Still playing with pictures...

Went out this evening and shot a lot of pics at slow shutter speeds in low light. Usually a drive-by photographer, I've never shot this way before. It's a lot of trouble carrying around a tripod, tinkering with all the buttons and knobs on the camera, so I normally take hip shooting pics with a camera in one hand and a cocktail in the other.
But, you know, we have a lot of time on our hands so why not do a little experimentation.
Out of the 30 or so shots, I did come out with a few nice ones... or we think so anyway.

So... The weekend is coming up which means more sounds and smells from the restaurants.
After a quiet week, a little commotion is kinda nice.

Hope you all have a good weekend,

Adios,

Istaboa

Hearing the drums from the Exumas

While we're hanging out in Stuart, (quite nicely, I might add) our good buddy Cap'n Will is helping out on Exodus.
Arnie and Susan aboard Exodus are friends we've known for years, they have just made the run and are now tied up at our favorite little island paradise, Compass Cay. It appears they've found a good Crawfish hole somewhere around Highborne Cay.
We can only imagine how good dinner was last night. Fresh Lobster!
More on page 2

No-Morewater

Sadly tonight we said adios to our good friend Peter. The Morewater deal has closed, the deal is done, but today we had a great time running down to Manatee Pocket for lunch at Fins. It was a beautiful day.

It's something we boaters have to do from time to time... Let go of the dream for a while...  and this was the right time for Pete.
But, he promises to be an honorary member of Crew Istaboa.
Adiós mi Amigo

Also, this weekend was the Stuart Art Fest and of course,  we took a few pics which are on page 2.

Mission aborted

Not the Space Shuttle, but we decided not to drive to Titusville to watch the launch. After a little research on the internet we realized that, thousands of people descend on a small park at about the same time, watch the 90 seconds of the launch, then leave at the same time causing a huge traffic jam for hours. Not what we had in mind at all. So we just watched it from the boat. Not as dramatic as being there, but no traffic.

As soon as we spotted it, it was gone. That's quick.

Then all that was left was the dissipating contrail.

Good luck Discovery!
Here's to a safe and successful mission.

Adios,

Istaboa

An interesting day

Yesterday, Pete invited me over to meet the new owner of Morewater.
A nice fellow who brought Scott Flanders, another Nordhavn owner, with him. Many of us long range cruiser types know of Scott and have read about his, and his wife Mary's, exploits aboard their boat, "Egret". They have been published in several magazines, Passage Maker being one, and they're prominently featured on the Nordhavn web site.
I had a great conversation with Scott. He's a very nice and humble man, he truly loves what he does, and is very inspiring.

 

For those who don't know of Scott and Mary, they have circumnavigated the world in their Nordhavn N46.

Cut from the Nordhavn Site:

In line with the Around The World journey of 2001-02 and the 2004 Atlantic Rally comes another great Nordhavn adventure: the Voyage of Egret. What started out for Scott and Mary Flanders as a 16-month journey from Gibraltar to New Zealand by way of Cape Horn on their Nordhavn 46, has turned into a life journey with goal destinations and loose timelines.

More on page 2

Those darn Canadians...

Funny... eh?

Still loitering around Stuart.

Diggin through the archives, I came across this shot and thought I would throw it in...  just because we liked it so much. This was taken from the dock at Bakers Bay on Guana Cay back in 2006, when the boaters at anchor were still allowed ashore.

That's the former NoMoYdWk in the foreground with Istaboa further out.

 Yep, still in Stuart but having a nice time, so... why not?

But we did take the Albury down the ICW to Jupiter yesterday. It's about a 2 hour run because of the no wake areas. We saw a Manatee and lots of really pretty birds, but no pics. Seems my camera battery was dead, so I'm surprised we didn't spot a Mermaid riding atop a Unicorn. Such sighting usually happen when we're without camera. [e.g. The time we motored through a sizable pod of Pilot Whales while crossing the Gulf Stream on the way to the Bahamas, again, dead camera battery....]

More on page 2, with pics.

Very cool boat house

Pretty sure many of you have already seen this on HGTV, but a friend emailed it to us and we thought we would pass it along.
Beautiful is an understatement.
Enjoy.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

So we did a little walkabout.

I loaded up my camera with a fast telephoto lens and we took Radar out for a walk in the park at downtown Stuart. Snapped a few shots while out. It was fun.

Leaving the marina, you walk under the new Roosevelt bridge via the boardwalk and -Voila!- you're in a nicely landscaped, palm tree swaying, river front park. The Pelican restaurant is up next, a quaint outdoor cafe and very dog friendly. Flagler Park is a neighborly and kindly little city park where you'll see folks walking around doin what folks do in a park on a sunny afternoon.
More on page 2

Shots over the bow

The favorite view for crew Istaboa

Going back through some archived images while working on a photo book (for personal enjoyment), we came upon a lot of these shots taken from the pilot house and over the bow. A lot! 

It's made us realize how fortunate we've been to have experienced these visuals and how much we want to add to this collection, there's a whole world of this still out there waiting for us, (much to Radar's chagrin). 

For now...

Yep, we're still in Stuart and the exit windows of opportunity are getting shorter and shorter, northers clocking around only to become northers again within hours, which is what the weather does this time of year. 

But, there's no reason to complain, our time will come. 

Soon.

More on page 2, but be warned... page 2 is large