Vero Beach City Marina - on a mooring

The dinghy dock is in a protected cove off the main mooring area

So why is Vero Beach Marina so popular with cruisers? Well, it has everything that cruisers look for in a stop over. Let's start with the basics: clean showers, heads and plenty of washing machines and dryers at a fair price. On top of that, the marina and the moorings are very protected from all directions, a virtual hurricane hole. There's not much current and very little tide to boot. They offer free WiFi that you can pick up from the moorings and it's pretty fast. They also accept packages mailed to you for your pickup at your leisure. If you want to change your own oil, they have a used oil tank for your use. They also have fixed docks if you don't want to spend your time on a mooring but if you do like the moorings, there's a dinghy dock that's protected from wave and wind action with plenty of room for all.

All aboard - at no charge

Now, if the above is not enough then there's the free bus service that runs every hour. The city of Vero Beach has 11 buses that blanket the Vero Beach area that includes 100's of stores with names like Walmart, Publix (a large supermarket), West Marine, The Home Depot, a large mall type shopping center with dozens of stores and on and on. The supermarket (Publix) is only 10 minutes away via the free bus.

There's quite a repeat crowd here too. Every Thursday night they hold a pot luck dinner for everyone in the marina, it's a great social event and a chance to meet all the cruisers. There are some that spend the entire winter here, they like it so much. Vero Beach has put a lot of thought into how to please the cruisers and keep them in the area (to spend their money). It's nice to be appreciated. For us it's a pleasant stop over on the way to Key West, our ultimate destination for February, it's always been warm there.