June 4, Hampton, VA

Arriving in Hampton, VA

Several "Tall Ships" in port here today

Ready for docking

The weather vane at the Maratime Museum

Leaving Hampton, we have some other traffic in the channel, and we give them the right of way

Hampton is a medium sized town about 10 miles toward the Chesapeake Bay from Norfolk and has a nice marina located right next to several restaurants and the Hampton Air and Space Museum. We used the day to go grocery shopping, exchange our new freezer at Lowe's for another one, (the other new one never worked) and then visited the Maritime Museum in nearby Hampton Roads. That museum featured the Monitor civil war ironclad which was salvaged by the US Navy in 240 feet of water off the coast of NC in 2002. The actual turret was on display in a water filled tank along with lots of artifacts and several movies explaining the background of the Monitor and the salvage operation. There were many additional exhibits about the Monitor and the other US and Confederate ships and battles of the time including a full size mock up of the Monitor. There were several other large rooms of additional maritime exhibits ranging from model ships and artifacts from the early sailing days in the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Asia, Polynesia, Portugal, Spain, England and France. Some of the models were really intricate and beautiful. One room of models was completely blacked out except for spotlights on the models and the models were by far the best I have ever seen. The displays were well done and informative. There were nice displays about the local Chesapeake watermen and the local boating and fishing lifestyle. This is probably the best Maritime museum I have ever seen.
Talked to Kenny about crabbing and at his suggestion we picked up a commercial crab trap at a local commercial fishing outfitter. We're not messing around. Will advise how we do.