Jazzy Lady's 2019/20 Cruising Adventure

We have begun the next phase of our trip: The Intra Coastal Waterway! The books we’ve been reading say cruisers should aim to be starting down the ICW by November 1st....we are right on the money:) Hurricanes generally tend to be tapered off by this time so it is safe to begin the migration south of Virginia.
Jazzy Lady hails from Norfolk and the couple we bought her from have become friends of ours. So on Wednesday the kids and I got settled with our 5 loads of laundry (all bedding included) and school work while Mark was lucky enough to be ferried around town by Beth, Jazzy Lady’s previous owner. After all the errands and cleaned laundry we were picked up for dinner by Beth and her husband Lenny. They had us for pizza at their house. It was really neat to feel we were completing a circle, in a way. Mark came down to Norfolk in May to pick up Jazzy Lady and sail her all the way up to Lake Champlain with his dad and our friends Denise and Christina. As most know, we weren’t exactly in love with the name she came with but we decided to let it grow on us instead of going through the mandatory rigamarole of légal and superstitious steps to change her name. After spending some time with Beth and Lenny we appreciate her name more because we’ve learned how much the name meant to them! One of their dogs is named Jazzy, their new motor cruiser is named Jazzy Lady, their car’s license plate says Jazzy and their internet password has jazzy in it. I believe it all stems from their love of jazz music. They had her for 10 years and toured every inch of Chesapeake Bay over that time. Her selling was a reluctant one for them because it was a result of health problems. They had her all kitted out for the exact same trip we’re making and then they were forced to change their plans. Seeing us with their old girl is bitter sweet for them but they are so pleased that we are taking her on the adventure they had planned to do. Of course Lenny and Mark could talk boat until the cows come home and the four of us had a really nice evening together (while the kids watched a movie). It’s always nice to have a positive experience after a significant monetary transaction and a bonus to have developed a personal relationship.

Halloween was a real success and surprisingly ‘normal’! The nearest neighbourhood was just a short dinghy ride away and it was, yet another LOVELY collection of old gorgeous homes, being ‘old town’ Norfolk. The kids’ even got to trick or treat with their new friends, Mathilde, Daphné and Livia. The last two nights have been in the single digits for temps but Halloween was a balmy 20 degrees at least! The one difference in tradition we noticed was that you don’t knock on doors, everyone home-owner is sitting outside their house, on the doorstep or in their lawn chairs. Lots of great decorations but not many jack-o lanterns, for whatever reason.
We toured the Battleship USS Wisconsin. Very impressive. She served in World War II in the Pacific and was de-commissioned after that. Then she was re-commissioned for Desert Storm in the early ‘90s. Mark could go in and on if he was reporting but....I’ll leave it at that:)
We left Norfolk yesterday after ANOTHER sleep-deprived night at anchor. Winds gusted up to 35 M/H. We faired fine in the end but our friends had another sail boat drag it’s anchor and hit them:( The boat had only a solo sailor on it and he didn’t wake up until his stern collided with their bow. They managed to push him off, in the process popping and deflating his dinghy! Awful for both parties involved but, ultimately our friends escaped the ordeal with just a few scratches to their gelcoat. Again, one may argue that we should have taken a slip but our OTHER friends (boy, we’re popular) even sustained damage at the dock they tied to because the winds were still so strong in the morning that, as they were leaving, they bent one of their stanchions on a piling.
Now, as I type (or tap, as it were) we are almost at the border to North Carolina, aiming for Coinjock today. The depth on the chart plotter is ranging from 3 feet under keel to 10 feet😬 Back to the shallow narrows.
Tomorrow we will be at Kitty Hawk, the birth place of aviation. We’ll walk the beach that the Wright Brothers made history on.
Photo is of A&A with Beth and Lenny’s dogs, Sailor and Jazzy. Boating fanatics? I think so:)