It was a rather calm and cool September on Unforgettable. Two highlights for Scott were the installation of flopper stoppers by Scotty Wiley and the addition of lambswool/leather fenderline rail straps. Our flopper stoppers are to make life easier and more stable in roly anchorages. We spent about 2 hours attempting to figure out how to position just the starboard side, which we did incorrectly. It will be quite the challenge to deploy them, especially in rough waters. Scott is prepping the boat for when we head down the Caribbean islands where we will mostly anchor and expect significant swells.
Our fancy new rail straps are beauties to view and are extremely practical. They enable us to place the fenders exactly between us and the dock posts where don’t always have a rail on which to tie them. A little bonus, a new cover for the wing station and for the dinghy drive station. It sure seems like we do a lot of purchasing for the boat and very little actual boating!
It was a challenging week as we traveled by car to SW Missouri to spend time with my father who is not feeling well. I was thankful that we could spend time with him since we hadn’t seen him since December and don’t know when we will again. We restricted our fluids so that we could limit our use of public restrooms. We took food, purchased carry-out or drive-through meals and poured on loads of hand sanitizer. Our hotel rooms were on the first floor to avoid the use of elevators. It was exhausting! As always, we are happy to be back in our comfy, cozy home.
Tristan, Roston and Scott on a chilly evening.
It was a treat to see our friend, Roston, from Georgetown, Exumas. He was taking his newly purchased “Vigilant” south to the Bahamas with his crew, Tristan. We’re so happy for him to be adding another vessel to his fleet! Thanks for a fun evening, Roston and Tristan!
Scott experienced another milestone in the deepening of his relationship with the bowels of Unforgettable‘s holding tank! We have continued to have trouble pumping out despite attempting a tank cleaning in June. We had a septic truck come out again and Scott used its powerful suction hose and a waterjet to clean the tank walls and bottom… then he vacuumed it. There were large pieces of debris and “gravel” which Scotty diagnosed as calcium breaking off of waste tubing. To do this cleaning, my Scott spent 2 hours with an extension light, a pump hose and vacuum hose, and his arm in the tank. Yesterday we did our first pump out since the cleaning and it was the best one ever. I know every boat owner loves to talk about holding tanks and boat viscera.
One very proud mom of Staff Sergeant, Clayton Flores
We celebrated the promotion of my oldest son to Staff Sergeant in the Air Force! He is a brave young man and I am so proud that he has chosen this career path! At the present he is stationed in the US and has enjoyed being stationed around the world!
Spending time with daughter, Allegra and her significant other, Brandon, has been a highlight of my summer. I’m super thankful that we have at least one family member that we can enjoy from a safe distance. Although it’s sad leaving them we are also super excited to travel again. We miss the water, the wind, the skies, the moon, the marine wildlife, and everything else associated with life on the boat. We don’t even mind any of the little inconveniences that are also part of the package. With this in mind, we have counted down the days/hours to our departure date on Monday, Oct. 5, immediately following a successful sea trial for our new wind gage. Wouldn’t you know, the sea trial was not a success and we are back at Washburns Boatyard waiting for a new part for the old one and an entirely new second one as a back up? Oh, well! This, too, is part of life on the water; expect the unexpected and be flexible.
Since we arrived back in the US in March this has not been the most exciting or adventuresome blog and I do apologize. I appreciate those that have stuck with us and continued to read the posts. We look forward to some beautiful boating experiences as we travel southward to Florida and beyond. Stay safe everyone!
Scott and Melissa's "Unforgettable" Adventures 
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