We set the cell phone alarm for 7:30, but got up before it went off. It began raining early in the morning and continued raining lightly as we got ready for our day. I had a reservation to take a Bodie Island Lighthouse tour at 9:30 about 20 miles away. We left the campground at 8:45 since we didn’t know how long it would take us to get there with traffic. I drove today because of Bob’s fear of heights and having to drive across a high bridge over the Oregon Inlet.
This house sat all alone at the southern end of the inlet–a target for the next hurricane.
We got to the lighthouse a little early, so we looked around.
Built in 1872, the lighthouse offers a beautiful view of the surrounding land and waters.
The 156 ft. tall horizontally striped lighthouse has 219 stairs. The National Park Service purchased the lighthouse in sections from the Coast Guard. In 2009, when the entire purchase was completed, the National Park Service began renovation. The Bodie Island Lighthouse is now open for public tours after full renovation was completed in April of 2013. This is the first year since the lighthouse was built that it has been open for public tours and I was one of the lucky ones to take the walk up to the top.
It has its original 1st order (largest) Fresnel lens still operating.
While I took my 40 minute tour, Bob waited below. He wouldn’t have liked it…..the stairs were open so you could see through them below. This view is looking down through the center of the sprial staircase.
Once at the top, I could get a 360 degree view of the ocean and land area.
The other side faced the Croatian Sound.
I could see the Oregon Inlet from the top.
Down below, I could see the Gift Store and office where people were waiting to take the next tour.
As you can see, the morning was gray and cloudy with rain sprinkles off and on. It didn’t ruin the excitement for me of being up in the lighthouse.
Bob was waiting for me when I came down, so from there we drove to the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center.
The clouds were starting to break up and the sun started to peek through. Here at the Fishing Center, we discovered a fleet of 44 sportfishing charter boats, many of which were out for the day.
We walked along the docks and in talking with the captains, found out that they fish for the same fish we fish for back home.
We went inside the store while we waited for the 1/2 day fishing charters to return. Like clockwork, around 11:30, they did.
Eight boats returned from a 1/2 day of fishing and off-loaded their catch. The first boat had 37 Spanish mackerel and the others had a little less.
One boat came back with 4 white spot sharks, each about 3 ft. long.
I had to get a little closer look. They didn’t have many teeth in their mouth when I checked it out.
We watched all the excited fishermen and left as the afternoon charters got ready to go. From the Fishing Center, we drove a couple of miles back to the Oregon Inlet and parked by the fishing pier. We walked on a sandy path which took us through the dunes toward the ocean.
We stopped along the way to pick up some interesting shells and sea treasures.
I don’t really know what these are, but they sure look unusual. They were all over the beach.
We saw some pretty big holes dug by the crabs in the sand.
The sky looked ominous to the south, but bright and sunny to the north.
As we drove back towards Rodanthe, we stopped to check out the Rodanthe Pier.
This pier had 120 feet of pier at the very end destroyed by Hurricane Sandy last year. It doesn’t look like it could last another storm.
There were quite a few people who paid $2 to go out on the pier and fish.
Standing on the pier, we got a good view of the shoreline.
This house looks like it’s way too close to the ocean for my comfort zone.
From up on the pier, we could also get a good look at all the pastel houses that were built near the beach within the last 5 years.
There were quite a rainbow of colors. After a look around, we headed back to the campground for a late lunch and some time with Auggie. We pulled out the awning and relaxed in the shade. Auggie rolled over on his back and soaked up the sun.
We had a later dinner and took Auggie for his walk. The evening winds kicked up out of the north and the temperature dropped. What a change! It was much cooler now and I needed a fleece for my walk. We watched some TV before calling it a night.
