April 30, 2015 - Norfolk

Today was another trip down memory lane with a trip to Norfolk with Danny and June.  Danny and Jack were stationed at Norfolk some 40 years ago.  We found the apartment where June and Danny lived (and their first house), but weren't able to find Jack's apartment.  We drove all around the base while Jack and Danny relived their Navy days.  We found their barracks but the hangar where they worked was no longer there.  We passed the helicopter pad, the USS George H W Bush, quite a few destroyers, and one submarine.  Norfolk is the largest Navy base .  We finished the tour with a good lunch at Olive Garden and then back to the boat.  (There would have been more pictures if it hadn't been raining.)

Entrance to the Naval Station

Helicopter pad

USS George H W Bush

USS George H W Bush

Some of the destroyers at the base

Tugs helping oiler to dock



April 29, 2015 - Elizabeth City

Today was cleaning and errand day.  While Jack cleaned the boat, I did laundry, took a bag of clothes to Goodwill, replenished our $5 (tips) and quarters (laundry) supply, and got a pedicure.  We kept in touch with Aunt Aggie during the day as they approached Elizabeth City and were at the dock when they came in along with several other boats – Ariel, Diva Di, Zenda, Tranquility.  We helped them with their lines and then visited with the new arrivals.  We were invited to happy hour on Aunt Aggie then then walked across the street for dinner with George and Martha (Aunt Aggie) and Duane and Diane (Diva Di).

Duane & Diane (Diva Di) and George & Martha (Aunt Aggie)

April 28, 2015 - Outer Banks

Today was a road trip to the famous North Carolina Outer Banks – including Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head.  First stop was a tour of the Wright Brothers National Memorial (which is actually in Kill Devil Hills).  A huge monument sits on top of a hill overlooking the area of the first flight.  There is a marker indicating the spot where the first flight left the ground plus markers indicating the distance traveled for each of the four flights (120 feet, 175 feet, 200 feet, and 852 feet).  The longest flight lasted 59 seconds.   There was also a camp consisting of two buildings – the hangar used to construct the plane and the living quarters.  After that, we drove through Nags Head and stopped to walk over the large sand dunes to the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a beautiful, sunny day today and we had a great time seeing the area.  On the way back we stopped by the marina at Alligator River where we had stayed last week and visited with the two Looper boats there (Aunt Aggie and Gypsea).




Wright Brothers Monument

View from the monument - the flight path and camp are in the background

Mock-up of original plane - showing men who helped with the flight

Mock-up of original plane - men who helped with the flight

View of their living quarters


Wright Brothers camp - hangar and living quarters

View of the monument

Granit stone marking where first flight left the ground

Marker signifying first flight - the white stones in the background mark the distance of each flight

Large sand dunes on the Outer Banks

The Atlantic Ocean

Apri 24-27, 2015 - Elizabeth City/Gum Neck

We left Alligator Marina at 7:30 Friday morning along with the two other Looper boats.  After a choppy run across Albemarle Sound, we arrived at Mariner's Wharf (a free dock) in Elizabeth City at 11:30 and were greeted at the dock by June and Danny.  We spent the rest of the day sightseeing around EC, visiting friends Jan and Buddy, and going out to eat.  Jan and Buddy joined us for dinner at an old house that had been turned into a restaurant.  On Saturday we met Danny, June, Jan and Buddy for breakfast.  Today was the long anticipated trip to Gum Neck (and Columbia) to visit Danny’s Aunt Etta.  Jack and Danny spent many weekends at her home when they were in the Navy, and I have heard of Aunt Etta and Gum Neck for 34 years.  Jack has always been very grateful for the hospitality shown by Aunt Etta (and the cheese biscuits).  Evidently when the word got out that the "Navy boys" were coming down, the girls also came out! We passed family homes of both Danny and June.  The day was a very nice walk down memory lane and it was wonderful meeting Danny's family and spending time with them.  His cousin Gordon turned out to be quite a comedian.  On Sunday, while Danny and June went to church, we went out for breakfast and then made a WalMart run.  We met them for lunch, came back to the boat for a while, then back over to their house for homemade soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  It has been pretty chilly since we arrived but Monday was sunny and a little warmer.  We moved from the free dock (you can only stay 48 hours) just across the bay to Pelican Marina.  The rest of the day was spent doing repairs, cleaning and relaxing.

Approaching Elizabeth City (photo by June Sawyer)

Large Coast Guard base at Elizabeth City

Dinner with Buddy, Jan, June and Danny

Yes, there is a Gum Neck

Jack, cousin Gordon, Danny and Aunt Etta



Aunt Etta's home

It is a tradition at Elizabeth City to deliver a rose to incoming boats - this was on the bow of the boat

Mariner's Wharf

April 21-23, 2015 - Alligator River, NC

We left Southport at 7:30 Tuesday and had a beautiful day on the water.  At times it was a little tense due to a lot of shoaling along the way.  Fortunately the weather briefing last night prepared us for these places.  We encountered many bridges along the ICW.  Most were tall enough for us to get under.  Others required calling the bridge tender to request an opening.  We came across a bridge at Wrightsville Beach that only opened on the hour – no exceptions.  Since we got there at 10:15, we had a 45 minute wait (along with several other boats) for the 11:00 opening.  It was a little cool but sunny at all day.  We pulled into our anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay around 3:00.  This is next to Camp Lejeune Marine base and we watched helicopters fly over.  We ran into Robert and Corinne (Ariel) again and they brought wine and cheese over for happy hour.  Several other boats we had seen in the last few days pulled into the anchorage after us.  We left Mile Hammock Bay around 6:30 Thursday morning, along with most of the other boats in the anchorage with us.  We were all trying to get past the first bridge before 7:00 when it goes on an hourly opening schedule.  We also needed to be past Camp Lejeune in case the Marines shut the river down for shooting practice.  Shortly after leaving, we spotted a small brown bear swimming across the water.  When he saw us, he did a quick turnaround and headed back to shore. The weather was nice and sunny and we had a very leisurely run through Beaufort, NC (not to be confused with Beaufort, SC) and up the Adams Creek.  Once we hit the Neuse River, the wind picked up and the waters got a little choppy.  We anchored around 3:30 at Gale River. We left Gale River around 6:55 Friday morning.  It was pretty chilly, windy, and the waters were choppy as we crossed Pamlico Sound.  Once in the Alligator River, the winds calmed and the water was pretty smooth but still chilly.  We docked at Alligator River Marina at 2:30 and met two couples from Canada.  We ended up having docktails, dinner and after-dinner docktails with them.  It was a very pleasant evening.

Our 45 minute wait at the Wrightsville Beach Bridge

One of the beautiful homes along the river

Robert and Corinne rowing back to their boat after happy hour

Sunset over Camp Lejeune

Following Ariel out of the anchorage Thursday morning

More beautiful homes

View from the bridge

Beautiful sunset over Gale River

The captain was a little chilly today

Calm waters of the Alligator River

April 19-20, 2015 - Southport, NC

We left Myrtle Beach around 7:25 and arrived at Southport Marina at 1:15.  The scenery has changed from the marshes of the Lowcountry to beautiful homes, trees and flowers along the ICW.  We paralleled the Atlantic for a good part of the day and could see an almost continuous line of condos facing the Atlantic.  It was rainy when we got to Southport so I did laundry and Jack attended a weather briefing.  We noticed Average Looper on our dock and went by to visit Mark and Jane.  We had seen them at the Fall Rendezvous and at Fort Myers Beach.  The next morning Mark drove us to a restaurant for breakfast, and we then walked around the town.  We took an interesting golf cart tour of the town.  Many TV shows and movies have used this area for filming.  We saw the house used as Matlock’s residence in the TV show.  The movie Safe Haven was filed here and we saw many of the locations used in that film.  The azaleas were in full bloom and were beautiful.


Condos facing the Atlantic

Many of the condos facing the ICW

Houses approaching Southport

Southport, North Carolina


One of many beautiful parks full of azaleas

Another park full of azaleas

House used in the Matlock TV show

Basin area of Southport full of restaurants

Fort Johnston - now the Visitor's center

View from the Visitor's Center

April 16-18, 2015 - Myrtle Beach

The weather was questionable for the day and we didn’t feel comfortable with our anchorage at Bullins Creek (too narrow) so we left at 7:48 and traveled an hour and anchored at Sandhoe Creek for the day (which was a little wider).  We left Sandhoe Creek at 7:30 Friday and docked at a relatively new free city dock in Myrtle Beach at 11:25.  There were several shopping areas within walking distance.  We took our cart to WalMart on Friday and filled it with groceries.  We did some shopping at Bass Pro on Saturday, walked around the mall, and then had lunch at Hooters.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the boat .  The dock was also by a boat launch and by Saturday afternoon the sun was out and the boaters were hitting the water.  We had docktails Saturday night with Robert and Corinne (Ariel) who had tied up at the dock that afternoon.  They are also Loopers and we had an enjoyable time exchanging stories and information. 

Our Thursday night anchorage

One of the many beautiful golf courses along the way


A FREE dock,

A WalMart and

Bass Pro - life doesn't get any better!