Goodbye Vero Beach, Onward South
Anchorage at Fort Pierce
It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Vero Beach, our home for the last five weeks. We went out for a final dinner with Marie, Jack and Dan (another Boulderite) for our final farewell. Much of the time there was like “Boulder East,” visiting with a bunch of Colorado friends who happen to be in Florida for at least part of the winter. I was quite surprised how sad I felt to leave “Velcro” Beach, I had gotten used to a lot of the quirks of the town and we made quite a few new friends at the marina. Surely we will see many of them again.
But we are on a vessel that demands adventure!
After topping off our fuel and water, we motored three hours down the ICW back to the Ft. Pierce inlet. Almost immediately we noticed a couple of problems. We had a leak that was getting worse, and our VHF radio seemed to be freaking out on us. On top of that we heard the weather forecast calling for high winds starting this weekend. Very high winds. Our plan was to anchor at the inlet and stage for a further hop down the Florida coast and wait for a window to cross to the Bahamas.
We were able to determine the source of the leak, it was an anti-siphoning valve for the water lift muffler. We had to do some research. I discovered this was a common problem due to salt accumulation in the valve, an inexpensive plastic part easily replaced – if you can find one. We consulted with Mike, the boat expert we hired at Vero, and he warned us that it wasn’t a big problem yet but would become one very soon and would be catastrophic for the engine. This means: NEED TO FIX ASAP.
Also, the VHF seemed to be not working well again when we called the Vero Beach marina. That too is critical, though we do have a backup plan, our handheld walkie-talkie, but it’s a poor substitute especially for communicating over miles of ocean. So today we got busy searching for parts and testing equipment.
We found many of the radio parts we needed at a giant marine store here in town. We also were able to acquire the proper valve replacement, including a second trip into town to get teflon tape to seal the connection. On top of all that, we finally got our solar panels delivered right to the dinghy dock.
Result: After a really long day the engine looks fixed, the radio appears to work, and the solar panels are stored and just about ready to be installed. We plan to head down to West Palm Beach next and ride out the upcoming weather. If everything remains stable, we’ll take the next weather window to the Bahamas!
Posted in Sailing by Mark with comments disabled.