Lighthouses and Ferry Rides

One

A sunny day at Bodie
Island Lighthouse.

of the items on my bucket list for this part of the country was lighthouses.  Now I'm not a real enthusiast like Mitzi Edwards but I did try my best to get around to all of the still active lights along the coast of North Carolina this summer.  If I've learned nothing else in my 60 years, I have learned to take advantage of all opportunities when they are open to me.  One day I might regret missing the lighthouses of North Carolina.

The first light was easy since I passed it every time I drove up 12 to go to Nags Head or points north.  It's a neat little lighthouse called Bodie Light (pronounced like body).  It was also the first light I visited along the coast.  There I learned that all of the lights have a distinctive paint or color pattern as well so that they can be recognized in the day time as well as at night.  Bodie is white with black rings every so many feet all the way to the top.  My favorite thing about Bodie was passing it at night and somehow feeling reassured when I saw the light.

Corolla Light for some
reason just didn't really
feel like a lighthouse
to me.
 

Way up near the Virginia state line is Corolla light.
  It's an odd looking lighthouse to me because it's red brick.  It's also farther inland than I had expected it to be.  I think it was my least favorite of all the lights but I'm not sure why other than it just didn't grab my imagination like the others. 

Down on Ocracoke Island is the Ocracoke light.  It's the smallest one I visited and it's solid white.  Like Corolla light, it didn't do much for me, but it gets more points from me because I had to ride a ferry to get to it.  It's also kind of small for a lighthouse, or maybe just seemed like it was small to me.  But I did visit this light a couple of times when I was on the island.  The ferry from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island is free and takes 45 minutes so next to Bodie this was the easiest light for me to get to.

Hatteras Light has more of
a candy cane design.

By far the most famous lighthouse I visited was the Cape Hatteras light.  When the girls were out here visiting Darlene and I watched as Addy and Jennifer climbed to the top - in 6 minutes.  That's the equivalent of 
12 stories and they were up and down again in less than 15 minutes.  It's also a distinctive light with it's diagonal black and white striped pattern.  The story of how they moved the light inland because of ground erosion was pretty cool to learn about too.  Yep, my favorite of the North Carolina coastal lights for sure.

Then one day near the end of my stay I realized that I needed to go south - all the way south almost to South Caroliina to see Oak Island Light and Bald Light. 

It was a long drive and I was pretty beat.  Had to stay in a hotel overnight near Wilmington because it was too far to drive there and back in one day.  And I confess that I cheated a little on these 2 lights. 

Oddest looking of all
the lights I visited.

I ended up going to a beachfront park in Southport where I could actually view both of the lights from shore.  The cool part was once again the role played along the coast in World War II naval history.  But I did see them and learned about them in the local visitor center so I'm counting them.

 

The weekend before Labor Day my caching buddy Georgia rode with me to visit my final lighthouse - Cape Lookout.  We drove down the coast along highway 264 grabbing caches and crossing rivers by ferry rather than a boring bridge.  We took the Bayview to Auroa ferry across the Pamlico River, another free ride, where we rode with a small group of women bikers.  They looked like they were having fun.  Then on the Minnesott Beach to Cherry Branch ferry (free ferry across the Neuse River) we traveled with a large group of deaf bikers.  They were having a great time and we just had to smile being around them.  I just love the North Carolina ferry system!  


Love the diamond pattern
on Cape Lookout Light but
the heat that day was
getting to me.

We got so caught up in caching and ferries that we almost missed getting to Harkers Island in time to visit the lighthouse.  We took the 3:15 ferry out to Lookout Island and the 4:15 ferry back to shore.  I would have to say that Cape Lookout was my second favorite of the lighthouses.  It's distinctive black and white diamond pattern makes it stand out in the daytime.  I wish I could have seen it lighting up the sea at night but we had to run.  We had just enough time to get to the last ferry from Cedar Island back to Ocracoke that night.  By far my favorite ferry ride of the summer. 

Georgia and I enjoyed our picnic supper in the observation deck while watching a beautiful sunset.  Later we went back down to relax in the car for  a while (it's a 2 1/2 hour ride) but the lure of watching a full moon rise over the sound was too much.  We had to go stand near the bow and watch the show.  And what a show it was.  The sea was a bit choppy so the waves were crashing over the bow.  The captain was spotlighting the channel markers along the way which seemed to make my stomach tighten a bit.  And all the while this huge white moon was shining down on the scene.  My passage was only $15 and I'd say I got more than my money's worth.

The next day Sue joined us and we took the ferry back to Ocracoke - yes I rode the Hatteras to Ocracoke ferry a lot this summer (it was free) - to go and find our last 2 caches on the island. 

Visited Ocracoke Light
while caching on
the island with my
crew.

On the ride back we saw dolphins playing just outside the ferry's wake.  Then we ferried ourselves across a small stretch of Pamlico Sound in Avon to get to a small island the last cache I needed to find on Hatteras Island.

It was so much fun seeking lighthouses and caches along the coast this summer.  I kind of hate to see it all come to an end.  In fact, I just realized that I missed riding 2 of the ferry routes so one day I'll have to get back there to ride them.  Now what can I do to top this?

Flip Flop Summer

It's hard to believe that we have gotten to Labor Day weekend already.  Where did my summer go?  To the beach?  To the pool?  To the lighthouse?  Maybe a deserted island? 

Yes, all of the above.

Big brother came to visit.

I know I have been a very poor blogger this past 4 months, but I have been a very rich person.  Rich in experiences that is.  In April I accepted a reservationist position at a campground on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  It sounded cool.  The term Outer Banks sounded cool.  I had no idea what I was signing up for.  And I was nervous about hurricanes even though I was assured by my soon to be boss that I had no reason to worry.  Yet, one day out from my destination tropical storm Ana was gaining hurricane strength and heading up the coastline.  I called the campground.  No worries, they said.  Come on out. 

This is actually in
Southport closer to
South Carolina line.

Found this marker
in a park looking
out to Oak Island
Lighthouse.  My
daddy was in the
Naval Armed Guard

Out is the operative word here.  We are OUT on the edge of the ocean.  Literally a sandy strip of land less than a mile wide that connects Hatteras Island to Nags Head and the mainland.  There is only one 2 lane road in and out.  So that's what "outer" banks means.  The nearest grocery is 17 miles south although there is a Dollar General a mile from the camp that just opened this spring and it's doing great.  They carry a few groceries of course - at least enough to carry you over until there's time to drive south or go to Kitty Hawk and the big Walmart 38 miles north.  But I haven't really minded that.  I've been busy.

Was lucky enough
to watch biologists
unearth a sea
turtle nest.  17
live babies!

How's that for a
flip flop tan?

Yes, there's the beach and while I'm not really a beach person I have enjoyed some time out by the waves.  Then there's the pool which is more to my liking especially early in the morning when the vacationers haven't gotten up and around yet.  And the hot tub is a nice perk when your back and legs are beat.  But really I haven't been hanging around the campground much on my time off.  There's too much to see out here.

Watched the sun setting as we
ate a picnic dinner on the
Cedar Island Ferry.

Also got to watch
a full moon rising
on the sound as
we crossed on
Cedar Island Ferry.

Highway 12, the little 2 lane road that bisects this sandbar begins up in Kitty Hawk where you find mile post 1.  My campsite is located at mile post 40.5.  Down at mile post 82 is the end of Hatteras Island and a ferry over to the next island in the Outer Banks (from here on referred to as OBX) chain.  Hop on the ferry and after a leisurely 45 minute ride with a chance of seeing dolphins along the way as you cross the Pamlico Sound and you will be on Ocracoke Island. Blackbeard was captured, killed, and beheaded here.  It's a quaint little island only 13 miles long with another ferry post at the other end.  From there you can take another ferry ride, this one two and half hours long to reach Cedar Point where you can pick up the highway again and drive on down the coast visiting other islands and beaches along the way.  Did I do all that?  What a silly question. 

And when the 3 of us are together
it's really crazy.  No, we aren't
nuts, the mosquitos on Portsmouth
Island were deadly.

Whenever I cache
with this woman I
have the most
unusual adventures!

There's lots of history around here besides pirate lore.  During WWII there was a navy base on Ocracoke and German subs sank US merchant ships just off the coast leaving the island residents to go out looking for survivors - English & American - and spies trying to come ashore - German.   And there are geocaches of course.  Only 8 on Ocracoke itself (yes, I found them all) plus 2 virtual caches on Portsmouth Island which is a deserted island in Ocracoke Sound.  Yep, got those too with my new cache buddies GeoKu (Sue) and Gigiwoll (Georgia).  Now that was an adventure.

Me & Georgia: 1 day, 276 miles, 6
ferry rides.  Too many laughs.

Speaking of geocaching, you who know me well enough to know I've been at it all summer.  The closest cache to my camp is a micro called Nights in Rodanthe placed near the actual house from the movie of that name.  Did that one the first day.  In fact while out here this summer I hit a milestone in my geocaching career by reaching 6,000 finds and held a little gathering at a Dairy Queen in Nags Head (there are LOTS of ice cream shops on this island which is not a good thing for me).  Several folks showed up as well as Georgia and Sue and afterwards we all went to another event up the road in Kitty Hawk.  I've met a lot of great cachers this summer and done some great caches too.  It's kind of sad to see it all come to an end, but there is a little something called Hurricane Grace forming in the Atlantic so I think I'll get out of her way.  You know, just in case.  My boss assures me all will be OK.

I do love this life.