An uneventful ocean passage

Front coming into St. Augustine

Bridge of Lyons in St Augustine

After the front blew through

Sunset while on the ocean St. Augustine to Ft. Pierce

Welcoming committee in Vero Beach

Pelicans at rest in Vero Beach

We waited a few extra days in St. Augustine for the wind to change direction and drop down a bit.   The St. Augustine inlet is not the best and we have very experienced sailor friends who almost broached in the inlet so we take it very seriously.   The day we arrived in St. Augustine on the ICW, we cruised past the inlet to the mooring field and noticed rolling and breaking waves in the inlet.   I looked at Joe and thought "no way pal".   Maybe I actually said that out loud with a few choice words sprinkled about.   The waves didn't die down until the front blew through on Monday.   We waited an extra day for the seas to calm and on Wed Nov 30 conditions looked relatively settled in the inlet and the ocean forecast was good for a transit to Ft. Pierce (approximately 24 hours).   However, the inlet can only be described as tricky in the best of conditions.   The charts don't include the markers for the inlet because the sand is constantly shifting and they move the markers to match the natural channel that the water carves out.   There were still small (3') rollers from the northwest but no breaking waves in the inlet.   The channel makes some abrupt turns and we got a little too close to the side of the channel in one spot and banged the bottom.   That will focus your attention rather quickly.   But Joe steered the boat out of trouble (whew!) and shortly we were out in the ocean with up to a 20 knot wind behind us.   We made it to Ft. Pierce without any issues 25 hours later.   On Joe's shift he juggled 3 cruising ships and a cargo carrier going into Cape Canaveral plus several fishing boats and another sailboat.   I was in blissful slumber down below.   We are now in Vero Beach which is actually 2 hours north of the Ft. Pierce inlet.   We missed Vero last year and knew Parker and Jill on Tootsie were here so we put it on the itinerary.   The city marina has moorings in a snug section of a creek right off the waterway.   It is very popular so they put multiple boats on each mooring.   Right now, we are rafted with Tootsie and another boat.   Kind of weird; we never rafted on a mooring before and it's kind of like talking over the back yard fence to your neighbors. Luckily, we have very good neighbors and it sure makes happy hour convenient.   Vero Beach is nicknamed "Velcro Beach" which the cruising guide indicates is because so many boaters come and never leave.   I'm thinking they named it after the boats stuck together on moorings.  There is a free bus system 6 days/week so it is a very easy town to get around in and we will take some time to reprovision, let our mail catch up with us and prep for a crossing to the Bahamas.   We would love to get to the Bahamas before Christmas but as usual it is all weather dependent.