The Ocracoke Summer

Each summer since we got Aquila, we have developed a nickname for that year. The first summer was, the first summer (how original is that?). The next summer was Bermuda. Summer of 2007 was The Whale. And 2008? It's the ocracoke summer. We went there for Labour Day and for Fourth of July, and we hope to make it at least one more time.

One of our best, and most memorable trips to Ocracoke occurred the first year we had the boat. We used to only imagine sailing to Ocracoke, and never ever imagined we would sail beyond the shore. Ocracoke still holds a special place in our hearts as the first achievement in becoming 'cruisers'.

It was November, so we left the dock before daylight so we could get to Silver Lake before the sun set. The sail over was easy, not too cold, not too breezy. It was a little rough, and I learned that the seasickness remedy of the electro-band really can work. The Pamlico Sound is shallow, and a steady breeze can really work up a sea--the Pamlico chop is well known for it's steep sides and short intervals.

Abby was just learning to ride a bike--so after docking at the NPS docks (as usual in the winter, we had the place to ourselves), we rented bikes at the Pony Motel in what has now become a tradition.

We were hoping to eat out one night, but when we tried questioning someone who appeared to be a local at the fishing docks, we weren't sure if anything was even open! It might have been the dialect/accent, it might have been that there really wasn't anything open. Either way, we enjoyed our meal on the boat and saved some money, too.

The most remarkable part of this trip was during our departure from the Island. Again, we left before sunup. The light in the Ocracoke Lighthouse (circe 1823, second oldest operating in the US) was still lit. As we left the harbour, we saw hundreds of low flying cormorants. It appeared they were migrating, to and from where we did not know. Wave after wave of cormorants as we motored out the channel usually occupied by ferries and sailboats. The dredge islands were used as brief wayside stops on the cormorant-train. It was one of the most remarkable sights I have even seen.

I have since learned that this type of 'migration' is unusual. Some years there are hundreds of thousands of birds in this migration. Other years, there are only a couple thousand. (It could just be that no one has counted the cormorants every year. I don't know.)

This year, we have done a few other trips as well, taking our dockmaster and dockmistress on a day trip to Cape Lookout (which was a blast, thanks Paul and Mitzi!), and an overnight on the South River. That overnight was memorable because we finally overcame our fear of jellyfish and just jumped off the boat at the anchorage and swam around. We have often done this while at Cape Lookout, but the Pamlico Sound?? While sailing we have seen schools of jellyfish (do they travel in schools/ herds/piles? whatever, there were millions, nay, billions of jellyfish!). But we spent a few hours in the water, and no one got stung, or even saw a jellyfish.

Earlier in this blog, I mentioned that NC is the REAL Virgnina, having been christened Virginia after the Virgin Queen Elizabeth when the Lost Colony was settled on Roanoke Island. Well, today, I found out that not only are we VIRGINIA, we are also CHINA. Apparently, when G. da Verrazano (NYers will recognize this name from the bridge) came up the NC coast in 1524, he could not find a way through the channels in the various inlets leading from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pamlico Sound, and he concluded that the Sound was in fact the Pacific Ocean, which would make Oriental--well, the Orient! Isn't that cool? The story goes that it took cartographers over 100 years to correct Verrazanos little mistake, until then the geography must have been something like (east to west) Atlantic Ocean, Outer Banks, Pacific Ocean, China, Russia, Europe. I wonder how true this story is...