The parade was one of the longest we have seen.
In Vero Beach, we were rafted with two other catamarans, "Valkyrie" and "Slow Mocean".

Sunny and Blake on "Slow Mocean"

















and Michael on "Valkyrie" became great friends. We hope to catch up with them in another port.









Sunny was kind enough to provide hair cuts for the whole family. How is this for a new concept salon?





Thanks to their advice, our next stop, Miami South Beach we will tuck behind Rivo Alto Island along the Venetian Causeway. We are buddy boating on this 24 hour trip with Lowell and Jane on "Edelweiss".