Island harbour

I guess I should put up a picture of our boat "Morena" ,  a 31ft motor cruiser :

That's Dave and Val (we went with them on the Iceland trip) on the stern with our other friend Min at the door.

So today is Friday 5th July. We left Portsmouth harbour at around 10:30am to go to Island Harbour, a lovely marina half way up the Medina river on the Isle of Wight.  Sadly the old Ryde Queen which in a former life was a ferry from Portsmouth to Ryde, is disintegrating at speed which is a great shame, but looking at the marina guide it would take 7 million to restore it.  I have some very happy memories of this boat when it was a nightclub  in the 1970's but I think I'd baulk at spending that amount of money if I had it.

We'd arranged to meet our friends Alan and Sue in their boat "Sylvia II"' a 45ft motor cruiser.

Have to add that this picture was taken in Weymouth a few days afterwards.  I'll have to get Alan to send me a better picture sometime in the future, or simply take one myself.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Alan and Sue berthed in the marina about half an hour after us with their friend Sue from Portugal and we all went to the local bistro "Breeze" and had a lovely lunch of toasties and garlic mushrooms. The service in this bistro is impeccable and the food just right.

So after an hour's sunbathing on the stern of the boat we met at Alan's boat for gin and tonics before
our booked taxi at 17:30.  I'd booked Burrs restaurant, the no.1 in Newport on trip advisor.  We went 
to the real ale pub in Newport but the beer was no good so ended up at the Wheatsheaf in Newport 
square, then to the restaurant.  The menu was a little confusing but the food good.  Wine flowed.....A 
good night was had by all with the banter.

Woke up to another sunny warm day and now just going down the river towards Cowes, then 
onwards to Osborne Bay for lunch on board and more sunbathing.  Just announced on the radio there 
is a body in the water - not sure where.

We decided as it was a northeast wind blowing right into Osborne bay to go to Stoke bay near the South of Gosport.  Lovely afternoon.  Here's a picture of a boat I would love to own:

And this is where I used to live when I was about 8.    They pulled down the old flats a few years ago and built these modern ones.  I  remember the first hovercraft trip back in the '60's and the booking office was on the ground floor of the flats.

Found out on the VHF later that the body in the water was a dummy that is used for the RNLI training !!!! Honestly the people who found it and the coast guard's response was hilarious.