Leaving Virginia!

We left our slip in Hampton, Virginia after what seemed like forever.

We were in Virginia from July 2017 to March 2018. We needed to be there for hurricane reasons. After buying our new-to-us Lagoon 420 in June 2017, we quickly left Fort Lauderdale to head north to Hampton, VA.

Before leaving Florida, I contacted several marinas in the Chesapeake Bay. We knew we wanted to be somewhere on the east coast that had job opportunities for myself. Hampton’s no-extra-tax rate was a significant attraction because we could register the boat and pay a fraction of the sales & use tax that we would have had to pay in FL or even TX. (FYI… Hampton no longer offers the no-extra-tax rate as of 2018.) Salt Ponds Marina jumped out to me. It had a pool, was super close to the Chesapeake Bay, and looked to be “homey” (translated: not industrial.) Plus, they had room for our catamaran AND the prices were extremely reasonable.

We weren’t sure how long we would stay in Virginia. We knew we would be somewhat stationary until at least November. Possibly until January since we couldn’t go back to Florida for six months due to tax purposes. However, after we arrived, we really couldn’t see ourselves finding another marina/location in the Chesapeake or along the east coast with the same amenities, for anything close to what we were paying. So, we decided to make it home for the next six months.

Since we knew we would be here for a while, I looked for a job. I initially looked for a remote position so we could move if we wanted. But, I ended up finding a really great full-time job in my field that I started in September 2017. We contemplated finding a little house and staying for a few years, saving more money, and sailing on the Chesapeake. But, in October, Matt was told that the “remote” part of his remote job (that he had been doing for over 5 years) was probably going away at the end of the year (long story for some other day). We knew then, that he would either need to find a new job, move back to Texas, or work in an office in a few other location options – none of which were on the coast, or near my new job.

We headed to Texas for Christmas vacation with the knowledge that Matt wouldn’t have a job anymore. We visited family and made the most of our visit. Unfortunately, toward the end of our visit, #Blizzard2018 was headed to our non-winterized boat, and our heaters had stopped working so we left a day early! Here is where we give the biggest shout out ever to Salt Ponds Marina owner, Gene. He literally kept our boat above freezing until we could make the 24-hour road-trip home. (We still owe him dinner!)

We had to make some decisions on what to do…We knew at this point that we wanted this to be our last winter “up north.” It’s just not right having to shovel 2’+ of snow off the back of your catamaran. We decided I would finish out a big event for work that was scheduled for the end of February, and then leave Virginia to head to Bahamas. We would live off savings and freelance gigs.

A significant amount of work on the boat was needed before we could move on. But, I’ll save that for Matt to address in another post.

My event went well, I turned in my notice, and we left Virginia on March 17, 2018. After 8 months of living in Virginia, we said our goodbyes to the Chesapeake Bay, Norfolk, and Hampton in search of warmer waters. We were officially on the move again.