John Palmer grew up close to Lake Erie saying he always wanted to be close to the water. Sailing and power boating in New Jersey and then owning three power boats on Lake Erie, he continued to boat when he moved to the Cape Fear region of North Carolina where the Cape Fear River intersects the Intracoastal Waterway before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean-Bald Head Island to the East and Oak Island to the West. This area is rich in history and folk lore of pirates who visited centuries ago.