Friday, October 18, 2013

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Today's Pic

Shot over the bow... AYB


High and dry... 10' in the air... in a gravel parking lot, makes for a unusual perspective for my "Shots Over The Bow" collection.

The rain has finally moved on so the work has begun.

We've all enjoyed the hotel. Aloft is a different kinda hotel... a Euro design in a box and that's nice, A good bar with a great happy hour, and they're very dog friendly. Our room is a door away from the dog walking lot, can't beat that.

We're in the middle of what we call MallVille. Every town has at least one. Everything you want to eat, drink, or wear is within a half mile. We went to see "Gravity" yesterday just to treat ourselves after 8 days of sitting in the rain. Incredible effects. 3D is a trip... really made us duck a couple of times. The movie? Well... the effects were excellent and should be seen in a theater with big screen and big sound.
Ladies, You probably won't like it.

We should be back on the boat late tomorrow... we're told, but if not... the hotel life has been a nice break.

Adios,

Istaboa

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Monday, October 14, 2013

Today's Pics

Woke early this morning to check out the forecast and try to formulate a plan for the upcoming week.
Well... seems like more of the same except less wind.
Decisions to be made and plenty of time to make them.

As I came up from below and looked out over the bow for the first indication of our present conditions, I see a glimpse of color. Color! We've had so much gray that a flash of yellow and red stands out like a bolt of lightning.


As I stood in the pilothouse and watched this fellow fish, I noticed the fresh coating of rain drops on our bow rail.
Might not come out today either.
Well see.


Hope this guy has luck... He sure seems to be enjoying the peacefulness and solitude that the early morning brings.

I'm enjoying the color.

Adios,

Istaboa

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Glum In The Gloom

Rain.
Fn' rain.
Relentless Rain!

All the beautiful weather that was bestowed on us, all summer long, has moved somewhere else — forsaken us.
There's a low pressure system that has squatted over this area and seems to have taken root, seems to have set up residence.

Floating here in the back of the marina with our stern window facing out, our view is the little spit of land that those at AYB call a parking/storage area; It's really just a small wooded island with worn out gravel roads — when we do gape out, it's either raining, threatening to rain, or blowing rain.
We've become a bit stir crazy...
Even the boys don't care to go for a walk. A quick trot to their favorite spot, do their biz, and a quicker trot back to the boat where it's dry. Then, they go into a dormant mental state that I'm personally envious of.
Mel's taken to cleaning the boat as a way to dispose of the unwanted anxieties of boredom. There's nothing dirtier than an old boat yard.
I'm either doing a little business, writing, watching old movies or documentaries, taking pictures, or Photoshoping the reality out of some of the photographs I've taken in an attempt to make them more interesting.

We need to keep reminding ourselves that there's a purpose to all this sitting.

  • We've had some plumbing issues and we're fortunate we're at a yard and not in the middle of nowhere on the ICW.
  • Little maintenance projects have been done under a covered slip.
  • The weather's been blowin from here to Beaufort and further south. 
  • We need to be pulled out of the water to have the bottom painted.
  • We need to inspect our running gear. 
  • It's will save us more than a thousand bucks to have it done here and... 
  • It will be done much better at AYB than in S. Fla.
We should send ourselves a daily email to help us remember why we're just sitting here...  glum in the gloom.

This view of the outback of AYB never seems to change.

Hopefully, tomorrow we'll have a dry day and they can start to work.

There's so many boats passing by; all the marinas and anchorages south of us will be crowded so it's probably best we stay put. Maybe a nice hotel for a couple of days can pull us out of our funk.
It would be nice if we were out on the front row... at least we could watch all the boats as they pass by. When the horn blows at Great Bridge Bridge and there's always an interesting parade of boat that stop for fuel or just slowly pass as they're heading south to wherever.

View from the front row docks.


Then on top of all the gloomy weather — today, the Saints were beat in the last second of the game by the New England Patriots.
Damn... Tom Brady
Sorry... really, sorry.
Things could be and have been worse..... not whining... Venting?
Maybe.

Anyway — Here's to a dry Monday.

Thanks for checkin' on us.

Cheers,

Istaboa

Today's Pics

Baltimore, over the bow...



Damn!
Still rainin', going back to sleep.

Cheers,

Istaboa

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Wish we were there


So tired of rain and mud. No end in sight.
Hopefully it stops Monday.

Today's Pic

Boats on the Bay


Still rainin'... going back to sleep.

Cheers,

Istaboa

Friday, October 11, 2013

Today's Pic

Well... This norther blew all our water away, but it looks like it flooded downtown Norfolk.

Waterside Marina is underwater.


I'm not sure how you'd get off the boat.
Boots?

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Today's Pic

Laser races at Solomons Island

Yep... still playin' with Photoshop.

Still rainin' and blowin' like hell.
When a good norther blows through here it sucks much water out of the ICW and the docks at AYB.
I've seen 3' feet disappear in less than 12 hrs.
On the other side of the Great Bridge Lock, the water is stacking up and they can't open... so, our buddy, Capt. Bobby McKee, is sitting in downtown Norfolk waiting and he doesn't know for how long.

Really glad we got stuck under this covered slip.

Cheers,

Istaboa