First Shakedown Cruise, December 1999

Our first cruise on Dory was from Deltaville VA, starting in December 1999. We stopped in Norfolk for a few days, then got underway.

We traveled down the Great Dismal Swamp, where we stopped overnight at the free dock at the NC Visitors' Center -- reportedly the only combination highway and waterway visitor center in the nation.

Below: the view down the waterway as we got started the next morning.

 

Next was Elizabeth City, NC, then a stop at the Alligator River Marina, near Manteo NC (above).

We continued south, stopping at the formerly famous River Forest Marina in Belmont NC, and finally New Bern NC, where we docked while heading inland to spend Christmas with family.  As much as we enjoyed visiting with family, the sunsets at the dock in New Bern were hard to leave behind!

After Christmas, our son Bill III joined us as we reversed course. At the end of the cruise, he flew back to Texas and we flew back to Saudi Arabia.

The purpose of the shakedown cruise was to make sure the boat was in as good a shape as we believed, and we would enjoy boating as much as we expected. Both tests were passed with flying colors!