Go4Lo
Explorer
Day 1
Our ferry ride aboard the Cape Lookout Ferry Service (CALO) vessel wasn't set to leave until noon and we had arrived in town the night before, so we spent the morning exploring Fort Macon State Park. In the planning stage for the trip this was just to be a filler to keep the kids entertained before the ferry ride over to Cape Lookout. Little did I know that this would be the kick start to one of the best vacations we've spent together as a family to date! Named the best State Park in NC for 2015, the Fort lived up to it's reputation for both mom dad and the kiddos. The majority of the fort is still open, including many rooms and tunnels that kids really enjoyed exploring. If you are in the area and enjoy US history, specifically the Civil War era, I would urge you to take a few hours and visit this Fort
After a cold drink and snack it was time to load and up and make the 30min drive from the Fort over to the docks in Davis, NC to meet our ride. For those that haven't been to this part of NC before there are two private ferry services to chose from, the Cape Lookout Ferry Service (CALO) and the Davis Island Ferry Service. Both are contracted with the NPS to carry vehicles and passengers across the sound to the western banks of what's known as Great Island, NC and or the South Core Banks. This is home to the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Locals call it "Davis Island". So whatever you call it, it's the last vehicle accessible barrier island on the Southern end of the NC barrier island chain known as the Outer Banks. This would be our destination on the sand for the next 3 days.
When deciding on a ferry service, we had no bias towards either, it was just a matter of scheduling. For our trip, the CALO service just fit our schedules better. I will say, that the ferry boat design between the two services is different. So, if you are pulling a trailer, the CALO service would be the better option. The Davis ferry service requires you to back off the boat at the dock on the island side; whereas, the CALO ferry is able to rotate 180* at the dock to allow the vehicles to pull straight off and on. Again, not a deal breaker but something to consider if you are pulling a trailer. The ferry operators ask that you arrive 30 mins prior to departure in order to check in and make any final preparations before departing the mainland. As directed, we were there with time to spare. Giving us time to have lunch on the tailgate of the truck and meet some of the other like minded folks, that decided it was a good idea to check off the grid for a few days and enjoy the sun and the sand.
After the rush of excitement at the fort and the anticipation of getting to the ferry on time it was nice to relax on the tailgate of the truck for the 35min ride across the sound to the western banks of the island. After crossing the sound the ferry drops you off at the Great Island Cabin Area. This is the staging area for the ferry as well as home to the NPS Ranger station and various weathered rental cabins owned by the NPS. This small village has fuel for a emergency use, running water, hot showers and a garbage dumping area. From reading other reviews on Expo we chose to bring our own drinking water from home and only use the water on the island for things like washing dishes and cleaning sandy feet. Since we were base camping we chose not to use the showers in the village and instead brought our own provisions for a shower. This turned out to be a good a decision as traveling up and down the island just to take a shower or grab water, for us, wouldn't prove very efficient. Sorry I don't have any good pics of the village area as it's not very scenic and by the time we got there it was close to 2pm so we didn't stick around. General layout of the village provided by the NPS.
With this being our first trip to the island and the afternoon slipping by we quickly dropped the air pressure in our BFGs, put the truck in 4hi, dropped the windows and hit beach to find a camp spot. As the village grew smaller in the rearview the beauty and solace of this place became very apparent. Yes, there were the occasional fishermen in their decked out American made pick-ups. Many with some crazy slid in camper set up and fishing rods pointing in all directions like antennas on a UFO; but, for the most part it was just us, the truck and the waves. Many times we were cruising along the hard packed sand a few feet from the breaking waves with not a sole in sight. From the south end cape to the northern tip of the island there's 25+ miles of pure unspoiled beach. I've been fortunate to travel many beaches up and down the east coast and I have to say this one ranks up at the top.
For this trip we chose to base camp, meaning we would not be moving the truck for a few days; so, site selection was very important. Factors to consider were wind speed, wind direction, bugs, tide level, beach width and of course level ground. If I've learned anything from spending time on the Outer Banks its that that wind never stops, its simply a matter of how strong and what direction it's coming from. Based on some great advise I received from fellow Expo members we decided to camp closer to the cape. The beach was much wider here so the tide changes would not be an issue. The dunes were taller here, which would block a portion of the never ending wind, but still let enough through to hopefully keep the bugs at bay. This would be our home for the next few days.
By the time we had chosen "the spot" and set up camp the afternoon had drifted into evening and my lovely wife began preparing our first night's meal. Dinner this evening would consist of pork tenderloins with sautéed peppers and onions over a bed of rice...yum! In an effort to keep the bacteria at bay my wife chose to pre-cook our dinner meats the week before leaving so it was just matter of pulling the meat out of the ARB fridge and sautéing the veggies and boiling some rice. I should stop here to mention that to this point we had no issues with bugs; however, once the sun dropped lower in the sky, the wind calmed and the aroma of meat and veggies simmering in the skillet was in the air...the bugs came out by the droves! Fortunately I had brought an ARB Mozzie Net with us to fit to the awning so we quickly attached it and finished dinner inside the protection of the mesh walls. We still aren't certain what exactly set the bugs off but for a few minutes I thought they would carry my kids off! Interestingly enough after the sun set the bugs went to bed as well and we had no further issues with them rest of the evening. By this time, our bellies were full and the kids were exhausted from a full day so, it was off to bed for them...with mom and dad not far behind. This pic pretty much sums up the rest of day one.
Our ferry ride aboard the Cape Lookout Ferry Service (CALO) vessel wasn't set to leave until noon and we had arrived in town the night before, so we spent the morning exploring Fort Macon State Park. In the planning stage for the trip this was just to be a filler to keep the kids entertained before the ferry ride over to Cape Lookout. Little did I know that this would be the kick start to one of the best vacations we've spent together as a family to date! Named the best State Park in NC for 2015, the Fort lived up to it's reputation for both mom dad and the kiddos. The majority of the fort is still open, including many rooms and tunnels that kids really enjoyed exploring. If you are in the area and enjoy US history, specifically the Civil War era, I would urge you to take a few hours and visit this Fort
After a cold drink and snack it was time to load and up and make the 30min drive from the Fort over to the docks in Davis, NC to meet our ride. For those that haven't been to this part of NC before there are two private ferry services to chose from, the Cape Lookout Ferry Service (CALO) and the Davis Island Ferry Service. Both are contracted with the NPS to carry vehicles and passengers across the sound to the western banks of what's known as Great Island, NC and or the South Core Banks. This is home to the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Locals call it "Davis Island". So whatever you call it, it's the last vehicle accessible barrier island on the Southern end of the NC barrier island chain known as the Outer Banks. This would be our destination on the sand for the next 3 days.
When deciding on a ferry service, we had no bias towards either, it was just a matter of scheduling. For our trip, the CALO service just fit our schedules better. I will say, that the ferry boat design between the two services is different. So, if you are pulling a trailer, the CALO service would be the better option. The Davis ferry service requires you to back off the boat at the dock on the island side; whereas, the CALO ferry is able to rotate 180* at the dock to allow the vehicles to pull straight off and on. Again, not a deal breaker but something to consider if you are pulling a trailer. The ferry operators ask that you arrive 30 mins prior to departure in order to check in and make any final preparations before departing the mainland. As directed, we were there with time to spare. Giving us time to have lunch on the tailgate of the truck and meet some of the other like minded folks, that decided it was a good idea to check off the grid for a few days and enjoy the sun and the sand.
After the rush of excitement at the fort and the anticipation of getting to the ferry on time it was nice to relax on the tailgate of the truck for the 35min ride across the sound to the western banks of the island. After crossing the sound the ferry drops you off at the Great Island Cabin Area. This is the staging area for the ferry as well as home to the NPS Ranger station and various weathered rental cabins owned by the NPS. This small village has fuel for a emergency use, running water, hot showers and a garbage dumping area. From reading other reviews on Expo we chose to bring our own drinking water from home and only use the water on the island for things like washing dishes and cleaning sandy feet. Since we were base camping we chose not to use the showers in the village and instead brought our own provisions for a shower. This turned out to be a good a decision as traveling up and down the island just to take a shower or grab water, for us, wouldn't prove very efficient. Sorry I don't have any good pics of the village area as it's not very scenic and by the time we got there it was close to 2pm so we didn't stick around. General layout of the village provided by the NPS.
With this being our first trip to the island and the afternoon slipping by we quickly dropped the air pressure in our BFGs, put the truck in 4hi, dropped the windows and hit beach to find a camp spot. As the village grew smaller in the rearview the beauty and solace of this place became very apparent. Yes, there were the occasional fishermen in their decked out American made pick-ups. Many with some crazy slid in camper set up and fishing rods pointing in all directions like antennas on a UFO; but, for the most part it was just us, the truck and the waves. Many times we were cruising along the hard packed sand a few feet from the breaking waves with not a sole in sight. From the south end cape to the northern tip of the island there's 25+ miles of pure unspoiled beach. I've been fortunate to travel many beaches up and down the east coast and I have to say this one ranks up at the top.
For this trip we chose to base camp, meaning we would not be moving the truck for a few days; so, site selection was very important. Factors to consider were wind speed, wind direction, bugs, tide level, beach width and of course level ground. If I've learned anything from spending time on the Outer Banks its that that wind never stops, its simply a matter of how strong and what direction it's coming from. Based on some great advise I received from fellow Expo members we decided to camp closer to the cape. The beach was much wider here so the tide changes would not be an issue. The dunes were taller here, which would block a portion of the never ending wind, but still let enough through to hopefully keep the bugs at bay. This would be our home for the next few days.
By the time we had chosen "the spot" and set up camp the afternoon had drifted into evening and my lovely wife began preparing our first night's meal. Dinner this evening would consist of pork tenderloins with sautéed peppers and onions over a bed of rice...yum! In an effort to keep the bacteria at bay my wife chose to pre-cook our dinner meats the week before leaving so it was just matter of pulling the meat out of the ARB fridge and sautéing the veggies and boiling some rice. I should stop here to mention that to this point we had no issues with bugs; however, once the sun dropped lower in the sky, the wind calmed and the aroma of meat and veggies simmering in the skillet was in the air...the bugs came out by the droves! Fortunately I had brought an ARB Mozzie Net with us to fit to the awning so we quickly attached it and finished dinner inside the protection of the mesh walls. We still aren't certain what exactly set the bugs off but for a few minutes I thought they would carry my kids off! Interestingly enough after the sun set the bugs went to bed as well and we had no further issues with them rest of the evening. By this time, our bellies were full and the kids were exhausted from a full day so, it was off to bed for them...with mom and dad not far behind. This pic pretty much sums up the rest of day one.
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