At NOON today, Dave Stanton passed away after a short
illness. He was admitted to Norfolk General Hospital late on Thursday evening with a serious viral infection. Sadly, his wife and family had an extremely difficult decision to make today. Every effort was made by hospital staff to stop this aggressive infection but to no avail.. He will be sorely missed by all... He had a joy for life and lived it to the fullest and very much loved his children and grandchildren.. I will greatly miss by companion both in our travels and life..
With all my love, his wife .. Elaine

Pix above: Top LSM- Landing Ship Medium, approx 475 were built for WW2 Pacific Theatre. This one served in Okinawa then loaned to Turkey. In 1998 it was towed to Omaha Nebraska to be part of a Marine Museum. In 2001 it was towed to Camp Lejeune again to be part of a future museum. Right: a bit of whimsy on the ICW Bottom: a view of park in Norfolk adjacent to Marina.

May 5(Cinco De Mayo)

We are in Norfolk and have been since 4/30. A couple(Rob and Holly Sanger) we traveled off and on with for several days on their boat "Hampshire Rose" out of Norfolk recommended we visit downtown Norfolk. We met up with them on the ICW after we anchored at Carolina Beach and then at Mile Hammock Bay and again at Eastham Creek, NC. After we left the beautiful Prince Creek on the Wacamaw River we went to Calabash Creek on the SC/NC border then on to Carolina Beach. Next we went into Swan Point Marina in Sneads Ferry. Here we utilized their courtesy car to do laundry and some restocking. Next we revisited Spooner Creek a well protected anchorage contained in a well protected small harbor. We then did some serious sequential days of travel to take advantage of the weather and cross some of the more daunting open bodies of water on the ICW. The first day we traveled 49 miles thru Beaufort, NC then past Oriental on the Neuse River and then to Eastham Creek. The next day we crossed the Pamlico River and into the Pungo River both rolly but tolerable. Traversed the Alligator/Pungo River Canal and continued past our planned anchorage because it was too exposed to prevailing winds. Continuing on we reached the Albemarle Sound and decided to cross since the wind and the waves was at our back and the waveheight seemed acceptable at 2-3 feet. We made Broad Creek on the other side of the Albemarle at 8:30. Broad Creek is technically unmarked but the entrance channel has sticks on the left and about 50 ft to the right. We last arrived here in January in daylight and Elaine retained the plot of our path in at that time. This time our arrival in the dark was tricky but made much easier with the Nobeltec PC chart plotting system. The plot was "spot on" between the sticks which we could only see when we were practically on top of them. On this day we set a travel length one day record of 82.6 miles. The following day we crossed the Currituck Sound and tied up at the Corps of Engineers free docks at Great Bridge. The docks are very convenient to shopping with free Wifi from Atlantic Yacht Basin on the other side. Here we met a couple on the boat "4 Aces". Neighbors and boating friends with Ladd from Gregg Neck. While here I upgraded Nobeltec Software.. They have improved their Download/Update process so it is much easier to do. For some reason in the PC Software world updates are not always supersets of previous versions. For example the new improved version may have bug fixes and improvements. But one feature Elaine often utilized was present in the previous version but removed in the new version. The field name TTG(time to go) is displayed in a box on the screen but now the value is not updated!! Support did not seem to consider this a bug which should be fixed. Just before Great Bridge, the Alternator stopped working along with the Tachometer which runs off the Alternator. Investigation revealed a broken exciter wire. All problems should be this easy to fix!!
In Norfolk we anchored two days in the Lafayette River and then went 5.4 miles back to the Waterside Marina and took a slip for two days. A great town to visit.. Certainly not like it's old reputation. Norfolk has a beautiful downtown waterfront w/Ferry running to and from Portsmouth, a naval museum and the Battleship "Wisconsin". The downtown area has been revitalized including Granby St containing many restaurants, upscale shops, a very good supermarket and McArthur Mall all within walking distance. We went to "Bodega" and had "Tapas". On the menu they offered oil or butter (my preference) with a baguette! Very well prepared, tasty and servings were not too small.
Tomorrow we plan to motor on to Deltaville.

Pix above are views taken on Skidaway Island, SC.

4/17/08
On the Tuesday after Easter we left the Folly River and motored North on the ICW and turned off into the Crescent River. Our Nobeltec Chartplotting software indicated some limited shoaling at the first bend in the river.. but feeling somewhat safe at high tide and in the middle of the river we proceeded. Big mistake.. we watched the depthfinder go from 12ft to 10 ft ..then 8 ft then 6ft as fast as one can say it! We went aground apparently as I was turning because the stern was in three feet of water( 1/2 of a boat pole) and the bow was in � of a boat pole. After several minutes of attempted manuevering we finally managed to get free by applying forward power in a fore and aft pulsed manner. We then anchored about a quarter of a mile away and in several hours at low tide, a large uncharted sand bar appeared about 2 feet above where we went aground revealing an ugly sideways trench in the sand and a forward trench where we eventually plowed free. About a quarter mile away we anchored opposite a ranch which had grazing Steers and Hogs. We found out later from a passing local boater that the island is accessible by boat only and is maintained by the owner as a facility for hunters.
Because of expected bad weather and little protection on the Crescent River we decided to go back on the ICW south and anchor in New Teakettle Creek for a few days. Then with another weather change we moved to the Wahoo River for protection from expected winds out of the North. We stayed here for several days.. did some boat projects.. brightwork, always some brightwork to do. Answered e-mail and did some reading. While here I ordered a new boatside shorepower outlet from Defender to replace an outlet with a burned pin, to be delivered to Delegal Marina by Friday. It is amazing that for the entire trip we have had nearly continuous cell phone access and HDTV!
On 4/2 we traveled a few miles north and anchored in Cane Patch Creek. Dejas vu.. we anchored here in the same creek in 4/1 to 4/3/2005.
On the 3rd we went to Delegal Creek Marina at the lower end of Skidaway Island. Skidaway arguably the most beautiful of Georgia's Golden Isles includes several golf courses and beautiful homes that seem blend in and be a natural part of the forested surroundings. While there, the marina gave us the use of a six passenger Golf Cart to travel through the community on Golf cart/jogging paths. See pix above.
We left Skidaway on the 5th and traveled approximately 17 miles to the Herb River then on to Bull Creek where we are anchored with four other boats. The migration North is beginning!
For four days we stayed in the Beaufort area including a visit to the Downtown Marina. Beaufort is a picturesque southern town with an historic district and an adjacent beautiful park with the waterfront on one side and restaurants on the other. Departing Beaufort we moved along for a series of days and anchored overnight in places again that we visited traveling down.. Tom Point Creek (watched Masters here in HDTV!), Whiteside Creek, South Santee River and where we are now in Prince Creek (two alligators spotted nearby, sunning on banks). Tomorrow..possibly into NC.