dare2go

OBX & Wilmington/NC


Continuation from < Page 1 < !

We stopped at the Oregon Island Fishing Center on the return journey - we had already driven past it several times and were curious to have a closer look at these large fishing boats. It seems that this is a great area for Marlin fishing and I guess this is a very successful business, judging by the number of boats they have, the number which were just returning from a day on the ocean and the price schedule displayed prominently! We also stopped at the Pea Island Refuge, just on sunset, and saw more turtles along with thousands of water birds.
Saturday was time to move on, but since we had a disturbed nights sleep - people driving in and out at all hours and fishermen leaving at dawn - we only drove the short distance to Buxton, the home of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. This particular lighthouse is quite well-known in the US and also around the world. At 208 feet it is America's tallest, but it is better known for the fact that in 1999 it was moved about a half a mile to its present position to save it from being claimed by the ocean. We watched a 60 minute documentary at the Lighthouse Museum about the move and found it to be a truly amazing story. It took months of preparation and 23 days to move the lighthouse. It was cut with diamond wire from its base and lifted hydraulically onto steel beams. It then travelled along railroad tracks to its present location. The lighthouse weighs around 3000 tons and the cost of the exercise ran to over 13 million dollars. Truly an amazing feat of engineering!
We have been having absolutely brilliant weather since the rain on Tuesday night cleared. The days have been really warm and sunny and we have been thoroughly enjoying it. This morning we woke to quite heavy rain again - it wasn't cold, but very wet, with puddles everywhere outside. We left Buxton to drive to Hatteras and catch the ferry to Ocracoke Island. At times it looked like the weather was improving as the rain stopped and some blue sky appeared. Any improvement was extremely short-lived. After the 40 minute ferry ride across the Hatteras Inlet, we got off in Ocracoke to the strongest winds I think I have ever experienced. The camper rocked from side to side and it started to feel just a bit insecure to me. We ate lunch and then drove quite quickly to the southern end of the island to try to catch the 1.00 ferry back to the mainland. We sat in the stand-by queue and it looked as if we might get on and then one of the ferry employees came along to tell us that the captain couldn't really decide if he wanted to go in such high winds. We decided we definitely didn't want to go in such high winds and left to find a campground. The one we found is not so salubrious, but all we've done is stay inside listening to the wind and the rain all afternoon and feeling the camper rock in the wind gusts. Hopefully tomorrow will dawn a little calmer and we can be on our way.
It's unfortunate that the weather turned so nasty because what we saw of Ocracoke Island looked rather interesting. It is only inhabited on its southern tip in the village of Ocracoke, a rather neat village with less prominent tourist trade, and the rest of the island is left in its natural state. In the north it is mostly sand dunes and very little vegetation - sand blowing across the road. Then there is a lot of low coastal vegetation, which seems to hold the dunes together a bit more. At one point we even drove through some taller trees, which were mostly pine. There are inlets and small waterways all over the place and lots of birds. But neither of us was interested in stopping and checking it out further in this kind of weather.

Monday, 20 November 2006, Huntington Beach State Park, SC
We drove into South Carolina yesterday, so it must be time to complete the North Carolina diary! It was a rather relaxing time in the past week, staying in campgrounds for more than 1 night, and spending time just sitting in the sun when it was around. The weather had already improved considerably when we went to the ferry on Monday morning - but that wasn't a difficult thing, since it had been so bad on Sunday! It was still quite windy and very cold, which was a real disappointment after the beautiful days we had been having on the outer banks. The crossing takes about 2¼ hours and was fairly smooth, although it got a bit rough when we were crossing a part that was not sheltered from the Atlantic by islands, and I had my first bit of queasiness on a ferry trip - not too bad considering how many we have made so far.
On reaching the mainland we followed a supposed scenic route which would take us along the outer edge of the Croatan National Forest and through historic New Bern. It ended up taking us quite a distance out of our way and was not particularly scenic. It was more of an urban sprawl, where one town's commercial and industrial areas ran into the next! And while New Bern does have some historic buildings in its original downtown area, including the one where PEPSI originated, it wasn't really up there with historic towns that we have visited. Our conclusion was that the whole thing was a couple of hours of wasted time.
We spent the next couple of days at the Cedar Point Campground in the Croatan National Forest, and that was delightful. The weather cleared up and the site we had chosen in the dark on Monday night proved to be the best in the whole campground, as it received the morning sun before all others and it stayed sunny until midday. We were like a pair of reptiles, soaking it up with pleasure in order to get us moving! We left the campground briefly on Tuesday to shop, access the internet and to take a walk on the Patsy Pond Nature Trail. Supposedly it is a good place to see Venus Fly Traps and other carnivorous plants in their natural environment. Venus Fly Traps are only native to this area of North Carolina. The walk was a bit of a disappointment as it was right beside highway 24 and the traffic noise really drowned out any possibility of enjoying the nature! We also didn't find any carnivorous plants - and I thought I knew what Venus Fly Traps looked like.
On Wednesday we managed to get ourselves to move by lunchtime and drove on to Wilmington, which really can't be more than 60 miles. We had chosen the Carolina Beach State Park to base ourselves in order to visit this historic city. It is about 15 miles south of the city on an island bounded by the Atlantic on one side and the Cape Fear River on the other. It is a lovely quiet campground and when we arrived it was almost empty. We ended up staying for 4 nights - until yesterday. Whilst there we were on 'tornado watch', managed to spot some native carnivorous plants, visited parts of the historic downtown area and also spent some time investigating the possibility of getting some work done on our camper.
When we arrived on Wednesday, we were told that there were strong wind warnings out for that night and on Thursday morning we were informed by a ranger that the whole area was on tornado watch until mid-afternoon. There had been a tornado in Riegelwood, a mere 30 miles away, that morning which caused a lot of destruction and resulted in about 8 fatalities. We were certainly fortunate that it wasn't any closer - I wouldn't really like to experience a tornado 'up close and personal'!
On arrival at Carolina Beach State Park, we discovered that it is also supposed to be home to various carnivorous plants, and to that end we sought out and followed the nearby 'fly trap trail' on Thursday morning. We were not very successful and turned back to the parking lot where we stopped and talked to a ranger. We wanted him to identify a snake we had seen on the way back (we weren't sure if it were dead or alive, since it didn't move). It turned out to be a Copperhead and it was alive, just not interested in moving too much in the rather cool weather. When we mentioned that we hadn't managed to find any fly traps, Joe Shimel (the ranger) offered to show them to us. We then spent about half an hour with him, on and off the trail, and managed to see, not only Venus Fly Traps, but also Sundew, Butterwort and Pitcher Plants. Joe explained how each of the plants trap and digest their prey. We were most impressed by his knowledge and also the fact that he was willing to take time out for this impromptu guided walk.
The city of Wilmington includes more than 230 blocks, which is a National Register Historic District. It is great just to drive through, down the tree-lined streets. The trees are literally dripping with Spanish Moss, and there are houses from the 18th and 19th centuries everywhere you look. This rather intact historical look has encouraged a thriving film industry (second largest after Hollywood, best known probably for "Dawson's Creek" and "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood"), which uses the beautiful street scapes as part of their settings. Wilmington was a very important trade port from its very beginnings, and became pivotal during both the War of Independence and the Civil War. The very helpful staff at the Visitor Information provided us with a guide map for the downtown area, including the River Walk along the Cape Fear River. This map has many of the interesting buildings marked and their history briefly outlined. One could spend a considerable amount of time wandering in this beautiful city - unfortunately, walking large distances is still a bit limited for us, so we had to content ourselves with a short walk and some driving to experience what we did. This was certainly an historic area worth mentioning and worthy of an extended visit.
We chose to visit and take a tour of The Bellamy Mansion, a great example of antebellum architecture. The carvings on the exterior of the house are incredible, considering they were meticulously hand-carved and there are so many of them. Inside the elaborate plaster cornice mouldings and ceiling medallions are also a credit to the painstaking work undertaken by the free and enslaved African Americans who are responsible for the construction of this impressive building. The house still has its slave quarters in the back and these are one of the few urban slave quarters still in existence. They are currently under renovation, but it was possible to get some impression by looking through the windows and open doors. The garden has also been restored to as close as possible to the original. It has a number of huge magnolia trees, one of which is taller than this 4 story house! They must be magnificent when in flower.
We have quite a list of mostly little things that we want either fixed or changed on our camper before we leave the USA. After trying a couple of places in Wilmington, we ended up taking a side trip to Clinton, which is about 60 miles north, to check out a place that had been recommended to us. Unfortunately, they would have to order parts that could take up to 10 days to arrive, and we weren't keen to stay in that spot for so long. In the end we decided to shelve the work until we arrive in a larger centre - perhaps Charleston in South Carolina.
Yesterday we rather reluctantly left Wilmington to continue our journey towards the south, and hopefully warmer weather. We would like to get somewhere where it stays above 70, rather than doing so for a couple of days and then dropping back to the 50's. But it might be asking a bit much from late November...