Tour Hatteras & Ocracoke

Day 19 – (Wednesday, 10-24-12) Tour the Outer Banks

We awoke early and walked over the dunes to the beach. The sun was just beginning to rise and it was awesome! The weather was perfect and we walked down the beach with the dogs. It was a great way to start the day.

Next, we got ready to head down the road to Ocracoke. The drive took us to the south end of Hatteras, which is about 29 miles from our campground. The drive is a two-lane road down the US12 to Hatteras Bight, with the ocean on the east side and Pamlico Sound to the west. It’s mostly all preserve areas with some beach and sound accesses. The road is dotted with several small towns. At the end of the island are the ferry docks. We got in line and were able to get on the 11:00am ferry. After loading the ferry, we were on a very pleasant ride. It felt really weird for the truck to be moving and no one is driving! We left the dogs in the truck and we were able to walk around the ferry deck. The ride over was nice and the weather was perfect. Upon arrival, the ferry was unloaded and we drove onto Ocracoke Island and explored the Village of Ocracoke. We stopped at the lighthouse to get some pictures. It was lunch time and we found a great little café where we could eat outside and have the dogs with us. We then headed back to the ferry docks and made the return trip to Hatteras.

Prior to leaving Ocracoke, we discovered that we could continue our journey by taking our truck and RV on a second ferry ride that will put us further south, closer to our next destination. This will save us many miles of driving north on Hatteras, then west and south, making a huge loop. We made the plans to take our rig via this route and save us some time on our trip. The last ferry ride will also save gas for our route south.

After arriving back at the RV, we decided to have Happy Hour on the beach. We took our drinks, chairs and dogs over the huge dunes and enjoyed a little time on the ocean. The beaches here are very nice and wide. They also allow vehicles on the beach; but obviously, 4-wheel drive. Apparently, the fishing here is really great and many fishermen are surf fishing. We walked on the beach with the dogs and headed back to the RV. There is much to get ready for our departure tomorrow and the trip back to the ferries to head south. Our destination tomorrow is Huntington Beach State Park in S.Carolina. This is just north of Charleston and is right on the beach. This location will provide more opportunities to kayak in the marshes and swamps around that area.

We then prepared dinner and got ready for bed. We HAVE to get up early to catch the two back-to-back ferry rides to get us to our next destination.

Day 18 – (Tuesday, 10-23-12) Travel to Outer Banks

We woke up fairly early, around 7:30. Began final preparations to pack up the RV and hit the road again. We ate breakfast then finished getting everything in the truck and RV. After saying our farewells to everyone, we headed out for the Outer Banks. The route would take us due east toward the coast of N.Carolina. The drive time was about 7 hours, and we had a stop for lunch and then another Walmart stop for food provisioning. It seemed like the drive would never end, we actually arrived a lot later than we had anticipated. Our RV park is on Cape Hatteras, about midway down the island, right on the beach. We were able to setup and connect the RV in record time. We were hungry and tired from the long haul. We decided to first unwind with drinks and a walk on the beach with the boys. The evening sky was clear and the large crescent moon lit up the beach.  It was relaxing and felt good to have sand between our toes again. The boys really loved running on the beach, as they had been cooped up all day in the truck.

Dinner was again leftovers, which was just enough. We discussed our plans for the next day and finally decided to just tour the island and go south to Ocracoke. We went to bed early, as we were going to try to get up for sunrise in the morning.