Outbound update

It appears our friends aboard Outbound have arrived at Cabo San Lucas. It's been several days at sea and we imagine land is a good sight to see for the crew. Bet tonight will be a big one. Looking forward to an update from the crew.

Meanwhile in Stuart.... We are still waiting on Florida Yacht Interiors to deliver (project due date was May 2) us something to sit on. We feel like we are camping out in our own boat. Florida Yacht Interiors is an upscale yacht interior design firm out of Fort Lauderdale and we were told to expect great service and quality work. Hmmm... more on this story when it finally unfolds.
The pilot house chair, a Stidd, was a project they [FYI] declined on because of the complexity of tearing it down and putting it back together. We gave that job to Capt. Will and a young fellow here in Stuart named Scott Valentine. Will and Scott delivered right on time and it looks great.
Will dismantled the hardware, which was a daunting task, and Scott reupholstered what was once Purple... or burgundy as Mel likes to call it.
Anyway, the end result.

 this was

 once this.

Hopefully that will all be behind us this weekend as we leave for the islands.

Adios,

Istaboa

Sunset over a swollen river

 

Photo by Mark Weber

The river is predicted to crest on Tuesday

18" below the 1937 Record... which is good news

As the river level reaches new highs...

Memphis hits new lows... Today, we made Drudge Report :-(
Article here

Commercial Appeal article here
Maybe we should all live on boats.

Adios,

Istaboa

Back aboard Istaboa...

...and very happy to be.
The interior project is still (begrudgingly) in the works. Seems nothing works out as one expects these days, but we're sure it will all wangle out to our liking in the end.

Today as we flew out of Memphis we circled downtown's riverfront and caught a bird's eye view of how much Ole Man River has broken from his banks. I've lived on this river my whole life and never seen it so swollen.
Made me think of an old Zeppelin tune.

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,

When the Levee Breaks, first recorded by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie after the 1927 flood, later by Led Zeppelin

And, if it does break, my little home town in Arkansas will float away.

Adios,


Istaboa

We are outta here!

Had fun Memphis...Storms and all.  Hope Memphis in May is a blast, the creek don't rise much more, and the levee holds.
Our next post will be from Stuart and aboard Istaboa.

Adios,

Istaboa

Moment of Zen

Easter's past

So our stay in Memphis is coming to an end, it's been a fun but very stormy spring here.
Never been through 36 hours of continuous thunderstorms and rain... that was interesting and a bit scary at times. We fared well, but others were not so lucky. Almost 300 casualties and that number is still rising.
On a lighter note, we've had fun catching up with old acquaintances, some we haven't seen for decades. This has made us realize how much Memphis is our home... so the sale of Rocky Point is on hold.
But now it's back to Stuart and the new and improved Istaboa. We're excitedly anxious to see the new interior and will post pics shortly after settling in. We will soon provision for a nice long cruise in the islands. Can't wait.

Outbound Update:

Missing Stuart

Downloaded an iphone app today and edited a pic of the Riverwalk in Stuart overlooking the St. Lucie River with the Roosevelt Bridge in the background. Came out interesting. These iphone cams are kinda neat.

End of an era.

Castro steps down... story here>> Castro resigns

Very cool!

We've been keeping up (via Spot) with some friends aboard "Outbound", a Hatteras LRC, who at this moment are passing through the Panama Canal. Happened to look at just the right time and caught them in Miraflores Lock and actually watched them in real time on the Canal Web Cam website while locking down.
Did a screenshot.

They left Fort Lauderale 9 days ago and made a very bumpy straight shot from Key West to Panama. They're taking Outbound to her new home in Seattle.
Learned from them that if you can stretch your vessel out past 65', you get a transit slot faster than smaller vessel's. They just made it (their boat is 59') by using a very long anchor, every inch of the swim platform, and cheating a bit. This usually takes up to 2 weeks for smaller boats.
Guess size does matter.
Bon voyage, Outbound.

Adios,

Istaboa