Windy

Our second peaceful night's sleep.  It was calm again and we loved it.  We woke early by our alarm clock as usual, and talked about making a pancake breakfast.  Unfortunately it did not take long for the captain to declare that it was already raining and we should get out of there as soon as possible to beat the predicted incoming weather.  This weather seemed earlier than predicted with the grey skies.  It took a couple hours for the clouds to pass by quickly with the wind that was blowing us out of the channel, along with the two sailboats we were in sight of. 

Linda at the helm.

It must have been something with the weather too though, but we saw sights that we have never seen before.  First was a gull sitting on a pelican's head trying to steal the fish away from the pelican.  First we thought it was a fluke, but we watched the pelican fly away and catch another breakfast only for the gull to do the same thing.  Next was a sting ray jumping/flying out of the water, which we have seen before, but this was probably the largest we have ever seen, and it flew out more times than we have ever witnessed.  After that, we were observing how many bait fish seemed to be breaching the water when a two to three foot shark entirely jumped out of the water.  That was definitely a first.

Pirates! Pirates!

We bumped up the RPM's to try to beat the weather, but it seemed like it didn't matter as the winds were already upon us.  Listening to the VHF radio, we heard that Vero Beach Municipal Marina's mooring balls were already full, so it was time for rafting to vessels already on a mooring ball.  When we arrived and called in, we were instructed to tie up to "Ookpik" on mooring ball number 30.  Fortunately we know them, so we felt more comfortable with that.  Unfortunately, they were not aboard their vessel to throw us a line, etc.  It made for a very scary three attempts at rafting to them, grabbing their lines the graciously left, although tied and hard to get free in these windy conditions.  Thankfully, no damage was done, and we secured without incident.
We stayed aboard for a while thinking that our other friends on "Meridian" would have to raft with us also, as we observed three vessels on some mooring balls.  It ended up that they had to raft with "Rickshaw", another boat we know, and just saw them in Sanford.
Once we felt that we should take advantage of the nice weather now, mom and dad came and met us again to take us to the beach for another delicious lunch/dinner.  We introduced them to their local attractions.
Back at the boat, we sit now and wait for the cold front to come through.  We will stay here for a few days.