Terry writes:
"Today is my 100th day on the water this year. We are on LUX, heading south on the AICW (Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, or ICW). Delegal Creek Marina was our stop last night. It is a very nice marina with extremely friendly staff in a great community. <Terry-100Days photo> Terry is posing on LUX next to the marina dock office.
Many cruisers decide to skip Delegal Creek Marina due to the unclear entrance on the charts. Like several other places in the ICW, you must ignore the chart plotter and pay attention to the marks. Since the tides here are 8 ft, entering on a rising or high tide provides deep water. We left Delegal this morning an hour before low tide and the least we saw was 8 ft of water.
We have had a number of good stops on our trip south. One of our favorites is taking the slow and scenic trip down the Dismal Swamp Canal and spending overnight at the Rt 17 Visitor's Center, which is the only highway system visitor's center on the ICW. <Two Dismal Swamp photos>
Another favorite stop is Beaufort, NC. They have a very nice waterfront area with great shops and restaurants. Clawson's restaurant has excellent shrimp and grits, one of the things that we look forward to having on our stops there.
Further down the waterway is the town of the same name Beaufort, SC. Even though the names are spelled the same, the residents pronounce them differently. The North Carolina town uses the French pronunciation (bo-fort) while the South Carolina town uses an Americanized pronunciation (bew-fort).
Beaufort, SC also has a nice shopping district with a nice set of restaurants and a wonderful old-style soda shop called Southern Sweets. The Butter Pecan and chocolate fudge sundae was excellent!
As you might have guessed from the itinerary, we enjoy visiting small towns along the ICW and sampling the food and shopping that they offer."
Congratulations, Terry, and take us with you next time you head out the door!
