Thursday, May 9: Looper Midnight Descends on the Rendezvous

Date                            May 9, 2013

Day on the Cruise       45

From:                          Waterside Marina, Norfolk, VA                                                                    

To:                              Waterside Marina, Norfolk, VA    

Statute Miles               0.0

Time                           0.0 Hrs

Cumulative Miles       1,232.1 SM

On Board                   Chuck, Susan, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut

"Looper Midnight" is traditionally 9:00 PM, and midnight descended over the Rendezvous, as today ended the Festivities. We attended the final sessions then the dinner that capped off the entire week. Most people are making plans to take off from the Marina early Friday morning. There is a continuation of a sort this weekend about 50 miles North up the Chesapeake at Dozier's Regatta Pointe Marina in Deltaville, VA. They have a Looper's special that has attracted a lot of boats. We will go across the harbor on Friday and leave our boat as we head home for a while. We are looking forward to meeting a friend from Richmond for lunch in Portsmouth on Friday.

The thruster mechanic came back and installed the new battery switch while we were at the morning Rendezvous sessions. The thruster powers up at both control panels and seems to work fine, so I hope it is fixed.

We enjoyed our time at the Rendezvous with mixed feelings. Being sick and missing a whole day of sessions was not what I had planned. Having to deal with two critical boat problems for a whole other day was also not on the agenda. We met a bunch of new people and enjoyed getting to know everybody, but in the end, I am not sure that we got what we wanted out of the event. Time and tide will tell the tale on this.

Waterside Marina was a nice setting but they did pack the boats into the place. Every nook and cranny was filled with boats. I really did not like this. It was just very crowded. Power cords were strewn everywhere where we were. Water hoses were run down the docks on other people's hose bibs. Close quarters existed with boats tied bow -in and stern-in. We were a long way from the bath house. With our plumbing problem, we used the bath house more than we normally would. The bath houses were in a mostly vacant waterside mall and were small and minimal.

The Harbor Walk was very nice and the park-like atmosphere was great to walk Maggie right there at the marina. The Waterside Mall with so many vacant store fronts was a downer, but this is a sign of the times in a big city.

Maybe it is just time to move on. We have been in one place now for 6 days, and we are now used to moving frequently.

Thanks for Reading!