Vero Beach

live Oaks

Pelicans at sunrise

Portuguese Man O’ war

Banyan Tree

          About a third of the way back up Florida from the Everglades we found a wonderful community. A balance between nature and human opulence. Vero Beach spreads from mainland to island, but my critique is on the island after the drive over one of the 4 giant bridges that spans the river. The island is long and thin, more than 25 miles I believe. There is a small downtown area with famous hotels and spas, a board walk, and many ice cream stores. Kilwins had the best toasted coconut I’d ever had. We wound around the little sand streets on bikes and it was not the amazing houses that I marveled at. The vegetation is miraculous. In one area most of the streets are darkened with the branches of Live Oaks, that reach out crooked branches to intertwine with their sisters on the other side of the road. That and the hundreds of kinds of palm trees that are everywhere, give a lush and yet whimsical feel to the streets. The palms are amazing. They range from short and squatty to tall and thin. Some are bushy and some are loaded with coconuts. Every morning we would bike from our driveway-home to the beach at 6:10 am. Every morning the sunrise would deal another beautiful hand of first sunlight.

       It was half way down the pathway that I would start to hear the crashing of the surf. We have been at incredible beaches on this trip, but the giant waves crashing on this beach are by far the most satisfying. They remind me of the endless breakers on the coast of Maine, without the rocks. These giant waves pound the beach and the foam is thick. On our first trip, the Portuguese Man O’ war were just as thick. Hundreds of these little blue inflated bags were strewn around the beach. They have no malice, but a tangle with these odd plastic bag creatures with one side flattened slightly to form a sail, is like putting your arm in a beehive. We saw one sail by on our snorkel trip in Key Largo.

         The endless white sand is the perfect place to get exercise, but I found myself standing and staring at the surf, watching the rise of the waves as they stand up a bit straighter and stiffer as they approach shore. Watching as the top tip thins out and falls forward, the whiteness spreading to either side, soon the wave with its white top is a hundred yards long.

A short 5 minute drive the other direction brings us to a park on the river side of the highway. Here a natural canal wends through the thick mangrove swamp. Many times we walked out on a bridge and watched for the fat bulbous bodies of the Manatees. Each time we found them. They played near the far shore, 4 or 5 of them, sometimes showing us just a swollen nose as they gulped a bit of air, and sometimes whole bodies raised up and half exposed pushed a side flipper over like a swimmer doing the backstroke.

            We are gone now.  I sit listening to the heavy rain on the roof of the RV. The state park north of Gainesville is nice, but I am missing the surf and the good company our hosts afforded us. Many from Fairfield have come to live or, as we have, escape the winter in Vero. Now we head to the Florida panhandle- Pensacola area and a national seashore. We still go north, but soon, tomorrow, we will make our first westward movement.

Dusty’s Adventure in Vero Beach

            I took Dusty to a dog park on the river. It is 2 football fields of grass for dogs to run, unleashed. Dusty, as most of you know, is not dog socialized. This is a very good thing for her. I let her off the leash and she ran a bit, but stayed near by. Suddenly a giant white bulldog appeared and Dust jumped into the air before running for her life. The two ran in circles many times, Dusty seemed to enjoy the chase. Then the other dog changed his attitude. Huge paws came down on Dusty’s back and I watched her spin, in the air, head over heels. She fell and came up meeting the wide open mouth of snarling teeth that looked like it wanted to eat her with her own tiny snarl. I ran and snatched her up in my arms and the other owner leashed and took off. (Signs everywhere, say that aggressive behavior will not be allowed.) She shook for several hours, but other than that, she is okay.