Day 108 - Across the Pamlico Sound to the Outer Banks

We set off for a fairly long day on the water at 9:08 am.  On the advice of local knowledge, Captain Randy took us on the “inside route” to the Outer Banks:  back to the ICW which led us north on the Newport River to the Adams Canal all the way to Pamlico Sound.  This way we would avoid backtracking around Cape Lookout and chancing a shallow inlet to the western side of Ocracoke Island.  We wound through the islands, past the port at Morehead City to the Newport River.

The Adams Canal is a narrow waterway cutting straight north.  Small boatyards, businesses, and homes line the shores.  The homes here are of many different sizes, styles, and colors.  Some areas were “no wake” and we had slower boats to pass, but we made good time for the ICW.  The canal opened up into an open bay, then the Neuse River, which we took to the Pamlico Sound, the body of water that separates the Outer Banks from the mainland.  The water was choppy and the sky was overcast, coloring everything greenish-grey; not good for pictures. 

 

We turned east to the village of Ocracoke, following and passing one ferry, then waited for a second to come out of the channel before we entered.  Between the choppy sound waters and the ferry wakes it was fairly rough coming in.  Once inside the channel and closer to shore the water smoothed out and the sun decided to peek through.  The channel took us right in to Silver Lake and the Anchorage Inn Marina, which is right in town.  The current kicked up as Captain Randy was “sandwiching” the boat between 2 others, but he was able to control it with the help of the dock hands who grabbed our lines.

 

Ocracoke can only be accessed by air or water.  Ferries come from Cedar Island, Swan Quarter, and Hatteras Island and there is a small airfield on the island.  There are 900 permanent residents with lots of visitors in the summer.  Until fairly recently, Ocracoke was very isolated – to the point where residents have their own dialect and a few unique words.  One of those words, “dingbatter” is used to describe outsiders or tourists.  Another is “quamish”, which means sick to your stomach.  We learned this at the Ocracoke Preservation Society Museum.  The island’s claim to fame is that Blackbeard, the pirate, used to hang out here and was eventually killed offshore in what is now known as Teach’s Hole.  Blackbeard’s real name was Edward Teach and he died of gunshot and sword wounds from naval officers sent by North Carolina’s governor to capture him.  The story goes that Blackbeard hosted a 5 day “beach party” on Ocracoke when 2 ships sent by the governor arrived after being tipped off to his whereabouts.

Captain Randy thought it would be a good idea to rent a golf cart to get around town, so that’s what we did, traipsing through shops and the museum.  We drove to the lighthouse, but it is not open to the public.  We had a fish/shrimp sandwich at the dockside restaurant SMacNally’s, even though they did not have rum.  Later we drove the cart to Dajio as they had live music .  We sat at the bar and had a spicy shrimp appetizer and listened to the band Blame the Waitress play bluesy rock music.