Ocracoke Island- the wind blows

• Gknopp's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Ocracoke

Trip Start Dec 01, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End May 31, 2008 Next
Entry

  Ocracoke, North Carolina, United States
Friday, May 9, 2008

Since many of you are westerers who read this blog, you may no know much about the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Its a remote place that forms the ocean side barrier in NC.  Its a remote place and one  many folks visit.   Its also the hurricane "catchers mitt" and the graveyard of many ships. 

Inside the 'banks' is Pamlico Sound.  This is a large and shallow body of water know for its rough conditions when the winds kick up.  It is often 10' deep and in some places 7' or so in the channels.  Many places are under 3' so when you look out you will lots of water, but only some of it is usable for cruising. 

One of the more remote and untraveled places is Ocracoke Island.  Its way out on the banks and 30 miles off the ICW.  Cruisers often go by it as its often rough to get out/back and off the beaten track.  After days of running "the ditch" this is our destination.  This will be our respite before we press on to Norfolk VA.

Sue and I are beginning to develop a new cruising style.  We have found we like to run hard on our travel days and then loaf/tour on the days we decide to be 'in port'.  Run hard means getting underway no later than 8 and sometimes at 6 and to run for 10-13 hours.  Loaf means...sit and read....repair...clean....tour...drink...etc.

We left Beaufort about 0800 for the 55 mile run up to Ocracoke.  It was a beautiful day on the water and with First Forty running at its usual best we leave the ICW anad head into Pamlico for the 30 mile open water transit.  Pamlico is big enough that you have to really look to see land.  You feel like you are at sea and without bridges, "wake making yeahoos" and "go slow zones" it was a pleasure. 

By 1700, we enter Ocracoke ferry channel.  We had to be careful here as the sands shift and our charts were useless.  But using careful 'eyeball' navigation, we rounded the last mark and entered "silver lake".   This is a very nice place...round and perhaps a half mile across it is fully protected from wind and waves.  It is surrounded by somewhat charming and somewhat gritty seaside buildings, marinas and shops.  This is not Hilton Head.  This place has a gritty, earthy feel as it has been here since the 1700s and been spared most major development. 

We had planned on staying on Ocracoke for two nights, but will have stayed four assuming we leave tomorrow.  It was nice when we arrived, but a check of the NOAA forecast shows heavy wind and weather coming in late Thursday and Friday.  Sue and I agree to make a big press to leave Saturday at daybreak with the idea of getting to Norfolk Monday noon.    This will give us a week to get to Baltimore allowing for stops at some of our Chesepeake favorites.

When we read the cruising guide we noticed an interesting place nearby called Portsmouth NC.  It is a national park area only accessible by a 20 minute boat ride across the Ocracoke inlet.   The place is more or less a ghost town from as far back as the 1700s when it was a major entry port for cargo in colonial days.  It lasted until the mid 20th century when the last resident died or left.  There about 20 odd buildings and many things to see.  We find a fellow would takes people over their and that became our day.  The First Forty is too big to go and its to far go in the dink....dangerous too as getting there means crossing the currents of the Ocracoke ocean Inlet.

This was a good time.  We were on the island for 4 hours and likely walked 5 miles.  We were warned about mosquitoes.  In fact we were told three times to spray and bring spray.  Ok, we know about mosquitoes having lived on Kiawah Island for two years.    But as an army might say, "we were un prepared for the overwhelming forces of the enemy".   As many of you know, Sue and I have traveled the world and in the process we have seen bugs.  The worst was the county of Oman in the middle east.  There we encountered flies like I have never seen before.  But nothing prepared us for the vicious attacks of mosquitoes in Portsmouth, NC.  There are swarms of mosquitoes that can only be described as of "biblical" proportions. 

If we walked in the sand paths the little guys were not too bad, but walk over grass and you are dead meat.  I mean you may see a swarm of 50 or more in front of your face.  You swat...you spray and they keep coming.  Luckily we sprayed heavily and had few bites but this was amazing.  At one point, we had to cross a tidal flat on the way back to where the boatman would pick us up on the beach.  I had to take off in a run.  It was ugly.

The visit to Portsmouth was rewarding in spite of the assault.  Some of the buildings were over 100 years old and the story they told of the old days of the outer banks was very interesting.

Today we planned on staying aboard with the possible exception of a walk around town.  Over night, I hear the wind build but it was not too bad....until morning.  As I wright this the wind is gusting to 30kts and the seas look like suds as I look out of the harbor.  Luckily there are only 5 boats anchored in this fairly large place.  

For the third time this cruise we witness a boat break loose and drift free.  It is anchored about 200 feet from us and (luckily)  downwind.  I was reading in the saloon and happen to look up and notice the Benateau 36 sailboat out of position.  No one is on deck as it blows toward the rocky shore. I hear and see people from the nearby cottages begin to come out and yell franticly at the unmanned vessel.  Soon the the captain and wife/gf come on deck only to see that their pride and joy is about 20' from the rocks and moving fast.  In seconds the boat is abeam the wind and on the rocks still dragging its apparently lightweight anchor. 

The townspeople assemble and no one seems to know what to do as the boat appears to grind on the rocks at the side of the harbor.   He was pinned and no way to get off.  I kept expecting him to hail a small power vessel but no.  They stay and look at it for a long time.  Finally the folks threw lines and tried to tie him off (bow and stern) to prevent more damage to the lightweight vessel that was bobbing and grinding at the rocks only 150' from us. 

Soon we see a young, wirey young man head toward the would-be wreck in a kayak.  Soon they guy is telling the captain how to save his boat and folks were putting upwind lines on her and tried to pull and push her off.  She got off only to be pinned on the piles along a nearby set of slips.  The captain finally gets the engine running tries to power off only to find out he could not get the bow upwind.  Finally someone standing on another boat pushes the bow off and the captain guns it....I watch is it crashes into the stern of another boat and see broken pieces from the target vessel fly into their air.   Then the stuck boat some how moves off and goes to windward.  The sailboat had broken the davit on another vessel.  How much damage it sustained I can not tell.

So we sit here hoping our anchor will hold.   Our anchor tackle (which I call "Brutus" ) has never let us down but there is always a first time.  While many boats our size may carry 65#, Brutus is a full 110# of iron on 300' of 3/8" chain.  Since we are only 100' from the downwind dock here in the harbor, I hope it holds.   Stay tuned. 

Print this entry Share Ocracoke hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry