Flying low to Lauderdale

Yesterday was interesting... Bob, one of our dock buddies, was taking this boat back to Ft Lauderdale and asked if I wanted to ride along.
The Van Dutch is so totally different than Istaboa that I figured a run out in a fairly rough sea in such a boat would be an unique experience. It was.

Bob also asked another dock buddy, Rob, to go as well. Boy, is this sounding redundant? What a crew, Bob, Rob, and Bob? Sounds like an old song.

Anyway, we motored out the St Lucie inlet and hammered down. This boat will fly!

Normally in Istaboa a run to Ft Lauderdale is an all day cruise... the Van Dutch did it in 2 hours.

We had lunch at Southport Raw Bar in mind, but once there we saw everyone else had the same idea. No place to park. So we headed back out to the ICW to head north to Pompano and end the day. On the way out of the canal we passed Contigo... We stopped and talked with Dwight and the rest of the Contigo crew for a moment. Nice guys.

Passing by the Lauderdale Yacht Club we got a pic of the club's sailing school regatta. Looked like the kids were having fun.

Some pics of the Van Dutch... Slick and Sexy... all along the way folks would stare. It's that kinda boat. These shots are from the Van Dutch Website

As you can see from the photos... She is made with for a specific purpose. Not a liveaboard... Not even a weekender.

No, she didn't come with the boat, but I think she is an option.

A fun day and a beautiful boat... Not necessarily our type of vessel, but undeniably very cool.

Another great day amongst many.

Adios,

Istaboa

RIP- Etta James

Turning the lights back on

Been dark for a few days because of technical difficulties and having too much fun.
Had to send my laptop back to Apple... Seems I wore out the keyboard.
Amazing depot service from Apple; I call one day, they send me a box the next day, I ship it back to the repair facility in Memphis via FedEx, and a day later... I'm typing on it. Looks like new too! Three days all together!

Oh yeah... the fun part.
Our old Chesapeake Bay buddy, Peter, flew down for a few days. We had lots of fun.

Peter's boat...The former Morewater at Onancock

Lots of fun, food, good wine, and catching up. A terrific time. What started out as a brunch of Pete's excellent French Toast with a couple of Mimosas turned into a day long party with friends from the dock. Ending up at Santa Fe Cantina and Tex-Mex for dinner. What a day!
Think we are making loose plans to head back up north this summer and we'll stop off in Baltimore to visit Pete and Suzy.
So now we're caught up.... Back to just Crew Istaboa again. Gym and the reclamation of brain cells.
Atonement!

Adios,

Istaboa

PS: If you have time... A neat little video of Morewater that some may remember.

Yup, fixed the leak... haven't sunk

And found another video.
Enjoy
Frank "Sugar Chile Robinson" with Count Basie

Never ending...

It seems the care and maintenance of a boat is never ending...
Yesterday, I kept hearing the bilge pump kicking on and would say to Mel that I need go down into the engine room and tighten the shaft log to stop the drip. My thinking was the cold might have loosened the packing a bit, but other things kept me busy so I don't go until late.
We have a little ceramic heater that we use for cold mornings when we aren't using the main AC system, we had looked everywhere for it except the engine room.
I go down and hear a rapid dripping of water... so let's take a look at that shaft now... Nope, not that. So I continue to search for that sound... Ah! one of the watermaker water lines has a small leak. Oh! the bilge under the engine is full of water.... Oh Shit! I touch the elbow that has the leak and the whole things explodes and starts spraying water everywhere. Holy Shit!! I can't stop it from spraying.
I bleed the pressure water system and still water is spraying, slower, but still steady.
Finally I find the cutoff valve for the watermaker and... Ahhh.... now it stops.
So that's the project du jour.
Boats are kinda like children... you gotta love em.

Anyway while waiting for some folks to return some calls this morning I found this video.
Enjoy...

Adios,

Istaboa

Memphis Horns earn a Grammy

Lifetime achievement award
Congratulations fellas

Home again

Flyinzablur

Health, happiness, prosperity, and peace...

Making preparations... for the New Year and Next Adventure

Crew Istaboa has not put any plans in stone as of yet and we probably won't. We enjoy being a bit fickle about our cruising objectives. Freedom's just another word for not sticking to plans. (sorry Kris)
But, we've been busy making preparations for a move. One reason for going to Fort Myers was to find out what'd stopped working since our return from the islands last year.
There weren't many.
One of our original GPS transducers had finally gone on the blink. Circa 2002
Our VHF antennae seemed to have put on fur coats. So those had to be replaced. Also almost 10yrs old
We've decided we need to finally add that Isolation Transformer we've talked about for years... and If anyone has any thoughts or ideas along those lines, please send us an email or comment. Istaboa@gmail.com
When we get back, an autopilot calibration is in order. Loaded on new versions of, both, Nobeltec and Coastal Explorer and they aren't speaking the same language as the autopilots.
Been tinkering with the WiFi bridge aboard in hopes of speeding up throughput. Mainly because we've hooked up an Apple TV system for downloading movies... I know, I'm a geek... Mel tells me daily. I want my HDTV!
Also gonna try out MacENC just to see how the Apples handle the navigational tasks... Probably very well.
Going through our inventory to be sure we have the spares required when visiting the islands.
Rule #1: When in the islands, if you don't have it, you probably can't get it. Unless you pay a fortune to fly it in.
Rule #2: Read Rule #1.

Talked with our old buddy Captain Spooner and it looks like he's flying in from Baltimore to spend a few days with us... That's gonna be a lot of fun, so we're looking forward to going home. We miss all our friends at Sunset Bay. (Actually, Jeff and Cathy from C Dock, did come by our house in Memphis for drinks and dinner... That was nice. They were also kind enough to transport my new guitar back to Stuart.)

So plans.... Maybe not the islands and go up to the Northeast instead? Never done that past the Chesapeake. Maybe go to the islands and do some more WiFi work? Maybe both? Who knows?

We'll see...

A Happy New Year Video (you have probably seen) Cute...



better ... Happy New Year

Adios,

Istaboa