Crowne Plaza Hotel Hampton-Marina Side

... We couldn't see the buildings with them, but oh well. The fireworks were still worth staying for. :D

Some shopping later, and we returned to the B&B, and for some reason the walk back seemed shorter to me than the walk out. Perhaps because we were walking down the slight grade rather than up the grade.

Pretty typical of a "resting day" for us. Rest for half of it, go go go for the rest.

Tomorrow, we move all of 2 miles into CW itself.

... to drive in our usual circles. Which was surprising considering it's only moderately marked, people were parking on the street for a concert at the College across the street (College of William and Mary), and by then we were so tired we couldn't see straight.

Checked in (house is old, noisy, the doors are difficult to handle because of age, but it really has charm and a cozy feel and the girl who checked us in was very sweet ...

... store where Bob wanted to pick up a rod and fishing tackle.

The next day, November 3, we sailed to Bluewater Yacht Marina in nearby Hampton to top off our fuel and water tanks. Bob’s family stayed there that night, opting for the more pleasant conditions and amenities of a marina for their final night before our grand adventure. Pas de Deux returned to anchorage at Willoughby Harbor. Dave offered to pick up Bob ...

... he slipped out on a rail grind. Due to the lack of space, small size of lot, closely placed ramps, it was hard to find the flow in the park. Most of the skaters just went back and forth on the two big ramps, and did tricks off the half pyramid in the center with a rail. There was good competition there, a lot of skaters were good. Josh even played a makeup game of SKATE for a complete ...

... had popped out earlier). The sail was given a clean bill of health and measurements were taken for a new genoa which Dave anticipated replacing in the relatively near future. On October 15, the electronics representative came out to troubleshoot the B&G full function display unit. His verdict was that the unit was bad and needs to be replaced or rebuilt in order to regain its full functionality. In the meantime, its basic functions work and are ...

At breakfast while eating blueberry pancakes and fruit Fred tells me the Bassett House is worth seeing. How did I miss that? There's so much to see and do. It's the "Cottage" of the Rockefellers whom financially supported Colonial Williamsburg and brought it back to life. I'm glad we visited as it was lovely and gave you some idea of how things came about.

Can't leave without seeing Patrick Henry. He impressed ...

... We headed over the south tunnel then back via the north tunnel, flying the spinnaker for the run toward the Hampton Bay Bridge tunnel in winds up to 20 kts. Good thing we had Pete along to help douse the spinnaker which can be challenging in high winds!

During the remainder of the month, Dave replaced the suction and discharge filter housings on the watermaker. Apparently some air leakage prevented the watermaker from developing full pressure and ...

Finally—back to sailing! We've spent Labor Day week out cruising with Alize. We left Norfolk September 5 sailing on pleasant, sunny N NE 10-15 kt winds to the Severn River on Mobjack Bay. This was the first upwind "test" of our new main sail and rudders. We took a long tack across the Bay then headed for Mobjack. Caught only a couple small bluefish on the clark spoon – no keepers. The next day we headed to ...

... pleasant restaurant at Williamsburg - another huge meal. We are having trouble ordering a reasonable amount of food at meals. This night after Ruth had eaten the salad (which is often an unstated part of the entrée/ main course you order) she didn't want her main course and regretted eating most of it. Even Tom couldn't finish it.

Since I am half-Italian, I always wanted to visit Italy one day. Mostly, I wanted to visit it with my grandmother Palumbo who has never been there but always wanted to go. I tried convincing her to go with us but she doesn't want to leave my grandfather. My grandfather hates travelling and isn't feeling all that well so she told us not to wait for her and go on our ...