Greetings from Virginia where we're happily tied up tonight in preparation for, you guessed it- another high wind storm! We feel elated to have gotten to Norfolk and to have that passage behind us. Overall, it wasn't bad based on past experience except for about 8 hours. Everything went fine going through the East River and NYC except the belt on our backup autopilot frayed which caused a lot of resistance on the helm as we blasted through Hell Gate with a fair current at over 10kts. We stopped at a marina right near the statue of Liberty to get fuel and Jon removed the autopilot to free up the helm. Then we started our passage in light winds but 7 foot swells left over from the big storm we just had. It was a sunny day and motoring was A-OK with us. That night was clear with a partial moon for part of the night that set on my watch like a big orange fruit slice. The following day was nice too except that around 6pm the wind picked up out of the SW, right where we were headed and built to higher than what was forecast. For several hours, we were pounding in to uncomfortable seas- made worse by those big swells coming from the opposite direction. When this kind of thing happens, I find myself thinking about everyone I know snug in their beds, safe and warm while I CHOOSE to be out there in the cold, weathering conditions that are in no way fun. Let's see. I had on a turtleneck, a long underwear shirt, a polarfleece, another polarfleece windproof jacket and then a foul weather gear jacket, 3 layers of pants, hat, gloves and I kept a mug of hot tea in my hands on watch to keep warm. We ran our heater so the cabin was very warm and we sit in the companionway while on watch so the warm air flows upward. But I have to say it is warmer here than it was up North! Virtually no condensation either.

Later in the night, the wind settled some and things got calmer. The hardest part is the anxiety of not knowing. Is it going to get better, worse, how much longer will it last? Will I last? What happened to the light forecast? Is the boat going to be OK? And on like that.

We got into the Chesapeake in the wee hours as the winds were switching with the latest cold front- literally, in the nick of time just as we'd hoped. We knew we were pushing the weather window and we're just so sick of getting beat up trying to get up & down this coast- we were dreading having yet another crash & bash session.

We did the first 15 miles or so of the waterway today- about 5 bridges and the locks which takes up a lot of time. There are still loads of boats heading south and it was sort of annoying to be in a big crowd of them today, stacked up waiting for bridges to open and being passed by powerboats that have nowhere to go other than where we're all going, it's just that they have to get there first! Tomorrow we will likely stay put because of the winds. Slick, the other boat we're traveling with is spending the night in Norfolk with plans to head here tomorrow. Their trip was a little rougher. We need to go someplace and commiserate over a few beers.

We plan to head to Beaufort, NC as soon as the weather clears. There is a great maritime museum there that is friendly to sailors. You can have packages mailed there too. So we've had a BUNCH mailed there. Well, on the passage we got a call that our packages are blocking the floorspace and would we come get them. Well.... I had to tell her that we are coming but it wouldn't be for another 5 days or so, we were delayed waiting out a storm, that lots of stuff had broken so these are the parts to fix the stuff... by the time I was finished she just said to never mind, just be safe and get there when we can. She pitied us! Anyone who knows us knows we get a lot of packages...... Jon says he can't figure out why our lives are so screwed up. Stuff stored here & there, packages being mailed all over, struggling to get the boat south, lists upon lists of things to do, buy and fix. We were saying yesterday that "normal life" is about 4 to 6's- life is pretty stable, no extremes of ups and downs, fairly predictable. Cruising for us seems to span the whole spectrum- it is an emotional roller coaster with plenty of 1's and 10's. Getting the boat south is not much fun and so the scale is tipped. When the real cruising starts it is like backpacking over a pass- it's a 10. It is fun to laugh about but it also makes us really think sometimes about the choices we've made. We haven't come up with any answers. Many cruisers use Mark Twain's quote: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

I guess that's what we're doing.