In Praise of Melbourne

2011 01 14
Vero Beach FL

At this moment, 5 beers into the evening I can say that the Budget Committe and I are in a  good place, mentally at least.  Alcohol helps.  So does meeting new friends and old friends all on the same day.

Today we were visited by Frank and Chris on Melodeon, the red assed steel hulled junk rigged schooner.  Moments later we set off for the Riverside for beer and burgers with the crew of Okemah Rose.

Things have been very upbeat since we got out of Chicago.  That took 2 1/2 days but Delta Airlines upgraded us to first class.  That sounds like a big deal but other than a slightly bigger seat all you get is a bag of sunchips in lieu of those cheap packets of peanuts, 4 peanuts to a pack.

Arriving Melbourne we could not get a taxi to the marina.  Instead we rented a car from Enterprise and drove from the airport to Lake Suzy where we picked up our repacked liferaft from the Winslow Company.  It was near midnight before we got to the marina but we were happy to have the taxi fare discounted from the car rental.

Next morning we drove to Terry Comm to pick up our SSB radio, that ICOM piece of crap we wrote about earlier.  Terry Comm gave us an estimate of $880 to fix our radio which we found too expensive just now.  We deferred the decision to repair it or replace it.  Terry Comm charged us only $22 to inspect and troubleshoot the radio which we found more than fair.  If we decide to repair the ICOM come spring we will certainly use Terry Comm in Melbourne.

Returning the rental car we had only to settle our bill with Waterline Marina and leave.  The harbourmaster who is also the owner of the marina, his usual harbourmanager having just finished open heart surgery, waived the additional charges for our two days of overstaying.  It was not his fault our plane was held up for two days in Chicago but he allowed us the two days grace at his marina.  I am highly impressed with Waterline Marina and the affable giant that runs it.  It was clean, well protected, very well reasonably priced and has the best harbourmanager with whom we have ever dealt.

Bills settled we climbed on board Meredith, checked systems, cranked the diesel and headed for Vero.  The Budget Committee was overjoyed that the water heater had not burned out as the result of our little "mistake" when we left poor Meredith so poorly put away.

We arrived in Vero on the 13th.  On the 15th, once the busses are running again, we will provision and when the winds are favourable head out for the Bahamas enroute to the Spanish Virgins.