Travel Summary
Conditions: Cloudy, muggy with some rain, 76° to start, Clouds and some sun, 85° to finish. Southeast winds 15-20 kts, choppy on the ICW
Distance traveled: 62.4 nautical miles
Time underway: 7 hours 55 minutes
Average Speed: 7.9 kts
Max Speed: 8.8 kts
Today’s run to Vero Beach should be our last travel day for a while. Our plan is to spend the winter here.
We weren’t sure exactly what time we were going to leave Titusville, but we knew we had to pull out sometime in the am. I was hoping to get up have coffee, gradually come to life and then leave for Vero Beach. All of that changed at 7 am when the Captains got together and decided that the wind was down and this looked like a great time to pull out from the dock. With that decision, everything went into to hyperdrive and we were up and moving. We pulled out of Titusville at about 7:40 am. It was super muggy, soupy, nasty! Even though it did not rain, it should have.
We received a weather notice that Titusville was under a cyclone watch and bad weather was moving in. The best move was to head south while we could. While we got ahead of the rain, we didn’t get ahead of the wind. It steadily built up as the day went on. The ICW churned up and we fought a 15 to 20 knot wind all day.
We were followed most of the day by birds, looking for whatever our wake churned up for them??? There were a few dolphins and we saw many “manatee area” signs but did not see any manatees.
I am constantly amazed by the number of super mansions along the ICW. Who owns these homes? I would be satisfied with a modest bungalow on the water, but I didn’t see any of those!
Passed some interesting sights – a tug pushing a barge flying numerous Trump flags, apparently, he hasn’t given up hope.
And a “Stop” Sign?????
We finally made it to our winter home in Vero Beach at about 3:30pm. The last big adventure for the day, was to bring the boat in and dock. If you’ve ever been to this Marina, you could see why this was an adventure. John kicked up the engines and ran down a 200-hundred-yard fairway into a small marina opening during a cross wind. I know he was nervous, because he wouldn’t let me talk to him until we got into the marina. So glad to finally tie up, knowing that we will not have to get up at the crack-ass-of-dawn for a long time!
April Fools coming into its winter dock 
Champagne Toast!
Home, Sweet, Home for the winter!
Life Aboard April Fools 
Awesome narratives Robin. Thanks for sharing Your adventure.
On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 7:39 PM Life Aboard April Fools wrote:
> Robin posted: ” Travel Summary Conditions: Cloudy, muggy with some rain, > 76° to start, Clouds and some sun, 85° to finish. Southeast winds 15-20 > kts, choppy on the ICW Distance traveled: 62.4 nautical miles Time > underway: 7 hours 55 minutes Aver” >
LikeLiked by 2 people
Congratulations on your awesome journey to your winter home!! It was great following along and reading your blogs on this site as you ventured south. We hope you enjoy your time down there knowing you don’t have to worry about what day it is or need to worry about getting the snow shovel out. Take care and we will chat with you later. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
It looks like you two are having a blast!! Hope all is well and enjoy the warmth for the winter. Have a great Thanksgiving John and Robin. Everyone from Flotilla 1-9 says hello and we miss you guys. Be safe, and I can’t wait to read more stories about your trip.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Happy for you all! Cheers enjoy the winter in lovely Vero Beach!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yay!!!! You made it! I loved loved loved reading about your adventures. I have to admit I am going to miss reading about your travel! Hopefully you will keep it going so we can all read about your “wintering” in Vero Beach! Cheers to you both! Enjoy your warm winter adventures!
LikeLiked by 2 people