Moving to Hampton Roads, Virginia area - Marinas?

[Lady Sophie]

Hello,
My wife and I are retired and live in cold Michigan and have sailed all our lives on Lake Erie. We have a 33' heavy displacement cruiser and want to relocate to the southern Chesapeake area - between Virginia Beach and Hampton, Virginia. We plan to do a week or 10 day exploratory trip at the end of May to check out the area. We have visited several times in the past but were just tourists. We then plan to temporarily move to a 3-month rental apartment for November, December and January. We will return to MI for the summer than back to Virginia permanently in the fall of 2019 - bringing the boat thru the New York waterway and down the Intercostal. We hope by then to have a better understanding of the area and will purchase a condo or small house.

We are looking for recommendations of areas and marinas. We need a marina that has good service technicians (we want to have the boat completely re-wired with all new electrical components by the marina) but will also allow us to do much of our own work as well (non-electrical).

Any helpful info would be appreciated!
Mil and Carolyn

 

[smokey73]

If you are retired military, there is a military marina at Joint Base Little Creek. If I recall correctly the rates are very favorable but it is not a "yard" but only a marina. However, the diffence in price would probably more than make up for the cost in bringing in your marine electrician. I've found for many marinas, the electricians and other workers are arranged by the boat owner and come in for the work, unless its a boat yard in addition to a Marina. Just a thought and if you're not retired military its not available to you. There is probably a waiting list too.

 

[Gunni]

Give Cobb’s Marina a look, over at the end of Ocean View Ave. east

 

[smokey73]

Gunni, Cobb's looks like a great find at $8.50/ft for annual and nice facilities. I'm not sure the military marina is less expensive for an annual contract. Next time find my self in the Norfolk area I might try and check it out, just for curiosity though. I have no intent of leaving Beaufort. We are sailing a friends Moody 46 from St Augustine to Annapolis in about a month so its a good option for a layover if we need it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Dan_Y]

@Lady Sophie , did you ever make a decision? Just curious.
Dan

 

[Lady Sophie]

To follow up - we spent two weeks in Virginia Beach/Norfolk area and visited many marinas. Cobb's seems like the one for us.

 

[Rick Webb]

I used to live in the Tabb Area of York county and worked at Fort Monroe. We really liked the area but the taxes were outrageous and we removed it from our list of places to live after we retired. Were I to return I'd look at Gloucester as a place to live. At he time the Personal Property Taxes were much lower in Gloucester county than they were in York, Hampton or Norfolk. If Gloucester is too far away then Poquoson or Chesapeake. Good luck with your relocation.