They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum,
And they charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em.
Don't it always seem to go
You don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.

Jonie Mitchell

From the Captain

Moving north

3/22/14 Vero Beach to NASA Space Center Causeway, 59.4

We woke early and left our mooring at the Vero Beach Minicipal Marina. It feels good to be moving again. We have spent the last 5 days visiting my mom in Boynton Beach. Time to heat up, if that's the polar opposite of chill out. Time to rewind, to compress, to discharge the inner battery.

Moving up the waterway, lost in the rhythm of the red and green channel markers, I am wondering, "If you take a vacation from a vacation, is that the same as work?" Not unlike combining two negative phrases to make a positive statement.

We wonder how long we could live this nautical life. If you discount missing friends, family, and community, that is. Thoreau lived at Walton Pond for two years, and I'm not sure why he gave it up. I'm going to re-read the book. Perhaps he accomplished what he set out to prove--that a simple life lived close to nature was the way to restore a sense of humanity he found missing in 1845. Of course, that was before television. In Florida, we have learned of an airliner missing over the southern ocean. No one has a clue yet of its whereabouts, but talking heads on TV discuss "new developments" in a non-stop fashion. When there is nothing else to talk about, they make news out of people's tweets to the program. I can tell you who is at risk of elimination from this weeks Dancing with the Stars and which videos are popular on You Tube. Civilization in Henry David's time may have taken people away from nature. Today, it's taking us away from humanity.

But, despite the TV, we got a chance to spend time with my mom. We had just a short visit on the way down. Here in the land of cars, I would have loved to have seen one narrow street with cute houses and golf carts. But it's hard to be too negative about anywhere you can walk around in a T shirt and shorts. Especially with the winter they've been having back home.

The commander has an old friend, Gerry, who is here with her husband, Bud. We joined them for lunch one day. Turns out their favorite restaurant down here is our favorite restaurant: Johnny G's. Formerly in a great location in Lake Worth on the beach, it is a victim of urban renewal and now resides in a shopping center in Lantana. Same huge sandwiches and friendly atmosphere. We walked off lunch along the beach in Delray, had happy hour at the fancy Marriott there, and a pizza dinner down the street at the Mellow Mushroom.

At the Mellow Mushroom

And shopping! We've only been gone for two-and-a-half months, but seeing all the stuff in the stores really surprised us. We found a Whole Foods, a Costco, a West Marine, and an Ace hardware store. We finished up at a Publix supermarket on the way back to Vero Beach, where we dropped off the rental car. Believe it or not, of all the things to buy, I was most happy to be back in the U.S. for potato chips. We found them in the Bahamas, but at $4.50 for a small bag, I just couldn't do it. And I never saw them served in restaurants there.

The other thing that surprised me was pulling up to the fuel dock, taking out a hose, and filling our water tank. Free, clean water is something I had taken for granted until it was not available in the Bahamas.

Returning the rental car

Back at the marina, we managed to get a trunkful of food, laundry, and purchases from our rental car into our dinghy. Amazingly, we could do it all in one trip. The Enterprise driver took our car away, and we were back on Luna.

We met Jamie sailing by in his dinghy, which is also named Luna. He stopped by when he saw our boat name. We had seen him before, in Bimini. He sailed out of Massachusetts with his wife and three young daughters on a fairly small boat. He had made the crossing from the Exumas to Lake Worth in one 36-hour stretch a day after we had crossed from the Abacos. We compared experiences. He marveled at the change in his abilities and confidence. When they left New England, the girls were seasick in light winds. He worried about crossing the inlets on the Intracoastal Waterway because of currents and waves. Now, he sailed all night back to the U.S. He encountered a brisk wind at his back and high waves in the Gulf Stream. He enjoyed the sail over. His daughters asked, "When is it going to get windy?"

They had undergone the same transformation as I think we have. We all started out as people who loved to sail. Somehow, along the journey, we have become sailors. At least fair weather sailors. So far, we've been able to pick our days and have not yet been tested by the terrible triad: wet, cold, and scared.

The trip north from Vero Beach was a straight line north up the narrow waterway. We had a gentle breeze clocking from the south to the west and eventually to the north that allowed us to put the sails up for most of the trip.

The commander at the helm for a sunrise departure

The anchorage off the Space Center causeway was one of the nicest. There is deep water to the north and south of the road on both sides of the channel. The wind is forecast to pick up from the south at 10-20kts then turn west late tonight. We picked a site on the north west side of the causeway. Other boats near us anchored on the east side, so we had this space to ourselves. We had an unobstructed view of the sunset, the sunrise, and the space center buildings to the east.



We arrived in time for me to change the oil in the diesel engine and still sit and admire the view for happy hour. We were shaded from the wind. There were no neighbors to hear, so I tried a blast on the conch shell at sunset. Still a work in progress, but getting better.

Carol and Gerry walking on Delray Beach