Fun Suckers!

Fun suckers!!!  Yes, we had a few fun suckers while coming north to Norfolk, VA, located at the base of the Chesapeake Bay.  The rain, wind, and cool temperatures sucked fun right out of our trip.  Our plan to travel leisurely and explore beaches was “all wet!”  We had looked forward to visiting Ocracoke, returning to Cape Lookout, and checking out new beaches, but the wind prevented good anchoring.  Walking the beach in the rain and what we call, “cold,” is certainly not fun either.  Strong winds sent us to marinas more frequently than usual, which pre-covid, would have been a treat.  However, with Covid-19, exploring the quaint downtown areas was impossible as no one wore masks or stayed 6 feet apart.

Typically, we delight in meeting people and making new friends on the docks.  Between the nasty weather and self-isolation we spent most of our time stuck on board.  Finally, the fun was sucked right out of our usual savoring of seafood and sipping of local beer.  These might be the activities that Scott missed the most!

We did have fun seeing Scott’s nephew, Marc, and his wife, Denise,at Federal Point Yacht Club in Carolina Beach.  Of course we were on opposite sides of our aft deck!  And, it’s always fun having a  buddy boat; thank you Fred and Carolyn on Casablanca.  Reading sessions with granddaughter, Juniper, were stellar high points of our weeks.  Who knew you could have such fun with a six year old via Zoom?

I will even say it was fun bouncing across the Albermarle Sound with 30-34k winds 30* off the bow resulting in some decent size waves splashing on the windshield.  I love the feeling of lifting and crashing down (as long as nothing breaks!).  It is comforting to know that a Kadey-Krogen can handle much larger waves with ease, much larger in fact, than we can.

Zumba via Zoom (with http://www.ztsfitness) was a blast!!!  Neither wind, rain, cold nor heat could stop the fun on the aft deck! Despite Teri and Sandra being excellent teachers, at times I confess, it was difficult to focus as I was distracted by flooded towns, leaping dolphins, gorgeous mansions, beautiful scenery, beaches, etc.  Cruising the ICW is truly a great experience which I appreciated more this time than I have the previous trips.

Mermaids…one of Norfolk’s iconic painted bronze sculptures

Portsmouth, VA

While anchored in the Elizabeth River we took a long walk through the historic homes of Portsmouth and visited a mall in Norfolk.  Why in the world would we go into a mall?  Because Scott lost his phone somewhere in the boat!  How?  We don’t know.  He had it in his pocket while he cleaned bilges and worked on the top deck so he deduced that it ended up in the river.  When I tried to call it from my phone it immediately went to his recorded message which means he was probably correct.  We were happy to see that masks were required to enter the mall and masks with a temperature check were required to enter the Apple Store.  Very few customers were allowed in the store at one time so lines with floor markings 6′ apart were used to keep people separate outside the store.  This is the first city in which we have seen masks giving us a modicum of safety.

Now that we have arrived at the Chesapeake Bay some decisions have been made.  We have concluded that by the time work is completed on Unforgettable it will be too late to spend much time Maine in what we call pleasant weather.  Our next option was to hang out in the Long Island Sound or the Cape Cod area.  For all of the above options we would have restricted ourselves from our usual land based activities.  So, why go that far to stay on board?  After days of going back and forth we realized that settling into the Chesapeake Bay is possibly the safest option.  Therefore, our plan C or D or whatever letter we are on, is to stay in the Bay.  With hundreds of tributaries to choose from we could probably anchor in a different spot all summer.  It will be pleasant to simply relax for the season.

We have kayaks waiting for us in Solomon’s Island and many peaceful  gunkholes calling our name.