Vero Beach Municipal Marina Mooring Field, Vero Beach, Florida, USA

Many cruisers call this mooring field "Velcro Beach". I am understanding why. It is so darn comfortable here. The protection is excellent and the amenities many. You just want to stick around longer.

Shortly after George and Kathleen left, Father Phil Rosch, a cruiser blessed with many learned skills, ungodly computer talents, and who is spiritually rich in seaport trivia of Bahamas and the Eastern Seaboard, hung his port side on Skinwalker as we shared the same mooring. Phil, a friend who visited us in Englewood, has recently returned to the States from an excursion into the Exuma's or the South Bahama's. Skinwalker is now whole again after Father Phil has blessed our computer Navigation System and said prayers over our starboard Velvet Drive drop shaft transmission, or, as it is known in the marine world, our starboard gear.

Now to soothe the more skeptical and re-orient the naïve.

Father Phil is not a "man of the cloth", he is simply another fulltime boat person who lives within the cruisers code of helping others, so that it may be paid forward. Some day, what he has paid in will be paid back by another. Phil has thousands of miles under his belt and more than a few anchorages. His adventures are the golden fabric dreams are built upon by future neo-cruisers.

Phil is Captain of Curmudgeon a Marine Trader, 44. Father Phil, Rich Gano & Mark Richter have taken turns prodding, poking, pulling and generally herding me down the thorny path to fully understand what is such a simple concept:

"a cruising boat is not a yacht, but a get down and dirty work vehicle that requires routine care & feeding and timely scheduled preventive maintenance".

Book upon book upon book has been written that embraces this thought I have just penned. The words are deceptively normal. Strung together as they are, it is just another sentence. While the concept exposed here is seductively simple, I suggest it is the single most important issue for cruisers to properly embrace.

But as Lynn, suggests, no diatribes for the masses, just write the log.

With the proper ministering in our "holy place" temporarily completed under the mechanical and spiritual tutelage of father Phil, Skinwalker is ready to mosey on up the road for a spell. It seems we have stops to make on this coast with friends and acquaintances that have an interest.

Maybe too many.

Time will tell.

Coming up as we ooze north is Melbourne, Merritt Island, Daytona, Palm Coast and St. Augustine where each new anchorage brings certainly new vistas, often new friends and old friendships. We look forward to these personally uncharted waters with relish and a fresh anticipation.

This brief note to our very closest friends and family. Life is good. This is an exciting time for us. It is seldom boring. Our growth is measured daily. We always miss you, but not enough to change our evil ways. We have embraced life and it holds us harmless and comfortably. We are happy.

With renewed energy and a re-installed gear we will "cruise on" during the day and Cruzan in the evening, living life as large as it gets.

Capt'n Lynnie and Skinwalker