Norfolk, VA Ready to go

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 12 Nov 2007 13:38
36:50.662N  76:17.579W
 
We arrived in Norfolk on Saturday (11/10) after a lovely downwind sail in 25 knot winds.  Yes, it was a bit chilly (again), but once we arrived at the marina the heaters were turned on and the boat became toasty in a hurry.  The marina we are in is located at the downtown center and is extremely picturesque.  See the mermaid in picture 1 (Norfolk displays mermaids like Buffalo displayed buffalos - personally I think the mermaids are a little more fun).  There is a second mermaid nearby, which is situated such that she is looking directly at our boat.  A good sign perhaps.  Picture 2 shows the tall ship American Rover, which is also docked here at the Waterside Marina.  The gazebo in the foreground is the marina office - very cute. 
 
That's as much of Norfolk as we've seen.  We won't get to spend much time here, so perhaps a visit in the future will be possible.  In the meantime, the final preparations for the trip have been completed.  The laundry is done, the boat is washed, the engine has fresh oil, the grab bag has been filled (but hopefully will not be needed), the satellite phone has been set up so emails can be sent and received while underway, the fruit and vegetables have been purchased and stowed (picture 3), the freezer is full, and most importantly, our third crewmember has been safely delivered to us by his parents (Bill's parents live here in the Norfolk area). 
 
Tomorrow (Monday 11/12) we will leave here about 11am, stop to fuel up, and head out to sea.  The weather reports are good.  We plan to head southeast and will hopefully cross the gulf stream on Tuesday.  After that, we should be able to relax and enjoy the ride.   [Non-boater explanation: Crossing the gulf stream is often challenging.  In some parts this notorious ocean current runs at a speed of 4 knots, and if a strong wind is blowing in the opposite direction of the current flow, the results are nasty - mainly big waves, very big waves.  The weather forecast says the winds will be light to medium and blowing in a direction not contrary to the current flow on Tuesday, so it should be fine.] 
 
One note about communications....we plan to cancel our cell phone service tomorrow (it will be useless or too expensive to use in just about all of the countries we will be visiting).  Because of this, email will be the best way to communicate with us (aside from snail mail....but that could take up to a month or more to find us).  The good news is that the satellite phone will allow us to send and receive email daily so we won't really be out of touch.  This is a very good thing.  Assuming all goes well, the next blog update should be from the Atlantic!
Anne 

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