Greg & Camille Go Bike

We had two ferry's to take today and briefly considered trying to take the first at 5 am only to dash across Ocracoke Island to the second at 7:30am. We are VERY glad that we decided otherwise. We would have been cold, sleepy and miserable and would probably have had much less appreciation for some of the best biking so far.

Instead, we had a pretty relaxing morning and left the hotel around 8:30 am. We took the 9 am ferry from Cape Hatteras to Ocracoke, staying outside for the ~40 minute ride and enjoying pleasant scenery while trying to keep each other warm. Arriving in Ocracoke, the cars were unloaded first. The entire eastern portion of Ocracoke Island was devoid of development so traffic was almost non-existent. Aside from a very infrequent car passing us by and a rush of cars after the next ferry arrived, we had the roads entirely to ourselves. For most of the ride there were towering dunes to our left and grassier areas (intermittently marshy and dry) to our right.

Several times along the island, we stopped and crossed over the dunes to catch glimpses of the beach. The best was the first stop where we had to walk up a narrow path through several layers of dunes to find a pristine beach. Along the path there were some pretty red-orange flowers and even some cacti. Camille accidentally nudged one into Greg's foot trying to point it out. Ouch!

At the mid-point of the island, we stopped to see the Pony stables. Apparently, these were the remnants of the wild herds that used to roam the island. Mid-20th century, they were all corralled and now they're taken care of by the National Park Service.

At the west end of the island, we finally reached the town. We picked up some groceries and tried to find a restaurant to get some food. The first place we went, Eduardo's, looked tasty but seemed to have a long line. The next place we tried, closer to the ferry, was apparently closed despite the hours provided by Gogole. A pedestrian walking by told us most places on the island were closed for the year and of the few options he listed, Eduardo's really was the only quick and close option. Back to Eduardo's we went and anxiously waited for our Scallops and Shrimp burritos before rushing to the ferry. We made it just in time.

This ferry was much longer, projected for 2 hours 40 minutes. We went inside to the spacious passenger cabin and munched down our burritos. Once across, we departed the boat on Cedar Island and started pedaling to our campsite. More low traffic roads with marshlands on either side, this time with the sun setting over top. We arrived at our campsite just before sundown and set up our tent right by the water. There were some nasty biting flies so didn't stay too long outside the tent. We both nodded off pretty early.