The Whale takes to the Seas

How is it that Gigantor and the Whale traveled 100 miles, but only added 80 to the odometer, and took almost 8 hours to get there? Fairies. No, I mean ferries.

We packed up and left Frisco Campground on Hatteras on Monday, a little sad to leave such a beautiful place, but there's so much more to see! Still, it is the first place we've gone that made us pause. Also, we'd already made reservations for the Okracoke-Cedar Island ferry, and for a campground on the mainland, and our waste tanks were brimming full - no dump pipe at the National Park campground.

So, we drove to the Hatteras terminal and got on the free ferry ride to Okracoke Island. The ferry boat seemed small, but took on our rig no problem, and just a handful of cars as well.

Here we are loaded onto the ferry:
which looked like this:


After the 40 minute ride during which the ferry threaded its way between sand bars and flats, and dolphins frolicked nearby, we then we drove the length of Okracoke Island, maybe 20 miles, to the next ferry terminal. All but the southernmost tip of this island is an uninhabited strip of sand, beautiful, and the little town surprised us with its quaintness. It would be a great place to come back to for a longer visit. While there I threw together some lunch and delivered it to Nancy who babysat the dogs under a shade tree:


The Okracoke-Cedar Island ferry was not free, and was a bigger boat, but we just squeezed under the overhang, less than a foot to spare:


Here is a view from the sun deck as we pull out of Okracoke Harbor:


This ride was 2 1/4 hours, but was an easy ride because Pamlico Sound was like a mill pond:


So now we are just west of Morehead City, NC, at a campground which is well-groomed, but a little too much like a trailer park in the sense that 95% of the rigs are permanently installed, with little decks and patios, storage sheds, borders and plantings. But nearby Morehead City is a charter fishing mecca, there's a barrier island called Emerald Isle which is supposed to be nice, and another village of Beaufort that we want to check out. So, we'll be here for a few days, and let you know how how that went a little later.