Monday, March 7, 1994 - Haulout; Norfolk, VA

What a beautiful spring day! The temperature went all the way up to 77!
I wanted to go downtown first thing in the morning to get the mail and go to the bank, but the guy in charge of haulouts told Roy it would be eleven before we could get hauled out, because there were two boats ahead of us, so I hung around until eleven. They still weren't ready for us, so I waited another hour. When they weren't ready by 12:15, I decided I'd have to go anyway, because it takes an hour to get downtown by bus, and the bank closes at two, so I took off. An hour after I left, they finally hauled the Jofian out of the water. Somehow or other, the eight men managed to do it without my assistance.
As soon as the boat was securely propped up on land, Roy began sanding the paint off the hull so he could see the damage from the ice on the Potomac. It was even worse than we had expected. Not only is there a big chunk gouged out of the prow, there are also big cuts along the sides. Roy has a big job ahead of him.
The Virginian-Pilot wants me to work one more day. I had promised I would, so I'll go in tomorrow, but that's it.

Sunday, March 6, 1994 - Norfolk, VA

Got up at five, intending to leave at six, but as usual we fiddled around and didn't get going until seven. It was a beautiful day, but pretty windy on the bay. Nevertheless, we made good time and got to Cobb's Marina about eleven. Unfortunately, I misread the bus schedule, so we missed the bus by ten minutes. We had planned on taking the 11:30 bus to Norfolk, eating at Yorgo's Bageldashery, and getting to Scope Arena in plenty of time for the circus at 1:30, but the buses only run once an hour on Sunday, so when we missed the 11:30, we would have had to wait until 12:30 for the next one, which would have gotten us downtown after the circus had started. We tried to walk to Chesapeake Boulevard, where we could have taken a different bus, but after walking a couple of miles, we decided it was too far, so we called a cab. Also bought some chicken nuggets at McDonald's. To my surprise, the cab arrived in ten minutes. We ate the nuggets while we were riding. Got to the arena at 1:15, so that gave us plenty of time to find our seats and get settled. The circus was a terrific spectacle of sight and sound. I could have done with less sound, but it was fun anyway.

Saturday, March 5, 1994 - Norfolk, VA

Another lovely spring day. Roy spent most of the day working on the boat and then went for a little bike ride. I went to the Post Office to see if there was any mail, but there was only a card saying I'd have to get my mail at the counter, because it was too large to fit in the box, so I won't be able to get it until Monday. Also went to the library and the grocery store.
Well, this is our last day here at Waterside Marina. We're really going to miss it, especially the great showers.

Friday, March 4, 1994 - Norfolk, VA

Much warmer today. Starting to feel like spring. Up north, though, they're still buried in snow. We keep congratulating ourselves for leaving New Bedford when we did.
Did the laundry in the morning. After lunch, we walked over to a chart store and bought a million dollars worth of charts. Now we've got to go! We have a huge planning chart of the entire North Atlantic and harbor charts for Bermuda, the Azores, and three ports in England -- Falmouth, Plymouth, and Poole (where Jofian was born; I wonder if she'll remember.) We also have a fairly large-scale chart of the English Channel and a chart of the passage from the Azores to England. Also bought "Sailing Directions" for the English Channel.

Thursday, March 3, 1994 - Norfolk, VA

Wow, does it feel good not to have to get duded up and go to work!
I'm not taking any more jobs unless they're super fantastic.
This is the third day for my ad, and still no responses.
March is living up to its reputation of coming in like a lion. Blew like crazy all day. We even had a little blizzard, but it didn't last long. The tide was extra high; the floating dock was more than a foot above the stationary dock. And the river was full of white caps. But tomorrow's supposed to be sunny and warm.

Wednesday, March 2, 1994 - Norfolk, VA

What a downpour last night and all day today! We completely filled our water tank with good rainwater and then filled two five-
gallon plastic jugs. If we'd had more containers and a place to put them, we could have collected a year's supply of water. And what delicious water--so much better than city water.
Well, I made it. On Monday, when I looked at the mountain of work on my desk, I thought I didn't have a chance of finishing it by Friday, but here it is Wednesday and it's all done, plus some extra stuff. I was essentially finished by two o'clock, but I managed to fiddle around a couple more hours. By four, I'd even run out of fiddling, so I left.

Tuesday, March 1, 1994 - Norfolk, VA

The Hampton Roads Computer News came out this morning with my ad in it, but so far the phone hasn't exactly been ringing off the hook.
I was surprised when I got to work this morning and found out Heide had returned to Boston last night and won't be back in Norfolk until next Monday. Talked to her briefly on the phone and found out what she wants me to do. There's a very real chance I'll be able to finish tomorrow. I've completed the guides, the videos, and the newsletters. Only the directories are left, and there aren't many of them. I'll sure be glad to have time again to do the things that need doing for the three of us--Roy, Jofian, and me.