At the town of Hatteras we road a free car ferry for the 40-minute trip to Ocracoke Island.
This has to be the best ferry deal going, anywhere.
It is a one-deck open ferry and you can walk about during passage, enjoying absolutely tremendous views of the lands forward and to the rear, open waters, large sandbars, weekend fishing boats, and things I never quite understood that look like very small oil drilling platforms—perhaps used for fishing, or maybe they are artificial nesting spots for birds.
As you debark on Ocracoke Island and transit a long protected area, the villages take on a wholly different look than on Hatteras Island; they seem smaller, and businesses often employ pirate themes, flying the skull-and-crossbones.
At the end of Ocracoke Island is the town or Ocracoke, the jumping-off point to take a ferry to the next island (we didn’t). The road has really thinned at this point; we are grateful the trailer is not in tow. But it is a nice village centered on a small harbor with many cottage-style rentals, a very relaxing look. This look is contrary to its past, when Ocracoke served as a hideout of pirates, including the notorious Blackbeard, slain here in 1718. (His head was then carried north to the town where he grew up, for a sort-of homecoming.)
Dinner (our dinner, not Blackbeard’s) was at Howards Pub and Raw Bar on Ocracoke. “Raw” doesn’t mean sushi, or scandalous; to the locals, it is an oyster bar. My shrimp salad was very good.
Blackbird? or Blackbeard?
ReplyDeleteNever hear of blackbird as a pirate.
Our motto, if I remind you, is "Perfection Disclaimed" or something like that.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a man that loses his head deserves some respect, especially a pirate. I'll make the correction.