Vero Beach City Marina – At a dock



Live Oaks at Vero Beach City Marina

 We waited for high tide so we at least were floating before attempting to leave the Hinckley dock at Manatee Pocket. The entire harbor is being dredged with the operation being conducted at night. In places you’ll see 10 ft where it’s been dredged, other places still show the original 4 to 5 ft (one foot more with a high tide – which we had this morning).

The cruise to Vero Beach was without shallow spots so that was a relief. We’re on an end dock and there’s actually 8 ft of water here, no resting on the bottom at night! The marina is very protected since there’s an island between the ICW and the harbor, no wakes!

In taking Hoolie ashore we once again noticed the strange looking trees. Looking them up we found them to be live oaks. They are called “live” because they do not lose their leaves in the wintertime. The wood was much prized by shipbuilders of the past for parts of the ship that took a sharp turn like the keel at the front. They would find an appropriate section of the tree and use the natural curve of the wood to fit the section of the ship they had in mind. The grain is twisted, not straight which made it unsuitable for planking for the side of the ship but also gave the wood enormous strength. It was used in building of the first warships of the new United States in the late 1700’s such as the USS Constitution. You can see some of the convoluted shapes the limbs take in the photo.

The view south - not that crowded in the mooring field

We’re awaiting new crew on Monday. We need the topsides washed, the sides scrubbed, the insides cleaned – it’ll be good to have crew to do all that…