Cedar Island to Hatteras, NC

It’s been difficult to get a fast Internet connection so bear with me. We set the alarm for 7:30 on our phone just in case, but woke up around 7:00 anyhow. We took our leisurely time getting ready and pulled out of the campground for our 2 minute drive to the ferry office to check in.

We had to check in at 9:30 for our 10:00 reservation. People were already lining up at 8 AM.

Promptly at 10:00 they began to loading process. There were 21 cars, a pop-up camper, our travel trailer, 2 bicyclists, and 4 motorcycles, but the ferry was still not full.

Our ferry, the Silver Lake, had a nice air-conditioned passenger lounge and viewing area. There were no pets allowed up there, so Auggie, Bob, and I set up our folding chairs on the lower deck and enjoyed the 2 1/4 hour ride.

It was a picture-perfect day of clear blue skies, upper 80 degree temps, and calm seas.

As we crossed Pamlico Sound, we passed a saliboat and another ferry going in the opposite direction.

Auggie enjoyed his ride on the ferry.

He got to play with one very special young lady. They played together for over a half an hour. He tried to lick every orifice she had and she giggled the whole time. I think she really wanted to take him home with her.

After 2 hours, we neared land and Ocracoke came into view.

I spotted the Ocracoke lighthouse from a distance.

As we entered the harbor, we could see the marina there.

After leaving the ferry, we passed through the town of Ocracoke which was crazy with tourists. 

On the other side of town, we entered the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The road is two lanes lined by sand dunes on both sides.

This is an aerial view of the same road. It gave us an idea of what was on the other side of the dunes which we couldn’t see.

From Ocracoke to the next ferry to Hatteras Island was 14 miles. We got off of the first ferry at 12:15 and got on the second ferry at 12:30.

There were fewer vehicles on this ferry than the last one–4 cars, 2 trucks, 1 pop-up camper, and us.

We enjoyed the 1 hour ride from the observation deck above. There was lots of room to walk around on the deck of the ferry.

 The ferry snaked its way around the shallow areas and had to stop and wait for other boats and ferry to pass through the narrow sections.

People were out on their boats enjoying the water and exploring the dunes.

As we neared Hatteras, we could see the harbor and marina there. We arrived around 1:30. Along the shoreline, we could see the immense stilted houses. 

We got off the ferry and drove about 6 more miles to our campground for the next 5 days–Frisco Woods. We got there about 1:45.

We were assigned site #6 right along the canal. (Yes, I brought my pineapple plant all the way from home.) This is looking across the canal from our site.

Our site was grassy and large with a great shade tree.

From our site we have a nice view of the beach and Pamlico Sound. You don’t get too many “glass calm” days like this!

We are just steps away from the pool and laundry, which is nice. We were all set up and relaxing by 3:00. I was hoping to do some laundry today, but others had the same idea before me. I’ll have to wait until later or maybe tomorrow. Auggie enjoyed laying outside in the shade while we just settled in. Others arrived after us and we got watch them set up. We had a later dinner tonight. Auggie and I took our evening walk down to the beach to watch the sunset. The colors were beautiful!

Back at the campsite, Auggie and I sat outside as the skies darkened. There was a slight breeze blowing and we had no bugs. The 3/4 moon came out and so did the stars. All is well!