Arrived alive.

Finally...  Friday we made it back to Stuart.
So nice to be back. It's way more crowded than when we were last here but Istaboa is comfortably in her old slip.
We had drinks with our old dock mates and watched the sunset. It was nice to catch up and hear of their travels as well as tell our own stories.
But weary from the last weeks run down the AICW, we eased back down to the boat and made a quick dinner of sauteed Andouille sausage in a basil and caper red sauce over fresh home made basil angel-hair pasta. Sounds complicated? No, the red sauce came out of a jar. The sausage was leftover from old provisions, but the pasta was from the farmers market on Amelia Island. Amola Pasta. Excellent!

Luckily the trip down was uneventful. Good weather, polite boaters we passed and who passed us, and dolphin as well as other critters along the way. We had to keep a watchful eye out for Manatees and did pass a few. They're heading south like the rest of us, in search of warmer waters, and they can be difficult to spot. Usually just a nose protruding above the surface is all you see.

Great shot, but not mine. Don't know who to give credit to.

And the Dolphin...  on page 2

Happy Thanksgiving....

We made it to Fort Pierce and Harbortown Marina.
Actually a restaurant open so maybe Thanksgiving dinner at the dock.

Funny stuff for Turkey Day:

Jon Stewart: "I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land."

More Funny Thankgiving Quotes 

Home tomorrow!

Adios,

Istaboa

Tired...

Palm Coast Monday... Daytona last night... Cocoa Beach tonight... Fort Pierce for Turkey Day...home at Stuart and Sunset Bay Friday...
Trip over till the islands.
Details later.

Adios,

Istaboa

Fun in Fernandina and rekindled relationships

Fernandina... Front and Centre

Fernandina is a beautiful little town. The locals have done an excellent job restoring and maintaining the old place. It's worth your time to click this link and read the history. The only city in America to have flown 8 flags.

But even better than hanging out in this old seaport town was meeting this little guy.

Silas Rui Taylor

Our Grandson.

Very handsome lad.

More on page 2

One night and a crew change

 Land Ho!  After 26 hours of enduring almost the whole spectrum of sea conditions, we've finally got St. Simons Sound in sight. Looks like we're going to make it in with a bit of light. That's the Sidney Lanier Bridge in the first stage of sunset.
More on page 2.

Brunswick!

Couldn't get a slip at Southport so we just kept on running and have just hit the sea buoy at Brunswick. Radar was not happy, but he will be soon.
Good run... 335 miles nonstop. A bit rough at first but flattened out after a few hours.

More later.

Adios,

Istaboa

Too lumpy to go outside...

So we stayed in the ICW and are now underway to Southport, NC.
Talked to Captain Spooner yesterday afternoon. They had taken the outside route from Morehead to Charleston and got the shit beat out of them for 28 hours.
That made the skinny, curvy little ICW seem appealing.
Last night we stayed in Swansboro, NC at Casper's Marina. Pretty short on service but clean with a decent restaurant, The Ice House, within walking distance.
Predictions for calmer seas between Cape Fear and Brunswick seem to be good so tomorrow will be the long run in the Atlantic down to at least Brunswick. If it's good maybe further. We'll see.

Adios,

Istaboa

Back online... Sporadically.

We took off at first light from AYB and made way south down the ICW. We hadn't gotten far when my phone rang, it was the Dock Master from AYB calling about our bill. Seems he thought we had done a dine and dash on him and he was pretty upset. I reminded him of our conversation the day before that I was going to leave early, so he had better get me an invoice, but he remained a bit agitated. So after exchanging a few colorful expletives, I think I got my point across.  Show me an bill, if we agree, I will pay it.
We didn't agree so the story will continue later.

We passed by Coinjock Marina and Restaurant because we needed to make as much distance as possible.
The rest on page 2.

Alligator River Marina

Not much here so I'm sure it's an early night then an early morning.

But, Radar is very happy to have grass to walk on.

Adios,


Istaboa

This is interesting...

Fake Capsizing Boat Trolls the High Seas

Artist Julien Berthier created a boat, named Love Love, that looks like it’s sinking, but actually has a motor that allows it to be driven around, fully afloat. Check out inside for a picture of the boat out of the water.

Underway finally...

Capt. Will was nice enough to quickly drop everything and fly up to Virginia to help me get the boat back south.
We left AYB this morning at first light and we're not sure where we will stop for the night.
Mel's mom continues to improve so hopefully we can pick Mel up somewhere south, soon. The boat doesn't seem right without her presence and Radar is sure not a happy pup when she's not around.

Adios,

Istaboa

Happy Birthday

Captain Spooner and Cousin Dave... 

Both good folks... must be a good day 11-11. 

Next year will be better... 11-11-11

Happy Birthday.

Crew Isaboa

Things change...

The rumors of Mel's mom's demise may have been exaggerated. Today she seems much better. Maybe the good thoughts and prayers helped.

Thanks,

Istaboa

The last few days...

So we made it down the bay in a norther with an incoming tide which makes for a lumpy boat ride. This makes the bay stack up waves high, sharp, and fast.

But with that all behind us we made it to Atlantic Yacht Basin. 

Which is a very neat old boat yard/marina. Walking around I found lots of interesting things to take photographs of. 

Tomorrow we will pull the boat out of the water to do a small repair and finish up the Navigation Systems display. 

Then... we wait to make plans.

In our last post I mentioned Mel had to fly back to Memphis to take care of personal issues. I am sorry to say that Mel's mother is very ill and it appears she will not get better. Any good thoughts or prayers for Mel's Mom, Mel, and her family would be greatly appreciated. They are a very close family and this is a painful and difficult time for them all.

More pics of AYB inside

But not for long...

After an enjoyable few days at Gloucester Point, the bar/restaurant, and saying our see-ya-laters to friends there, we threw off the lines and made way south to the ICW and Atlantic Yacht Basin.
It was a very bumpy run down the bay but didn't last long. Peter on Morewater followed us down and now we're both tied up here. Pete made dinner that night. Apple Chorizo sausage in red sauce on Pasta with an Avocado salad. Excellent.
Then.... one phone call later and everything went to shit.
Without going into the personal details... Mel made hasty arrangements to fly into Memphis to take care of a bad situation that's making our near-future plans a bit nebulous.
But... Atlantic Yacht Basin is pretty cool in it's own funky way. It's a good boat yard, so maybe Istaboa has a little work done. New monitor for the Nav system and maybe I will finally replace that backup depth transducer that's been bugging me since we bought the boat.
Also... AYB, most of you cruisers know, is just south of a lock that only opens on the hour. This means in daylight hours—when the lock opens— it's a boat parade of cruisers like us heading south. I've seen many friends and acquaintances pass by for the last few days. Other than that, Radar and I have quietly enjoyed our guy time and been taking many long walks. 
Not much entertaining to write about but I did see this on the Huffington Post this morning.

Video inside... Worth watching.

Rare Pelagic Octopus, Hawaii 

We've escaped—

—the ties that bind us and made it back to York River and Istaboa.
Kinda chilly here in Virginia but, free at last, free at last.
Gonna do a little tightening up on Istaboa, a bit of provisioning, and put together a plan for our trip back home to Stuart/Sunset Bay. Talked with Sam today and he has kindly held our slip for us. We have enjoyed the Chesapeake, but we've missed our buds in Stuart also. Hopefully good weather will hasten our trip and we'll soon be having drinks and dinner at Sailor's Return watching the sunset and feeling the warm fall breeze that Stuart enjoys this time of year.

Adios,

Istaboa

PS.... check out our friend's blog. Good pics of Halloween at Hope Town.

Just released...

Huey's new CD, Soulsville, was released today. Should be a hit. We bought it off Itunes this morning.

Very funky... Very Memphis...
and the first reviews seem to agree with us... http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/11/huey-lewis-and-the-news-soulsville/