Happy Birthday, Mark Philips

Last night we surprised our old friend Mark with a party in Memphis. It was fun.

The Big Five O doesn't seem so large when it finally arrives. I have the big Six O coming up which seems completely wrong. I keep counting the years to be sure I've done the math correctly... always adds up the same. Damn!
Poking around the net and came across this video... Peter Yarrow and Richie Havens... Great tune.Enjoy.

Adios,

Istaboa

Cloud Tsunami rolls over Panama City Beach

 Saw this on the net and thought to pass it along. Pretty amazing photos. 

We were just in PCB, wish we would have experienced that. Wonder what it was like looking up from the beach?

 

By Natalia Jimenez, msnbc.com

Helicopter pilot Mike Schaeffer was wrapping up a tour when he spotted this incredible weather phenomenon along the coast of Panama City Beach, Fl. on Sunday. As soon as he landed, he alerted Panhandle Helicopter owner JR Hott of the "cloud form waves," and together they went up for a better view. They moved quickly knowing that it is only in very specific weather conditions that this beautiful effect occurs. While the online community has dubbed this a "cloud tsunami," Hott disagrees with the popular moniker:

I wouldn't call it a "cloud tsunami." The term tsunami implies a natural disaster. The event, while it can form quickly, moves gently and slowly. It isn't something that happens with more than a gentle breeze.

While the images appear non-threatening and peaceful, as an experienced pilot, Hott has been trained to treat all fog and clouds as if they are solid objects. He and Schaeffer were very careful approaching in the air to get a better view. Fortunately, because of the location of the condos, they were able to approach the cloud waves from the side and did not place themselves in the direct path of the fog.

Meteorologist Dan Satterfield explains this occurrence on his blog:

Cool air offshore was very nearly at the saturation point, with a temperature near 20ºC and a dew point of about 19.5ºC. The air at this temperature can only hold a certain amount of water vapor, and how much it can hold depends heavily on the temperature. If you add more water into the air, a cloud will form, but you can also get a cloud to form by cooling the air. Drop the temperature, and it can no long hold as much water vapor, so some of it will condense out and a cloud will form.

Hott will see this happen a couple times a year, but Sunday's visibility was especially clear and he was able to make all these pictures in only five minutes! He is more amazed at the attention his pictures are getting, rather than with the event itself. "This is not so much a study in photography, but a study in how something can go viral," he said. Hott posted the photos to his company's Facebook page and suddenly he was getting requests for the pictures from all over the world. He is happy with the attention, hoping it inspires some to take a tour with him along the coastline.

Road trip to Memphis

Oh shit!!
Why are we here?

Back in Memphis again.... Long road trip... We made a mistake leaving Stuart when we chose the shortest route on our Navigation System. They should have said Scenic Route That Takes Forever. Anyway we left Stuart heading for Mexico Beach, Fl on the panhandle. Our route took us across the state then along the northern gulf coast all the way around. Even though we thought it would never end, it was cool passing through some of the old fishing villages like Carrabelle and Apalachicola. 

Radar takes it all in stride.

Went by to see Mel's brother in Mexico Beach. He took us out to dinner at Killer Seafood. It's a funky little Seafood diner/beer joint on the outskirts of town that's a local fave. It's all fresh and really good.

Soft Shell Crab... Panhandle Style

Very Tasty!!

So, other than a tiring run, it was largely uneventful. 

Although along the way——Some of you may remember my rant about Mr. Chase Camacho and Florida Yacht Interiors.  Yes, there will be another update.

He called me as we were driving. It's kinda funny, I thought he would be pissed about the painfully honest review I wrote about him and his company, but that didn't bother him. He was furious about my pointing out the humor in his picture with the 2 Bikini clad girls at one of his "charity events". Not sure why... it was his picture he posted on the internet, I just reposted it and added a bit of tongue and cheek satire.

So I guess it's okay to trash his company, his service, and his product, but make fun of his charity... and you make him mad.

Okay Chase... after thinking about that a bit. I apologize if it appears I was making light of your favorite charity... I was actually poking fun at you, not your charity. As a matter of fact, I will even put a link here and let those who read this make up there own minds. Here's the link. http://www.getkidsfishing.org/ 

It's actually a nice little site and they do seem to want to take underprivileged children out fishing and show them a good time.  

Also... Chase, if you would care to rebut my review, I post comments without editing them.

So in the middle of this boring run north through Alabama, Captain Chase, you livened things up... and for that we thank you.

Ever day has a little drama I guess.

Adios,

Istaboa

You never know what you'll see

In South Florida.

Drove down to West Marine for some supplies and 12v LED light bulbs and parked in front of this car. Trippy little thing. Had no name on it. I thought maybe Chinese, but when I got home I posted these pics on Mobli and a nice fellow informed me it was a 2CV by Citroen. French.

j

Cut from Wikipedia:

The Citroën 2CV (French: “deux chevaux” i.e. “deux chevaux-vapeur [fiscaux]”, literally “two tax horsepower”) is an economy car produced by the French car manufacturer Citroën between 1948 and 1990.^[1] It combined technological innovation, utilitarian looks and simple bodywork.^[3]

In 1953 Autocar in a technical review of the car wrote of "the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford".^[4]

Anyway, not much going on with Crew Istaboa. Wrestling with boat-fixers still. Seems we have a marine plumbing problem that no matter how much money and time we throw at it... it and the boat-fixer just won't go away.  I'll post a detailed account in the Marine Services Review section when it's over. (And thanks everyone for checking out this new section. over 400 hits in the week it's been up.)

Superbowl Sunday!!
Going for the Giants. Eli is kind of a home boy. Quarterbacked at Ole Miss, his Dad, and his brother have been in our lives forever.
So whatta ya expect.

 Do it again, Eli!

Go Giants!

Incredible video

The Salty Cs Crew sent this over.
Chances are you've seen this (over 2million view)... if not, it's worth your time.
Amazing and kinda funny.
Thanks, Traci and Mike

Puppies!!

Okay... enough ranting.
Carol just sent over the latest pics of our new little mate and his sibs... Very cute little puppies.
Of course, We've never seen ugly puppies.
Carol always gives them names until they are adopted and then she uses whatever the owners come up with. Our little Muddy was Phil. Carol and her family enjoy the TV Sitcom, Modern Family, as you will see.

Very clever...

a few more weeks till we bring him home to terrorize poor old Radar. Still crossin our fingers about that.

Adios,

Istaboa

PS: Decided to start the reviews off on a positive note. Sunset Bay Marina, Tom Sawyer, and River Forrest who we have already sung the praises of. Check out Marine Services Review. I'm serious about this.

Accountability... time to speak up

This will be a somewhat different post than you'll normally find on this blog... A bit of a rant and for that I apologize.
After this post, I promise, I'll go back to the normal pics and narratives.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boats break... that's a well known fact. Boats need constant maintenance, another certainty. Sometimes we boaters need to hire expertise to perform repairs or maintenance that we don't have the skills or tools for, or just don't want to do. (Which for me, the latter is usually the case) So we rely on the plethora of highly skilled (or so they say) individuals or marine service organizations for these chores.

I'll get to the point in a moment...

I was talking with a friend last week who had just recently sold his boat and he was lamenting his dream of life on a boat. When I asked him if there was anything he didn't miss about the cruising life he didn't hesitate for a second with his response, he said, and I paraphrase because my memory is for shit, "I really don't miss having to deal with the boatyards who most times overcharge and under deliver, I don't miss the high dollar servicers who tout their expertise then contract the job out to someone else while I'm not aboard, the marinas that offer a special deal until the bill arrives that's loaded with hidden charges. All of this became the rule rather than the exception... I don't miss any of that stuff. I loved the boat, I miss the boaters, and I miss the lifestyle, but I don't miss those in the business of servicing my boat."

I totally understood, I've argued my way out of more than a few boatyards, and no, not all of the marine servicers are that way. Some are dishonest and trying to take advantage of the cruisers when who are out of their area and in a bind. Others misrepresent themselves and just aren't very good at what they do, but quite a few are genuinely trying to help out in the most efficient and least expensive way possible, trying to do the right thing —but— unfortunately they are few and becoming fewer.

Okay... so what's the point of this very lengthy diatribe?

Like my friend who just sold his boat, I too am tired of these types of business practices. I wanna out the ne'er-do-wells and tout the honest professionals. I'm gonna to post my experiences with these companies and individual contractors in a section of this blog I'm calling "Marine Services Review". My intent is to express my opinions and recount my experiences in short concise narratives; relating the work, attitude, and overall experience while dealing with these marine services companies as we travel and find their services necessary.
The objective is to show this post to any boat fixer before he works on Istaboa and explain: there are usually between 100 to 150 people a day who look at this little blog, most of these people are boaters and majority of those are boaters on the east coast.

Mr. Boat Fixer, this is your clientele. If you do a good job at the agreed upon price I will sing your praises and probably render a generous tip. View this as an good opportunity, as a free organic little advertisement.
If you deliver less than desirable service... I will write a detailed account of my dissatisfaction and make my opinions perfectly clear to quite a few folks that care.

Now, do you still want this job?

Some will walk away... I will let you know who does.


In this section, (which you will find in the column on the right side of this blog) anyone, including the subjects of praise or the opposite of, can make comments that are in agreement with me or not. Fellow boaters who have had good or bad experiences can share them here. Every boater that keeps a blog should do the same thing. Speak up! Word of mouth is cool, but our words will carry further online. Maybe we will find more positives than negatives and share those experiences and contacts for our common good.

• Will this make a difference? Maybe, probably not, but you gotta try.

• Why am I doing this? Accountability... There's certainly a lack of that in the marine biz.

• Am I crazy? Can be. Ask some of the boat fixers.

• Is this unconventional? Not really. 

If this works it will be just another form of crowd sourcing... Kinda like Active Captain, which is a great source of information. (Istaboa has built up over 800 points with them) They have a section called Captain Rated that hasn't been totally put into effect yet. I look forward to the completion of Captain Rated and wish the Active Captain folks success on it's implementation. (Then I can go back to just posting pictures and writing short narratives about our happy experiences while cruising.)
My motive is not to profit from this...

• I just want decent service at a fair price. 

• I just want accountability in this little niche industry. 

• I really just want a better boating experience.

We'll see what happens.


Adios,


Istaboa

And now we are 4....

Yup, a new member of Crew Istaboa will be coming aboard soon.
For Mel's birthday, she dug her heels in and insisted we have another critter. Radar and I resisted for as long a we could, but she was relentless and as usual... she won.

 Muddy Waters of Istaboa

He'll be known as Muddy

Mel flew up to Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday to check him out and of course she immediately fell in love. Another Havanese... and by the same breeder who gave us Radar. 

 Mel, Muddy, and Abby his mom, keeping an eye on the situation.

Premier Havanese is owned and operated by Carol Croop. She's a caring and knowledgeable breeder who takes Havanese very seriously. Only about 2 litters a year come out of Premier which means she does it for the love of the breed. Her passion is showing and improving the Havenese bloodline. She's doing an excellent job. 

Her daughter has Radar's father.... Radar Sr. 

Yes, Carol's daughter named our Radar because he looked like his father. To us, it seemed a fitting name for a boat dog whose owners were in the Marine Electronics biz. And, as a tiny pup he acknowledged the name... so Radar he is. And—he's probably gonna be really pissed when Muddy arrives. He's not used to competition on his boat, but we're sure in a short time he'll love the companionship. Who can resist a puppy, not even Radar. (we hope)

We can pick him up in three weeks... Carol likes to keep the pups for 8 weeks in order to start the training and socialization process. That's 2 weeks longer than most breeders, but we don't argue because of the wonderful job she did with Radar.

So here we go.... this should be interesting.

Adios,

Istaboa

A video of Muddy, Carol, his mom Abby, and his siblings. Very short.

Happy Birthday Melonie

Dock Bird and another Sunset