Waiting on Wilma

October 20, 2005

Friday, October 14, 2005 - Mooring Field, Vero Beach, FL
By Amy

Rain, rain go away. Yep, it was another wet one for Team Dream Catcher. We now have officially zero dry towels and are beginning to look like the Beverly Hillbillies with all the items pinned to the lifelines "to dry"--a pointless effort, as it refuses to stop raining.

After the disappointment of Eau Gallie, we were glad to find Vero much as we left it. The mooring field is nearly deserted, and we feel quite spiffy for being this early in the season.

We checked in and then bee lined for the washers and filled up half of them with our piles wet, mildewing stuff. Anam Cara arrived during the "spin" cycle and we met them at the fuel dock and made plans for tonight. We will probably just veg out until then.

Saturday, October 15, 2005 - Mooring Field, Vero Beach, FL
By Tom

Last night the Anam Cara - ites paddled over for happy hour. We hid inside from the rain and swapped sailing stories while munching on sausage and cheese and crackers. Sandi brought a jug of rum that they mix in with fruits and stuff and you didn't hear it from me, but it was pretty horrible.

Two days ago I twisted my ankle in Eau Gallie getting out of the dinghy. The twist didn't hurt at the time, but it was remarkably similar to what happened over the summer at the Buddy Fred's house. True to form, exactly 40 hours after the fact, my foot has swollen up and is too sore to stand on. I suspect we have broken that little bone again. Needless to say, I am less than mobile.

After morning hospital rounds, we tackled several important boat jobs. I spent about 2 hours making a rope place mat for my whiskey glass. Time well spent I assure you. While I was thus occupied, Amy caught the bus into town and brought home the bacon, quite literally. She also snagged a few other essentials to tide us over until later in the week.

In the afternoon, Amy drove Don and I over to the local bar in the dinghy so we could watch the Notre Dame USC game. Don is a big Notre Dame fan and has season tickets to their home games. I think college football would be better if it was hockey, so I was really just along for emotional support.

Amy and Sandi joined us at half time and the game turned out to be quite exciting. More importantly, Amy was able to operate the dinghy both ways by herself without killing anyone or damaging the dinghy. Gold star for her.

Back on board Dream Catcher, I cooked a few cheese burgers for the four of us and we had a farewell toast. Don and Sandi are moving on tomorrow and we are not. They are meeting up with Sandi's brother in Fort Lauderdale in two days for a week before crossing over. We've had a great time hanging out with these guys and we hope to meet up soon in the Bahamas

Sunday, October 16, 2005 - Mooring Field, Vero Beach, FL
By Amy

We are Anam Cara-less now. Unfortunately, we are not no-see-um-less. We thought we had this problem licked with our spiffy wedding veil recommended by other cruisers last season. Alas, the bugs here are so evil that they have found means to penetrate our defenses. Odd because we did fine in the bug-infested swamps in South Carolina and Georgia. Perhaps the old folks here have genetically engineered smaller, meaner no-see-ums.

The morning was spent computing in the marina lounge here. Then we headed for Docksides to catch the Steelers game, but it wasn't on regular TV here. After some munchies, we returned to the boat to listen to it on Sirius.

The rest of the evening was spent licking the wounds of that overtime loss, and making steak, potatoes, and zucchini for dinner.

Monday, October 17, 2005 - Mooring Field, Vero Beach, FL
By Tom

After the bug invasion last night, we decided to seek chemical weapons of mass destruction from Walmart, so this morning we re-acquainted ourselves with the joys of the freak show known as public transportation.

Most of the sad and pathetic stories we heard on said bus are not fit to be published here, but one less offensive and wholly informative conversation was between two homeless bums who ride the free bus to stay in the air conditioning. They were discussing the best places to beg for a hand out and where you could get left over coffee for free in the morning.

If anyone needs the specifics I can pass them along.

In other news, we checked on hurricane Wilma. She seems destined to head right for us regardless of which way we move. I think we will probably stay here until we have more definite information on her

Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - Vero Beach Municipal Marina, Vero Beach, FL
By Amy

We are total wusses and moved in to the marina today. The DEET-containing bug spray was effective, but prolonged usage will likely kill us. We discussed our options: let the bugs bite and look more like pox victims than we already do, give ourselves cancer with DEET, or check into the marina, close the windows, and turn on the air. I'd like to say it was a close vote, with only the ferrets insisting on cable TV...but no, we all suck.

I know y'all are wondering why we don't just leave this bug-infested swamp. We are too. But it really is the best place to do our final provisioning. At least it'll be all the easier to get all the $%&^# we buy onto the boat with it sitting in the dock.

It is also becoming clear that Hurricane Wilma is coming right for us. Is it just me, or do we have targets painted on our foreheads? This'll be #3 in the tropical storm/hurricane front this year for Team DreamCatcher. The current predictions are rather dire, but that's probably a good sign. NOAA's first guess is usually wrong.

In order to save money to put toward our slip fee, we stayed out of the bars today and had a nice happy hour and dinner on the boat

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - Vero Beach Municipal Marina, Vero Beach, FL
By Tom

We ventured back in to town on the freak show express. This time we only rode to the first stop over the bridge so our exposure to pyshcopaths was minimal.

Our destination for this foray was the local dive shop where we procured another hawaiin sling spear launching device for Amy. She has graduated from the limited range of the pole spear to a true projectile flinging device and I find that extra scarey.

I also purchased a couple of replacement floppers for the end of our spears. I broke one off last year and I made several new spears during the summer, so I guess now I can finish them up.

While we were not accosted by crazies on the bus this time, we did find them back at the marina. This one guy who is a live aboard there at the marina must apparently be the local asshole in charge, because he seems to stick his nose in everyone elses business.

The impending huricane seems to have elevated his asshole-ness (?) to an entirely diffferent level. He asked me at least 6 times today what we were going to do and I finally snapped and yelled at him to leave me alone or I would kill him, his wife, his dog and his mother.

For those of you stopping at Vero, beware of the Hairless psycho in the half painted boat on the north dock.

Thursday, October 20, 2005 - Vero Beach Municipal Marina, Vero Beach, FL
By Amy

Never provison right before a hurricane. That's what we learned today.

We figured it's getting a bit pricey to hang out at the marina, so best to finish our provisioning before the storm so we can head out right after. Great thought. So we got a rental car and Thomas bullshitted them down $20 in price, so it was mega-cheap. Way to go honey!

First stop, Wal-Mart. If there was a place most likely to break out into complete pandemonium in the face of impending doom, it must be Wal-Mart. It was packed and the shelves were stripped nearly bare. We were, however, able to fill two carts and blow $400.

The lunacy continued to the gas station, where there were around-the-block lines for gas and propane. Fortunately, Albertson's wasn't as bad and we were able to score a dozen blocks of our favorite cheeses for the crossing.

We humped all that stuff back to the boat and "pre-cycled." You know, when you take off all the packaging from groceries all at once, it's quite disturbing. We filled two huge trash bags.

Next stop--liquor. Yes, we spent nearly twice as much on booze as on food. Thomas had so much Seagram's 7 (canadian whisky, 3 cases), everyone at the marina was asking if he was Canadian. Well...kinda.

Good thing he has the booze to take the edge off, cuz all that walking made his foot throb. We decided to suspend further provisioning efforts in favor of a trip to Riverside--breaking our "no happy hour at the bar while we're at the marina rule." Something about blowing $1300 on provisions makes $30 at the bar seem like no big deal. After a happy hour round and some munchies, we returned to our cable TV.