August 9, 2011

We left Hatteras via Pamlico Sound and had another rough ride.  Weather forecast was 1 to 2 feet seas, but we think it was more like 5 to 8 foot.  Water was splashing over the bow and had to keep the windshield wipers going most of the way.  Glad I have auto pilot, make it a lot easier, just set the way point and let her go.  I could have gone to sleep real quickly with the rolling motion and cool breeze.

Made it to Manteo, on Roanoke Island, North Carolina.  This is another great town.  We are at the foot of the historic district which is pretty much the town.  This is a picture looking down the street running parallel with the water front.

The light house at the end of the Marina.

Picture in front  of the court house.  On Friday nights through the summer the town ropes off the main street and provides music.  This was a rock band very loud but we enjoyed listening for awhile.  Some of the shops served wine and goodies.

We rented a car as most of what we wanted to see was on the outer banks.  Our first stop was the Wright Brothers National Memorial.

This is a replica of the first aircraft to fly.

The memorial is on top of a hill where the Wright Brothers flew gliders in preparation for flying a motorized plane.

Looking over the Outer Banks from the Memorial.

Replica of the structures the Wright Brothers built and used while building and experimenting with flying.

The stone markers mark the distances each of the four flights made on the day that the brothers were successful.

Cape Hatteras light house.  The tallest light house in North America.  The light house was moved from its original location.  It was 100 feet from the ocean and in danger of being destroyed by the erosion.  They moved it 79 yards and took 29 days.  The cost for the relocation was 1.5 million dollars.  Our tax dollars at work. 

Picture of Cona when she found out how much the move cost.

On our ride down the Outer Banks we stopped and watched the hang gliders flying.  Hard to tell from the picture, but that is a person at the end of the kite.  The kite pulls the person on a surf board through the water at 30 to 50 miles per hour.  If the hold the kite in certain positions it will lift them right out of the water.

Riding down the cape we took several pictures of the dunes.  Really spectacular.

Our last night in Manteo we went to the out door drama of the Lost Colony.  Sir Walter Raleigh  got finances from Queen Elizabeth to establish a colony in America.  117 men, women and children attempted to settle on Roanoke Island.  They vanished two years later. 

One of the local t-shirts they sell around here says "DON'T ASK LOCALS FOR DIRECTIONS, THEY ALREADY LOST ONE COLONY".

This is a picture of the stage before the show.  The stage is on the north end of the island on the ocean side.  The ocean is behind what you see here.  Unfortunately the scenery blocks the wind coming in off the water and the night we were there it was miserably hot.



Tomorrow we are off to Coinjock.

August 4, 2011

Still in Hatteras.  The weather forecast for today was 15 to 25 mile/hour winds, so decided to wait. 

This is a picture of some homes on the Outer Banks.

We of course went to the beach.  A short walk from the boat.  This is Cona shelling on the beach of the Outer Banks.

The sun set looking over Pemplico Sound from Miss Ellen.

We ate several time at the restaurant at the dock.  Fabulous.  This is Cona in front of the biggest plate of sea food we have ever seen.  This is Africa cab legs, mussels, clams, shrimp, corn and potato's.  We couldn't eat it at and took a box of shrimp for lunch the next day. 

Rudy has gotten so much absorbed with the pirates of this area he's turning into one.

Picture of Cona with the owner of  the restaurant, Stavros.  We got to be pretty good friends.  He is Greek and came over to America 14 months ago.  Spoke no English but now has a  very good command of the English.  Married the Chief Isac.  He bought the building and  completely redecorated the building himself.  I have included a few pictures of the inside and will show more on my next blog.  A very lively feeling and a very comfortable place to eat.  He did a terrific job on the decor, and has only been open 3 months.  We have had  the best meals so far.  Stavros and Isac were very gracious host and have a great restaurant that Cona and I highly recommend.  To tell how great Stavros was, he even fixed us a lunch to take with us for our trip  the next day.  Isac made a cheese cake our last evening which just came out of the  oven.  It was the best we have ever had. 

We fell in love with Stavros and wish he and Isac the best and hope to meet up with them again.

  Picture of the interior of the restaurant.

A walk to the beach.

Hope to leave in the morning for Manteo, NC.

August 3, 2011

Well we made it to Ocrocoke.  The crossing of the Pemleco Sound was a bit rough for Cona.  Had trailing seas and 2-3 foot waves.  Made for a rocky trip.  Of course I sat back, put Miss Ellen on Auto Pilot and let her cruise, no problem.  Took us about 5 hours to make the trip.

Below is the first sun set in the harbor of Ocrocoke.  Ocrocoke sits in a lagoon of Silver Lake and is where Black Beard spent time.  It is also part of the coast know as the grave yard of the Atlantic, because of the thousands of ships that have sunk just off the coast.

This is a picture of the light house from the back of Miss Ellen

The light house close up.  It is a working light house so could only be observed from the outside.

The trip to the beach, which is part of the outer banks, was about 3 miles from the town  of Ocrocoke.  What is interesting is the sand.  It is very soft and only 4 wheelers are allowed on the beach.  It was hard to even walk in or on, but a good work out.

Cona on the beach.

As the beach was too far to walk we rented a golf cart for two days.  Several of the better restaurants were located on the far end of the island, so we used the cart to take advantage of the area to far to walk to.  We also us the cart to ride all over the island taking ever road and trail.  Some I'll show you.

There are three ferries that take people on and off the island, as boat (or small plane) is the only way on and off the island.  This is one of the ferries.  We were docked next to the terminal.

One of the better restaurants we ate.  All the restaurants were open and not air conditioned.  This had a screened in porch and fans and turned out to be pleasant. 

During the first of WWII England loaned America a ship to help protect the east coast of the Carolina's.  After two weeks into service a German sub sunk  the ship.  All of the crew were lost.  Four bodies were recovered and were buried by the people of Ocrocoke.  This is a picture of the grave site.  The Coast Guard now take care of the graves.

Typical looking structure on the island, this is a restaurant where we ate and listened to a great band playing jazz.

One of the original houses built in the 1700's.

Another house built in 1887.

One of our favorite things was a local theater called Deep Water Theater.  This is a great music group playing folk, blue grass and country.  This island as a lot of artist and craftsmen.  We went back twice to hear two groups tell stories.  On story teller was age 67  and  grew up on the island.  Went away to college and returned to the island.  As he lived and grew up on the island during the time a fellow I worked with said he lived on the island, I thought if any body new of my friend he would.  My friend was and interesting person and told  many stores about growing up on Ocrocoke island.  I never new if my friend was telling me the truth as he knew everything about any subject brought up.  However,  he was the one that got me interested in visiting Ocrocoke.  If he really was from Ocrocoke the story teller didn't know the name.  He even called his mother who was 90 and he claimed if any body knew him or his family she would.  Unfortunately, she didn't.  Whether my friend ever lived here or not, I'm glad to have visited.

This is the Molasses creek, we bought two of their albums.  Thourghly enjoyed their music. 

Picture of the local school.  Their graduating class this year was six.  Some years they have had one.  The only sport is basket ball because some years they didn't have enough boys or girls to make up a team.  We meet several locals that graduated from the school.  Most of their graduates go on to college and many return to the island to live.

Another old house, this is were the museum is located.

Another restaurant viewed from the water side.  Also open as you can tell.

 

The cemetery where the British navy soldiers are buried is located on British Cemetery  road.

Picture from the back of Miss Ellen, watching young people on the stand up surf boards having fun.  We watched as some could not stand up and kept falling off. 

Another musical group we sat and enjoyed.

Well that's about it for Ocrocoke.  A great visit.  We were going to stay three days ended up staying six. 

We are now in Hatteras on the outer banks.  I'll cover that in the next blog.

July 25,2011

On from  Myrtle Beach to Southport NC.  Arrived  July 11th.  Great Marina but to far to walk to town.  The Marina had a great pool which we took advantage of.  The Marina was next to the Ferry terminal which took passengers to Bald Head Island.  Bald Head is a no car Island.  The only transportation on the island was golf carts and bicycles.

The Island is nothing but summer homes, many that can be rented.  Very expensive to live on and expensive  to visit.  Only two restaurants and one small grocery store.  Had a few shops mostly bike rentals etc.

This is a picture of where the original light house sat.

This is the main attraction on the island, Bald Head Light House.

This is the entrance to the Bald Head Island.  There was a marina there but we left Miss Ellen in Southport and took the ferry.

We left Southport and headed to Wilmington SC.  Following is the first restaurant we ate.  This is a picture of handmade guitar's costing upwards of $30,000 each.

Most of the homes in Wilmington were built late 1700.  This is a typical home of the period.

The old folks taking a horse drawn tour of the historic district.

The North Carolina battle ship is here in Wilmington.  We didn't go on because it was to hot in side.

One of the main streets of Wilmington.

We docked at the city docks which was at the foot of the historic district.  Short walk to many restaurants, but too far to reprovision.  We took the city bus to Walmart and a taxi back.  The bus took us through parts of Wilmington we would not have seen if we had just taken the taxi both ways.  Meet some nice friendly people on the bus.

On Friday night the down town comes alive with free music on the docks.  As we were docked right at the action we got to sit on the front of Miss Ellen and enjoy the music and activities.  A lot of people came as you can see by the picture.

Picture leaving Wilmington.

Cona and I sitting on the front of Miss Ellen enjoying the sights and sounds of riverstreet in Wilmington.

Next stop, Beach House Marina in Surf-City NC.

 We happened on this place by luck.  It was a stop on the way to Beaufort (pronounced Bow fert).  We were one block from the beach so we took advantage and went swimming.  The water was perfect.  Bright Blue, and clear.  You could see your feet in heads deep water.  The dock was close to at least 6 restaurants, and some shops.  The facilities at the marina were perfect and friendly staff.

Another stop was at Wrightsville Beach.  This is a sun set from Miss Ellen.

Cona getting ready for the sun set.

On the was to Beaufort we saw wild animals grazing the banks,  a giraffe if you couldn't tell.

Surf City NC.

The city of  Surf City.

Cona sat on the bank at the beach at Surf City.  She sat next to a small hole in the sand and didn't think anything about it.  How many time have you seen small round holes dug in the sand and wondered what made the hole?  Well check the next picture and see what came out to greet who was sitting on their hole.

Thats right.  Mr. Crab.  He was not too happy as you can tell by his expression.

We made it to Beaufort July 20th.

This is a picture of a door in one of the  historic homes built in the 1700's.  The door is pine but was painted to  look like different species of wood. 

Another picture of Surf City, out of sequence.

The home where the city doctor lived in Beaufort.  He was also the dentist, and pharmacist.   Our tour guide showing Cona the different medicine's that were recovered and preserved.  Most of the medicine's contained over 50% alcohol.

The Herb garden behind the doctors house.

My favorite house in Beaufort.  This is where Black Beard stayed.  Black Beard is well represented in Beaufort and the local stores were full of books and stuff about Black Beard.  Even the Maritime Museum dedicated most of the artifacts and space to Black Beard. 

 

Me and Johnny enjoying a brew.

This was interesting.  This is a grave of a 17 year old girl who died on the way back to America after a visit to England with her father.  The father promised the mother he would bring her back so he bought a barrel of rum.  He put the daughter in the barrel of rum and returned to Beaufort where she was buried.  People visiting the grave continue to leave items in memory of the girl.

From Beaufort you can take a ferry to the Outer Banks.  This is the first of the islands.  The water was extremely rough and you can see why over 1700 ships were lost during the 1600 and 1700rds attempting to enter or leave the inlet.  This is also the place where Black Beards ship the Queen Ann's Revenge was sunk.

 

We arrived in Oriental NC July 23rd.  Not what we expected.  Mostly a shrimping port as you can see in the below picture.

Three restaurants,  and a hotel, not much to speak of.  However the meals were good. 

Picture of Pamlico Sound.  We have had a southeasterly wind and the dockage has been rough.

Weather kept us here a day longer, and if weather permits we will leave for Ocrocoke Island tomorrow.