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2 runs and a wake up.An unexpected trip, but exciting nonetheless. Next post from de i-lans, mon.Cheers,IstaboaNordhavn Exumas Abacos Bahamas trawler Caribbean Pickwick Boat dogs
Memphis Downtown

Nordhavn Exumas Abacos Bahamas trawler Caribbean Pickwick Boat dogs
Memphis Downtown

If you’re not in to Rock ‘n’ Roll… mute the sound.Really good visuals.Nordhavn Exumas Abacos Bahamas trawler Caribbean Pickwick Boat dogs
Memphis Downtown

Currently, we’re in Jupiter and the weather’s been nice.

Our Hood —

Cinematic City from jason allen lee on Vimeo.
A look at Memphis.

Music by Tim Hecker.

Radar and I are up early, watching the sun rise over the top of a big yacht named Sea Bear, it’s nice visual.
Looking out over the stern of Istaboa, it appears to me that life seems to be getting better for many folks. This marina is filling up with big yachts where just a year ago it had more empty slips than full. The size and number of vessels has increased dramatically.
On the docks are marina worker bees swarming around the boats like in year’s distant past. Older boats are being fixed up or traded in for newer and bigger ones. Lots of upgrading and polishing, lots of captains and owners specing out projects. I’m seeing smiles on the faces of the boat fixer-uppers like I haven’t seen in a long time.
The marina operators are all reporting the best year they’ve seen in more than a decade. Some are getting cocky again, like they were around the turn of the century. (Yep, we’ve been doing this for a while.) Maybe they’ll remember what happened last time and not let this new found prosperity cloud their humility. Probably not.

Even our new little venture, onSpot wifi, is feeling like a young Dogwood tree at the commencement of a fruitful spring; laden with buds, fomenting a bloom the likes never seen.

And such articles are starting to appear —

Now Do You Believe We’re In A New Tech Bubble?

Yeah, times do seem to be recasting into the mold of the late nineties. Remember $20.00 bottles of water and $500.00 cigars? (The good old days of my generation.)

I recollect something an old fishing boat captain from Panama City told Mel and me years ago; we were leaving Carrabelle, FL about to cross the Gulf of Mexico for the first time and his advise was, “Just don’t get excited.”

Hopefully this old age I’m experiencing will bear some wisdom and we don’t get excited.

We haven’t yet, but we are enjoying the sun while it shines.

It feels good.

Adios,

Istaboa

Nordhavn Exumas Abacos Bahamas trawler Caribbean Pickwick Boat dogs
Memphis Downtown

Now back at our home-port, comfortably tied up at The Bluffs Marina in Jupiter, I’ve finally found a few minutes to write a post.

The West Coast Of Florida Tour was a great success; from Marina Jack’s at Sarasota to Legacy Harbour in downtown Ft. Myers, and over to Longboat Cay Mooring, we’ve managed to make everybody’s life online a lot better.
The onSpot wifi guys did a great job.

All of our installs are challenging, but Legacy Harbour Marina was an especially difficult undertaking.
It took more than just mounting the smart gear and turning ’em on, we had to break some rules, technically going where others won’t go and doing what others don’t.
Most of the support and tips the Ruckus techs offered up didn’t work, we were on our own.
We say we build Better Marina WiFi Hotspots and we didn’t stop till that was true.

 

But the real problems were to come from these Hi-Rise Condo Towers adjacent to the marina.

The radio frequency interference blasting from these towers can render most WiFi hotspots useless.

After the installation was complete, we ran our first tests and were amazed at how quick the network was. Immediately we were seeing blazing speeds. We were cautiously pleased to find our worries about the towers were unfounded and our smart gear was truly outsmarting the RF noise.
The boaters at the marina were ecstatic.
So we tested till late that night then tested again early the next morning and found the same thing. Fast, real fast.

As usual, I stay around after the install to provide boater support and do onsite, real life, monitoring. It proved to be a good thing, two days later the network came to a creeping crawl. Something had broken.
The boaters weren’t happy anymore.

So we went to work on figuring out the problem and soon we found it.

Not only are the huge condo towers an RF nightmare, over on the other side of the marina is a large cell tower that is using the same 2.4Ghz frequency that we use. What we were experiencing was the radio frequency equivalent to the perfect storm.
Our very strong hotspot was causing disruption on the cell provider’s network so they turned up their signal, effectively blasting us out of the park with their more powerful equipment.

So back to the drawing board.

We can make most changes remotely via the net, but this was an extraordinary situation. So onSpot loaded up with test gear and a few spare parts and headed back to Legacy Harbour.

To make this tediously long story short, we fixed it. Not only did we have to step out of the proverbial box, we had to throw the box in the trash. Almost everything the Ruckus smart guys had us try didn’t work and almost all our past experience didn’t apply.
But, after a couple of days of, “what ifs and let’s see”, we fixed it.

Like all things worth doing, Legacy’s still a work in progress, but their network’s running fast and reliably — at the speeds we guarantee.

Constant Improvement.

As Mel and I left the marina, heading back to Jupiter, I left my web-cam on to record our departure and to see how far our network reached… all the way out to the entrance of the marina.
Perfect.

Nordhavn Exumas Abacos Bahamas trawler Caribbean Pickwick Boat dogs
Memphis Downtown

Nordhavn Exumas Abacos Bahamas trawler Caribbean Pickwick Boat dogs
Memphis Downtown

Another opportunity has surfaced so we’re leaving Legacy Harbour to head back up north toward Sarasota.

But, before we left… We ventured into downtown Ft. Myers to the 86 Room; which on this night was an excellent Jazz Club. Featured vocalist: Lynn Richardson.
Lynn is Eric’s wife and he’s told me over the years his wife was a good singer — she’s not good at all, she’s truly a remarkable vocalist, the woman sings like a bell. We stuck around for a couple of sets and very much enjoyed Lynn and the band. The players are a trio of accomplished Jazz vets.
Great band, Great music, a wonderful night.

I’m writing this in retrospect while tied up at The Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice, FL.
Got several pics on my phone of Lynn and her band, but no bars. I’ll post them later when we find net.

So, movin’ on.

As mentioned in the last post from Sarasota, our intentions, weather permitting, were to stop at Legacy Harbour in downtown Ft Myers before heading east to Jupiter and home.It turns out, upon leaving Marina Jack’s we got a call from Eric at Legacy and …