Boating on Facebook

If you are on Facebook, here are some pages and groups that may be of interest to you in the boating community.

First, join the Boat Hampton page to keep up with topics and events of interest in Downtown Hampton and at all our marinas.

If you're not on Facebook, and wondering why you should be, it's easy to sign in and take a peek at what this social networking is all about. It's fun, it's informational--and best part, it's FREE!

BoaterMouth: All boat talk all the time, written by top marine journalists

Boating!

Sailing

And here are some pages specific to Hampton:

Hampton CVB: Visit Hampton VA

Downtown Hampton

Blackbeard Pirate Festival: July 9-11 celebrating Hampton's 400th anniversary

Dining at Hampton Marinas

You won’t go hungry when you pull your boat up to one of these Hampton marinas. Step onto the pier and walk right in to refuel and quench your thirst. You’ll find no shortage of fresh local seafood, ambiance and friendly conversation.

Eat or drink overlooking the Downtown Hampton Public Piers in the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Sip a cocktail or a hand-selected wine at Latitude 37, the hotel’s nautically-inspired bar serving lighter fare. Adjacent is Regatta Grille, offering fine dining on fresh seafood, steaks and pasta. In season, Oyster Alley serves up al fresco dining right on the pier. Live music fills the air on summer Saturday nights. Watch chef Matt Wilson make his Pan-roasted Grouper!

Surf Rider at Bluewater Yachting Center is known for its special recipe crab cakes and fun, jovial atmosphere with an open-view kitchen and surfboards on the walls. Can’t decide between shrimp, scallops, crab or surf and turf? There’s no need with one of their hearty combination platters. Cozy up in a booth for two, choose a large table for the family, or sit at the bar to tell the day's big fish story!

Old Point Comfort Marina at Fort Monroe: Dine

in the elegance of a bygone era and watch ships ply the Chesapeake Bay at the fantastically restored Historic Chamberlin. While the hotel rooms are now senior apartments, the grand dining room is open to the public. The Grand Sunday Brunch, served 10 am to 2 pm, is an event to build your day around with all-you-can eat omelet station, carving station, salad bar, raw bar, desserts, and more. Dinner is by reservation only, Monday-Friday.

It's a bird’s eye view of Buckroe Beach and the Chesapeake Bay from Waters Edge Bar and Grill at Saltponds Marina. Try the Drunken Clams, steams in garlic and beer and keep everyone happy with a Water’s Edge Bucket of snow crab legs, clams, shrimp, corn on the cob and potatoes.

Speaking of dining, don’t miss the 4^th Annual Downtown Hampton Restaurant Week Feb. 6-14 featuring Valentine’s Day specials and events. Participating restaurants are Brent's, Goodfellas, Grey Goose, Java Junkies, Latitude 37, Marker 20, Mary Helen's Southern & Creole Cuisine, Musasi, Regatta Grille and The Taphouse.

Hampton's 400th Anniversary Events

Hampton is celebrating its 400th anniversary in 2010, and lining up a full year of exciting events, highlighted by the 11th Annual Blackbeard Festival July 9-11. Come by boat! Any of these would be a great time to schedule a visit.

Don't miss a thing! Check out the anniversary website. Here are some of the feature events to whet your appetite:

March 6: The Hunt for Hampton History: From the Sea to the Stars
Help solve the mystery of Hampton's past! Describe 400 years of culture, entertainment, war, sports, and the legendary people who made Hampton what it is today. In addition to children’s activities, reenactors, and exhibits, take part in preserving history now by bringing your photographs and personal artifacts to be scanned and photographed, and returned to you on-site, for Hampton’s archives. Free. Hampton History Museum, 9 am to 3 pm.

April 25: A reenactment of Hampton’s first landing in 1607 and the peaceful meeting between the Native Americans and the European Settlers. Strawberry Banks, 3 p.m. Free.

June 25-27: Hampton will play host to two of its most popular events: the 20th annual Afrikan American Festival and the 43rd annual Hampton Jazz Festival. During the Hampton Jazz Festival, the world renowned Hampton Coliseum will come alive with the sounds of the nation’s top blues, soul, pop, and jazz performers. At the Afrikan American Festival, enjoy an alcohol-free family event with merchandise vendors, live music, and great food.

Signature Anniversary Event!
July 9-11: 11th Annual Blackbeard Pirate Festival – Celebrating Hampton’s 400th Anniversary & Hampton Founder’s Day
Set sail for Hampton’s Pirate Festival where living history and family fun goes hand-in-hand. Immerse yourself in early 1700s Hampton with Blackbeard’s Ball, live entertainment, pirate encampment, children’s activities, sea battles, fireworks and more, as Hampton reenacts and celebrates the demise of Blackbeard, one of the fiercest pirates ever known, and Hampton’s 400th anniversary.

Sept. 10-12: Hampton’s largest and best known festival, Hampton Bay Days will celebrate its 28th year of educating attendees on the importance of the Chesapeake Bay this September. The event will feature musical entertainment, an indoor juried art show, over 100 merchandise and craft vendors, GODSPEED, bay education area, fireworks, and more. In addition, world-renowned painter, sculptor, photographer, writer, SCUBA diver, and marine life conservationist, Wyland, will design this year’s Hampton Bay Days commemorative poster.

Sept. 18 Native American Festival: Thunder on the Bay is a drumming and dancing pow-wow, focusing on the continued Native American presence in our region and along the East Coast, with educational exhibits, food vendors, and craft vendors. Buckroe Beach Park. 757/726-5437.

Dec. 11 Hampton Holly Days Parade & 400th Anniversary Fireworks
Downtown Hampton. Join us for an evening of enchantment as you view the creative floats, listen to the high school bands, salute the military marching units and exciting drill teams, and wave at the beauty queens. Of course this parade is not complete without everyone’s favorite….Santa Claus. Televised live on WVEC-TV13. 7:00 p.m. With a grand finale of fireworks.

Find out more at www.hampton400.com

Avoid the boat tax, come to Hampton!

Did you know the city of Hampton does not charge a personal property tax on recreational boats? And you don’t have to be a resident of the city to dock your boat in Hampton and avoid your home city’s tax?

The beginning of the new year is a good time to think about where you’ll dock your boat in 2010, and whether you want to pay a tax elsewhere that can be $1 per $100 of value or even more. For those on a budget, it could mean the difference between gassing up for the weekend or not. On a $3.5 million yacht like the one pictured here, that's $35,000!

Those savings would go a long way to paying the slip fees at one of Hampton's full-service marinas.

A little background…

In 1985, Virginia allowed individual cities to decide whether or not to impose their own personal property tax on boats. The hope was to prevent boaters from going over the border to North Carolina.

The City of Hampton repealed its personal property tax on recreational boats in 2003 in an effort to attract more year-round boaters to Hampton’s 1,500 slips.

(Note: To be accurate, there actually is a tax, but it’s a miniscule formality. Hampton’s tax rate for privately owned pleasure boats and watercraft is $.000001 per $100 of assessed value.)

Here’s how to do it…

You need to register your boat as being docked in Hampton with Game & Inland Fisheries. Again, you do not need to be a Hampton resident.

Also register your boat with the Hampton Commissioner’s office. You can do it easily online.

If you have any questions, call the Hampton Commissioners’ Personal Property Tax number at (757) 727-6183.

Now just think of what you’ll do with those extra dollars! We hope you'll spend some of it in lovely Hampton. We love boaters!