Not what we were hoping for...

But you play the cards you're dealt.

We were playing down this first storm, now called Ana, then out of the blue comes Bill right behind her. Bill is being predicted to become a full blow Hurricane in the next couple of days. Not sure yet how we're going to react to this new situation but we are a bit pensive to say the least. Working on Plan A, B, and C right now. We will all know more tomorrow.

In the meantime, we have been enjoying Stuart. Had drinks and dinner last night aboard Sand Pebble. She's an interesting boat, a steel trawler built in China. Nice company that we will go into more about later.

Not much to do about the storm thing.
So... guess it's time to drink a bit.


Adios,


Istaboa

GSSR Update: Shelby gets out of jail

We are very happy to read that the whole crew of Sans Souci is able to go freely about their way in the beautiful country of Japan. If you read Ken's post here... It seems they may have been doing an occasional jail break--as needed.

Adios,


Istaboa

Silas Rui Taylor

So.... This is our new grandson. Silas Rui Taylor. A handsome little guy. Born July 31. A Leo, like his dad.
Rui is an interesting name. Not sure, but betting it's after the Portuguese football (soccer) star, Rui Costa.


Then there is this little guy. Don't know his name but click here to see a lot of water dogs pics. If you're a dog lover, you will love this.

We are still enjoying life here in Stuart. The 3 of us went out to Wahoo's last night for crab legs. The staff there is very dog friendly and Radar was fussed over. Took the little boat and had a very nice ride.

The weather, though hot, has been good here. We are keeping a wary eye out for the dreaded "h" word. Hurricanes. So far, so good. But there is the possibility of somethings coming together next week. We have our fingers crossed and our eye on the forecaster websites.


That's all for now.

Adios,


Istaboa

Great Siberian Sushi Run update

Well... That adventurous group of Nordhavn's has made it to Japan. What a sense of accomplishment they must be enjoying.

But sadly, when Sans Souci was checking in they ran afoul of Customs. Some problem with paperwork and their dog Shelby. This would be very upsetting to put it mildly.
Cut and pasted from Sans Souci's blog: ARGH! He brought out a steel cable, attached it to Shelby, affixed it to a barstool in the boat’s salon, and said she would have to stay chained until we could get an original form, from Olympia Washington, properly filled in and stamped.

Hopefully this problem has been resolved by now and Shelby is free to be with her peeps in Japan.


Our congratulations to the folks of the Great Siberian Sushi Run. Salute!


Adios,



Istaboa

Having fun in Stuart

Radar checkin his facebook page.
He's hoping Sissy sends him a cupcake

Life has been good here in Stuart. We did put the Albury in the water and have gone out in it every afternoon after the thunderstorms dissipate. It does cool off then and the sunsets have been nice. Took the little boat over to Manatee pocket late yesterday afternoon and had a quick dinner at Shrimpers. It was a nice ride to and fro but when we got back, the railroad bridge was closed and we had to hover for almost an hour. Not complaining...
We have made friends here at some of the restaurants that allow dogs. So Radar is becoming well known. Tonight we are meeting friends at Pelicans. Radar is also invited.

The baby deer from Rocky Point

I finally found my camera cable and was able to download pics; these are our babies from Rocky Point. They're probably getting big by now.

And this one is just a few starfish Mel found in the Exumas and stacked them up. I just thought it would make a nice picture.

So, all in all... we are enjoying ourselves here. Stuart is definitely a "boaty" town and seems to be a nice bunch of folks.

Adios,


Istaboa

Bagan Update

Interesting footage shot from the 57 Nordhavn "Bagan".
Ice field in Canada's Northwest Passage.



Mean while, we are in sunny Stuart, Fl. It seems more inviting here now compared to the last time we passed through. Probably the weather. Anyway we will stick around here for a while and become acquainted with Stuart.
The Albury will be splashed on Monday and there is plenty to explore around here. Should be fun.

PS... Congratulations to Mason and Lindsey on the arrival of their new Son and our new Grandson.
Happy Birthday, Silas Taylor.

Adios,


Istaboa

Heading north

So Andy at the Nordhavn office in Stuart, FL told us about a marina there offering an introductory rate. We checked and, yep, it saved us over a thousand bucks a month. Off we went.

Squeezing out of New River is always a trip and this time was no different.. but we made it without incident. Looking over our shoulder at Ft Lauderdale as we headed out through Port Everglades we could see the city being pounded by a storm. We left just in time.
Our luck held out as we made way north to Palm Beach's Lake Worth inlet. We could see heavy rain and severe lighting from a huge storm right in front of us for the whole trip but a bit of rain was all we felt. Then the sun came out as we tied up at Old Port Cove in N. Palm Beach.
All in all it was a pretty good day for us.

There were scuba divers everywhere along the way and because of the storm we couldn't understand why the tourist would subject themselves to such conditions. Later we found out it was a two day Spiney Lobster mini season. That explains it.

Today we head for Stuart via the ICW (Which I hate) and Sunset bay marina. It looks nice on the internet -floating docks- and it's brand new. We shall see.

Adios,


Istaboa

The Great Siberian Sushi Run Update

Just received another update from our intrepid fellow Nordies in the Aleutians.
Seems like they are having a bumpy but beautiful trip.

Downbound finally

Yes... We're heading back to Istaboa for a while. Should be back in Fort Lauderdale this weekend.

And- Istaboa's Waypoints has been honored by being mentioned in
their Blogs We Like section of the latest issue.

Click here to read the article>>>> Blogs we like
That was nice... thanks MotorBoating.

Alas, we will miss our little deer family. We have pics but left the cable on the boat. Will post soon.

Adios,


Istaboa

Still sitting in the green room

We've been doing what we came to Memphis for... family, business, house cleaning... but we're feeling the need to head south and back to Istaboa.

The Albury is almost finished, which we are anxiously looking forward to seeing, and we're missing our South Florida lifestyle and friends.

One of the things we will miss (amongst many) about Rocky Point is the little deer family we have been watching since being back. A doe brings out two little fawns a few times a day for water and corn we have put out for them. I will post pictures later.

I have failed to mention another Nordhavn adventure blog. Ken Williams has put together quite a sojourn. He calls this the "Great Siberian Sushi Run". The image above is his sail plan.
His boat, "Sans Souci" and two other Nordhavns, "Grey Pearl" and "Sea Bird" are leaving the US northwest and heading for Japan... the hard way.

Cut and pasted from his blog.

"Although we're calling this mini rally "The Great Siberian Sushi Run", it has been suggested that we call ourselves "The Wrong Way Gang". The prevailing winds are such that there is a virtually non-stop headwind from the west. We are expecting consistently high winds, and slow going. The "reward" is getting to see a part of the world that few have ever visited, and the ability to cross the Pacific without ever being more than 300 miles from land. Our longest passage will be only 500 miles, and our longest run without fuel will be only about 1,100 miles. "

It's really an interesting read. Click here>>>> GSSR

signing off for now...

Adios,


Istaboa

ps... Radar is doing his throaty little growl that tells us the deer family is here. Will get pics and post later. They really are delightful to see.