Vero Beach, Intercoastal Waterway (ICW), Florida, USA

I called NASA in the morning (as you do!) and asked about the closures but the lady in the press office did not sound very convincing or authoritative “ should think”, “I’d imagine” etc. We decide not risk our chance of a lifetime to see the shuttle launch and decide to head up the ICW, as anywhere north of here we will see it’s trajectory. However we are aiming to get to Titusville, security restrictions allowing, where we should be able to see the launch pad. We decide to take the 60 miles in 3 hops, the first to Vero Beach which although only 12 miles away has been frequently recommended.

Fort Pierce lifting bridge

Our first ICW trip, “down the ditch” as it is sometime known is coinciding with my parents first fulltime week of cruising the UK canals and it seems oddly appropriate. The first half a mile starts with our first challenge though, a lifting bridge, we have the VHF on but fail to catch the one boat going through making their request. In the end I call them on Ch. 16 and am politely informed by someone to go to Ch. 9. The friendly bridge attendant informs me that they are an on request bridge (as opposed to timed opening) and if we’d like to come up he’ll let us through. It is perhaps unfairly quite a fun feeling having all the traffic stop to let you through and quite a queue has formed by the time we reach the other side and the bridge has dropped again with a friendly wave from the man in the little windowed box.

Luxury homes line the ICW

First trial over we settle down to a fantastic cruise down the waterway. The ICW is over 3000 miles long including the Gulf coast route west of Miami. The Atlantic route goes from north of Maine to Florida and is actually miles wide in parts and not like a man made canal but actually lots of connected natural waterways. The route we took was about 3 miles wide or more most of the way bordered by mangroves one side and beautiful enormous villas hidden in the woods on the other. There were lots of small boats with one or two people on board fishing over the side. It is a fantastic wildlife haven we saw dolphins regularly through the day, in small groups of 1-3 moving quite slowly, I think of a different perhaps harbour variety. We saw about 3 osprey, dozens of pelicans, mostly reclining on channel markers, a lone flamingo, cormorants diving and lots of fish jumping.

People out fishing between the mangroves in the ICW

We arrived just before lunch at Vero Beach City marina, in a beautiful spot up a small channel off the ICW. There was not a ripple on the water and it was really peaceful, except for the loud crickets in the mangroves just infront of our mooring which showed signs of many bugs for the evening. We got the dingy down for the first time in a couple of weeks and went to check in. We quickly disposed of rubbish and took a shower before jumping on the next free bus into town which comes right into the marina. The bus is excellent and drops you right outside the supermarket, we made our donation. We decided to head to lunch first and found a deli just opposite. We were both starving and were pleased to find nearly every table taken even on a midweek day at 1.30pm. Our waitress told us that we should take our time over the huge menu. I had a vegetable reuben wrap served with fresh fruit and Kevin a pastrami and corned beef (of the American variety not like the stuff in tins from the UK) sandwich, both of which were absolutely delicious. It was also the best service you can imagine, the manager even came to introduce himself and welcome us to the area.

Invincible in the ICW

Next we went to West Marine and bought another fan! (You can see a theme here), this one with an internal battery which means we can use it in our cabin which charges from 12v and 240v or we can use batteries. We also belatedly managed to get our US courtesy flag, though we got a really well made sewn not printed one to make up for it. Finally we headed to the supermarket, where we were again overwhelmed by choice and stocked up again on fresh fruit and vegetables. We went out to get the last bus back, only to be offered a lift by a lovely older couple leaving at the same time in the rain. They were ex-cruisers themselves and recognised the signs of us waiting for the bus. We had a lovely chat about the 10-15 years they’d spent cruising their boat from their previous home in New York to the Virgin Islands before they sold it in the 80’s.

Invincible in the ICW

Kevin unpacked the shopping whilst I went back ashore to make use of the bookswap in the air conditioned Captain’s lounge in the marina with TV and free phone – surely the best marina we have been to anywhere, with immaculate facilities and helpful staff. Finally we sat back for a quiet night with a book and a cool sleep under the new fan!

      Picnic area at Vero Beach City Marina