Monday, October 18, 2010

We slept soundly in the Basin, and started the work week with Tony in the office and Tess back on deck doing some touch up sanding, and then proceeding on to the first coat of Cetol. Weather doesn’t look promising to get another coat on Tuesday, but well-begun is half done.




We put together a picnic lunch, stowed the bikes into the dinghy, and headed for shore. First stop, Ocracoke Lighthouse. We’ve listened to the constant call of the Cape Hatteras foghorn last night, and now see up close the Ocracoke Light – sadly no one is allowed up, so we jumped back on the bikes and headed to the Springer’s Point Preserve…a (mosquito-y) wooded pathway leading down to the shore where only pelicans and nesting birds are to be found. Scrub pine, live oak, black nettle, sea grass line the walkway. But for the Very Hungry Mosquitoes, a little bit of seaside paradise. Back on the bikes…



Past the Navy Beach Jumpers Memorial to the beach access road behind the airstrip. A short hop off the main drag, we ride up and over the dunes to see miles and miles of beautiful beach, and SUVs! Just outside the surf line…as if tailgating for a football game, beach chairs and umbrellas are set up beside the open hatchback of Ford Rangers and F150s with PVC rod holders dug into the sand beside them. The “guy in the green hat” brought in a 27-inch drum; others were catching blues, flounder, whitings and who knows what. Sand pipers and plovers ran along the beach, in and out of the surf and the tire tracks; cormorants rolled in the surf eating buckets to tiny bait fish swimming in the water ankle deep. The dunes ran for ever, with reddish shell-filled sand and beautiful white silica-singing sand in patchworks. We ate our picnic, walked a long while, then back to the bikes to try to find some cell coverage.

Nope. We did get Coffee House wi-fi and were able to Skype calls to Ali and Katie (voice mail only). Good to confirm that we have yet another way to connect if needed.



Back on bikes to the local museum, where we toured the ubiquitous local’s historical museum with old spice cans, some WWII uniforms, and some colorful local lore. The boy scouts here in Troop 290 all have their own pony, captured and broken from the wild ponies of the shipwreck from the 1600s….



We closed the bike trip with a short jaunt back to the dingy, stowed the bikes, and Tony went “back to the office”…. A great way to spend an October afternoon!



In short, a great day.



Tomorrow, we go South…