Wow, what an active social life and great community spirit at this SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR! If you are cruising through VERO, please stop off here if time permits, and let them know how much you appreciate their support of the cruising community, by way of their support for the SSECN!

View of the Bridge just south of the entrance channel to Vero Beach City Marina

Here is your 2010/2011 season update on Vero Beach City Marina. This AICW Cruisers Mecca is hopping. While you can sometimes get a mooring ball for yourself, boats are doubled and tripled up on
mooring balls as I type this, a vessel spent the night at the fuel dock and one boat is heading to a mooring after two at the dock because a previous reservation bumped her. If you want a slip ($1.50 a foot), we recommend you reserve at least several days in advance.

The social life on shore has changed just a bit, so here’s a summary of how it appears to be for the moment.

1. Weekly Cruisers Breakfast hosted by Vero Beach’s CLOD (Cruisers Living on Dirt) continues on Wednesday mornings at 8 at 2002 restaurant (the Publix stop on the free Vero Beach GoLine shuttle bus.)
2. Thursday Night Is Happy Hour, bring your own beverage and bring an appetizer to share at the picnic area near the main dinghy dock. I think this begins at 4:30 PM; there are signs in the cruisers lounge. If you are a musician, bring an instrument. It was hopping this past Thursday.
3. Free GoLine Shuttle Bus seems to have more routes than ever. Note that the stop at Publix has changed — it no longer stops right in front of this reprovisioning gift to cruisers, but it’s only a short walk across the parking lot. Ask the driver to point to the new return spot just across from where you get out. The GoLine bus stop sign is still in front of the Publix, but don’t let that fool you — or so we were told.
4. Free Wifi now at Vero Beach Municipal Marina — but it’s a little peripatetic at the moment. Yachtspots is gone and the city marina is in the process of upgrading and installing high speed wifi. The staff may ask you to limit your heavy internet use to the hours of 7 PM to 7 AM until the full upgrades are in. When they are up and running, the high speed signal should reach all the way to the most Northern moorings. Ask for the pass code and current status at the office. For now, easy on the Skype and hold back on Netflix streaming during office hours. 😉
5. Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. The 10 AM GoLine Shuttle will take you there and pick you up an hour later. Or you can walk. It’s a pleasant 20 minute stroll there and a little less pleasant on the way back if while shopping you forgot you will be walking back.
6. Recycling is gone, temporarily, we hope! Most cruisers want recycling and value marinas who offer it. From what I have learned, recycling is expensive and the marinas need our help to make it work. Most of us do it right, but it only takes a few to muck it up and it seems some transients have created a problem at Vero which the marina is earnestly trying to resolve. The staff is trying to come up with a way to train cruisers into behaving so that recycling can resume. It seems that some transients, particularly in the summer, have been dumping garbage in the recycling containers and the recycling company did not have the time or person power to sort through the garbage. The marina staff, out of personal commitment to recycling, then set up their own bins and tried marking them really clearly — but then they experienced personally why the recycling company gave up. So, please urge your fellow boaters to behave. Marina staff asked me to ask folks also to please, please, please honor the recycling of oil rules; they collect $1 for disposal and it truly costs them more in labor and fees to provide this important environmental service. Please don’t mix anti-freeze in with the oil or other contaminants as it slaps the marina with a huge bill later in the process. Also, please don’t skirt the rules and dump used oil by the trash or outside the trash bins. Those who tuck in their oil-related trash between the bins and the doorrs create opportunity for costly and time-consuming cleanup when the trash area doors are opened and everything topples over.
Captain Jane
S/V Lady Jane

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s Eastern Florida Marina Directory Listing For Vero Beach Municipal Marina

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Vero Beach Municipal Marina