room with a view off the back of the ferry

room with a view off the back of the ferry
Originally uploaded by thomas pix.

As is our OBX tradition, we spent the day on Ocracoke Island. To get there from Salvo (where our rental beach house is located), you have to drive about 35 miles south on NC-12 to Hatteras Village. Then, you queue up and wait to board the free (er, taxpayer-supported) ferry to Ocracoke Island. Each ferry holds about 40 cars, and you just can't help getting your hopes up that you'll get on the next ferry departing. That kind of luck doesn't happen often, and sometimes you can wait as long as 90 minutes for your queue to get directed onto the boat. It takes 40 minutes to cross the 4-mile span thanks to the serpentine path they have to travel to avoid sand bars. The channel itself is no more than 500 yards wide from one spit of sand to the other.

After a crab cake sandwich lunch at the Jolly Roger on Silver Lake and then a scoop of peach ice cream from candyland (yum!), we decided to forgo the beach since we had several small people who were lacking naps. We lucked out on the way home... we were the last car let on the ferry back to Hatteras. Which meant we had prime real estate on the stern of the boat. Perfect for popping the hatch and watching the propellor wash put distance between us and Ocracoke.


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