On Tuesday (8/25) we departed the Atlantic Yacht Basin for the short 24.6 mile cruise to Norfolk & Hampton VA. The cruise took us along the Elizabeth River thru the towns of Chesapeake and Portsmouth. This area has an enormous amount of industry along the shoreline, but it’s lifeblood is tied to the US Naval Station and all of the massive shipbuilding in the area between Newport News and Norfolk.
Railroad Bridge Raising
We arrived midday at Old Point Comfort Marina which is adjacent to the Fort Monroe in Hampton VA where we booked a slip for the month of September as we had already made travel plans to visit our kids/grandkids in TN as well as make a quick trip to our Gatlinburg cabin. During our ~30 days in the area we enjoyed visits to Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, Virginia Beach, the Virginia Air & Space Center as well as several other local attractions.
We highly recommend Old Point Comfort Marina as well as The Deadrise restaurant which is within walking distance.
Fort Monroe with Old Point Comfort Marina on left hand side
We took a quick break to Tennessee to see our two granddaughters get baptized.
Upon returning from TN travels in mid September we took on additional crew consisting of son Michael Bailey, daughter-in-law Sarah and baby Elizabeth (only ~4 months old). Michael and Sarah and Elizabeth were able to visit Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown during their stay with us. Below pictures are walking around at Waterside Marina in Norfolk, VA and by an outdoor history of the USS Wisconsin located there.
USS Wisconsin
Near the end of the month of September we made yet another trip away from the boat to visit relatives in Las Vegas for a wedding and a short Board of Directors meeting that Larry attends quarterly.
Vegas was very muted due to COVID, but we had an excellent time visiting relatives (including Dora, the cat). You may recall that Dora actually started the Great Loop with us back in Tampa Bay during February where she decided to jump off during the night while docked at a residence in Apollo Beach. We later recovered her, nursed her back to health and flew her out to Las Vegas to live with Mary’s mom Donna. Dora was 4 lbs and in poor health when we recovered her in Apollo Beach, but she’s fully recovered now and weights over 10 lbs.
Our final entry for the 2020 boating season will concluded with these images of the boat in winter storage at the Atlantic Yacht Basin. We’ll be back in late April to restart our Great American Loop adventure.
Larry & Mary’s Great Loop Blog 
Thanks for the update. My uncle is in Ga and will start his Great Loop adventure after seeing first grandchild graduate from college. Said grandchild will do the loop with him. Like you they are heading north.
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Thanks for the update. Looking forward to hearing about your upcoming adventures. The end of April is right around the corner!
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