In Norfolk, attending
the America’s Great Loop Cruiser’s Association Spring Rendezvous
We left our ‘home’ marina, Olverson’s, in Lottsburg, Virginia on Friday, April
26. We had been there for about 3 weeks,
with Dan and I working on the boat, getting her cleaned up from the winter,
ready for cruising. We love it at this
marina – way out in the boonies, wonderful people, very dog friendly! Max doesn’t need to be on a leash most of the
time, knows where he can get a treat and a pet. We do have our truck there, but the marina
also has 4 vehicles that sit there all the time, keys in, for their customers
who need to go to a restaurant, the hardware store, the grocery store.
Anyway, we were ready to move on! We had a terrific day for cruising to the
mouth of the Potomac and on down the Chesapeake Bay to Deltaville. We had stopped here once before last
Fall. Met some nice people on another
boat, shared the marina’s loaner truck to go out for a nice dinner. Boat people, we are finding, are the
greatest!
Next day, we had another beautiful day for cruising. We pulled into the Waterside Marina in Norfolk
on Saturday. We had hoped to dock with
few witnesses, even though Dan is really good at the docking stuff. Well, we didn’t get our wish! The marina holds maybe 60 boats, and they
were mostly full, and mostly all “Loopers” like us! Fortunately, Dan did a magnificent job of
turning around in a small basin and backing quite a ways into our slip. Of course, his dock hand (me!) did a pretty
good job of having lines and fenders ready to secure the boat.
Waterside didn’t have many amenities, but was so convenient to
our conference that it was worth it. I
loved the floating docks, which meant that access to the boat was the same
regardless of the tides. Sometimes, at
Olverson’s, it’s quite a steep angle for Max’s ramp to get onto the boat. Norfolk has a beautiful waterfront. It’s really interesting to see all the huge
boats, both Navy and commercial, in the dry dock across the river.
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| Norfolk's waterfront |
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The conference was pretty great, with learning opportunities
galore plus lots of socializing with the other Loopers. Wonderful, fun people! There were two couples whom we had met prior,
in Key West and other boater gatherings.
We’ll see them again, I'm sure!
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| view of all the looper boats parked in the marina |
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| from Norfolk, across the river, huge cranes in the dry dock |
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| Another view of the looper boats |
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| bridge from the marina |
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| nice view of the marina |
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