Happy New Year

We're going back to our old boat home... Pickwick Lake, Tennessee.
Old friends and a New Year, should be fun.

Hope everyone has a fun night.
Stay safe.

Cheers,

Istaboa

Christmas Has Past

And if you've survived, (relatively), unscathed — Watch This

You still have the weekend ahead.

Happy Friday.





Cheers,

Istaboa

Merry Christmas

Dominic, The Pit Bull

Love this story.

Dominic the pit bull is a pro cuddler, and he's using his gift to help comfort injured and sick animals at the shelter that saved him.

 

Story continues below.


Dominic, who is just 18 weeks old, was rescued along with a litter of other puppies when police raided a Denver home, according to the Greeley Tribune. Due to Denver's pit bull ban, the then 7-week-old pup was sent to the Denkai Community Veterinary Clinic, in Greeley, Colo., which rescues domestic and farm animals.

Vet tech Stephany Haswell agreed to foster Dominic and was soon won over by his sweet nature.

Haswell soon adopted Dominic, and when the pup accompanied Haswell to the vet's office, it was as if he could sense the discomfort of animals that had just come out of surgery. Without prompting, he would snuggle with them on his red pillow bed.

You gotta love dogs.

The complete article here. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/23/dominic-comfort-pit-bull-_n_4468767.html

Merry Christmas,

Istaboa

Global Wind Map

... and it could be quite useful for us boater types who's lives revolve around the wind.

 

Click here for a real-time moving wind map.

 http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=-76.41,28.36,1024

I placed a point at West End, Bahamas, but you can cursor to wherever in the world you please and zoom in. Pretty cool.

Right now it appears to be rather breezy down south where Istaboa is docked.

These two shot shows the frontal system that's about to push through Memphis. 

Looking at the radar image below the wind map, it seems to right on the money.

This is worth a bookmark for future cruises.

Slate article here. Global Wind Map

Cheers,

istaboa

10 Bizarre Christmas Traditions From Around The World

 Saw this and thought it was funny.

Wonder what Fox News would think of these Christmas traditions?

#1 reminds me of Christmas with the in-laws back in the day.

Testing — 123

Just making sure everything still works.



Hope everyone is having a great holiday season.

We're just trying to stay warm in Memphis and doing a good job of it.

Check out the Istaboa-Cams on the side bar for a glimpse of real-time sunny Florida.
Also, these cruising blogs being written by folks who are actually cruising.

http://mvbroulee.blogspot.com/

http://bkomeara-travelblog.blogspot.com/

Cheers,

Istaboa

Tragic News From Bermuda

Some of you may remember a post from back in April regarding Steve Cummings and his boat 'Silent Thunder'. Steve and his wife Rose were on a mooring ball at Sunset Bay in Stuart, FL for years. Original post here http://istaboawaypoints.blogspot.com/2013/04/todays-pic_15.html

Sadly, I received an anonymous comment this morning informing us that Silent Thunder sank off the coast of Bermuda and Steve has perished.
I Googled and found this article.

Tragic end to sailor’s journey home

By Gareth Finighan
Published Dec 12, 2013 at 8:00 am (Updated Dec 11, 2013 at 11:50 pm)

Tragic solo sailor Steve Cummings — whose body was washed ashore at Shelly Bay yesterday morning — was an experienced yachtsman who had sailed around the world and had spent his entire life “messing around boats”.
But the veteran skipper had to be towed into Bermuda two months ago after his vessel — a 65ft former US Army tug boat — developed mechanical problems.
Mr Cummings, from Stuart on the west coast of Florida, is understood to have been attempting a single-handed voyage across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean island of Malta — a journey he made last year with his wife, Rose.
But he was forced to detour to Bermuda and remain on the Island for several weeks while his boat — Silent Thunder — was repaired.
It is not known when exactly he left the Island to begin his final fateful journey to reunite with his wife, but authorities received a distress call shortly after midnight yesterday and a desperate search-and-rescue mission, involving marine police, divers and the Bermuda Regiment, was launched.

Complete article here.  http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20131212/NEWS/131219901

Our hearts go out to Rose and Steve's family and friends.

Adios,

Istaboa

Couldn't Sleep

and found this while surfing aimlessly. Thought I'd pass it on.

Weather Update

Armageddon averted, just cold.

Back to hiatus.

It Has Begun

Hope it doesn't last.


From the rooftop of our building.

Looking south over the Mississippi River

To the north

Guess we should have hung out a little longer in Florida.

All the way to Memphis

We left Jupiter at 4:30AM and did a non-stop drive to Memphis. 999 miles! 15 hours!
Won't do that again.

And... we arrived just in time for the most dreaded of all winter storms, an Ice Storm.
We may be on the fringe of this system and it could just be an annoyance. That's what usually happens here.

Memphis doesn't do winter storms well. The local media has a field day.





We're hoping this is just another case of media hysteria, but...

 

We shall see.

Cheers,

Istaboa