Crystal Coast and Cedar Island
What a captivating trip log! Thanks for sharing! There's so much to see in this beautiful country of ours that even when you flip a bottle and drive wherever it points, there will be something to see worth remembering.
You nailed it, I couldn't agree more! America is beautiful, so much to see, something for everyone ...
During one trip over to Oak Island, we see a sign advertising
skydiving and stop to check it out. We’d both wanted to, just needed a friendly nudge to do it. We sign up for tandem jumps that afternoon, and so uhhh – here we are. If you’re going to jump out of a plane, why not do it over a beautiful place?
Five of us crammed in like sardines, so hot on the ground but chilly at 12,000 feet.
After the rush of free fall, floating down over the ocean and the intracoastal is just magical. And then you’re done, much too soon. I can see how people get hooked on this.
Anne landing:
And happy:
Back on the ground, off to dinner in Hampstead with a high school friend. Their pug puppy walks us to their boats on their little piece of the intracoastal. I could definitely handle having this in my backyard.
We’d talked about camping on the outer banks and Polly was going to come with us. The couch makes out into a 2nd bed in the Tiger, and Anne had her tent, so logistics were ok. But temps were near 100 and 95% humidity, we were having thunderstorms almost every day – so Polly decided to pass.
The ferry to Ocracoke was booked, so if it was OBX we’d have to drive the long way around. It became clear that Anne was going to have to cut her trip short because of work, but we still had a few days. We weren’t at all sure we’d find a spot on the outer banks during high tourist season, so we worked out a shorter trip. We’d just drive around, find a CG somewhere to cool the pups off, and toss them in the water wherever possible. We left the BMW and piled in the Tiger.
We drove along the
Crystal Coast and stopped a few times to dip our toes in the ocean. NC sand is soft and deep, quickly – one time we pulled over to park and before we even stopped rolling, sunk in almost immediately. I gunned it out of that one, a good reminder to watch out. It’s been a long time since I drove in NC sand.
This is Surf City, the most crowded beach I found in NC:
Almost every beach access has stairs over the dunes to protect them, and fences on the beach side to help:
We turned north on 17 to skirt Camp LeJeune, then through New Bern and Grantsboro to Aurora to catch the ferry to Bayfield. We were heading for Bath and maybe
Goose Creek SP, but I’d also contacted
Osprey Nest CG on Lake Mattamuskeet that had hookups, cause it was so hot.
We were waiting for the free
NC ferry in Aurora, heading for Bayfield.
I turned the generator on for some AC to keep the pups cool, and went online to do some googling about the area we were headed to. And found that our destination was a
prime alligator area. I called the campground to ask if they had gators in that lake, the lady on the other end said, “Well we haven’t seen one since spring. It’s really a fishing lake, we don’t swim in it”. OK, maybe not.
We head back into town to get gas and try to find something closer. It was getting late and we were ready to stop for the day. I couldn’t get a signal in town so Anne went inside to ask.
Around here, if you don’t have time for a story, don’t ask for help. The lady working the deli counter in the store knew someone who ran a campground, they didn’t advertise, but she knew it was there. So after dishing up a mess of fried chicken for her customers, she called her ex-sister-in-law’s 2nd husband’s mother (not kidding) and found out where it was. Yes ma’am, it was still there.
Directions are a story too. It’s not “Take a left out of the driveway, head north for 6 miles, turn right onto hwy 33, turn left at the sign”. It’s more like “Drive down here til you get past Edwards, the 2nd blue building, there’s a boatyard out back, you can’t miss it. Drive past the boats, there’s a “Y” after a spell, and a gas station, bear left past the tobacco field, you can’t miss it. There used to be a sign.”
I was pretty turned around, I could’ve missed anything right then. I think they were directing me out of town a different way than we’d come in. So we ask someone else in the parking lot, and got a whole different set of landmarks.
The one thing we were clear on was – we shouldn’t turn before we saw someone on the side of the road selling watermelons out of his truck. Alrighty, off we go. We are cracking up at the directions we got, getting pretty punchy. Every single landmark from both people was right where they said it was. See, here’s the watermelon truck! Love it … you can’t miss it.
We eventually find the campground, but it’s a permanent-type mobile home campground on Blount Bay. We can’t stay, it’s someone’s yard.
We make our way over to Chocowinity Bay to Twin Lakes Camping Resort, find a spot and have some dinner. Not as nice as the other, but storms are rolling in again – good enough. We scavenge some wood and have a nice fire.
We head back to the coast for more toodling around, looking for the perfect spot to throw the pups in the water.
We head up route 70, I want to drive it to the end. A stop in Davis, and I’m looking for Tundrabird tracks … do they cross here?
We make inquiries about this ferry, sure we can take it, but I brought the wrong vehicle – just sand over there. It’s been years since I’ve been, and a certain
trip report has whetted my appetite for more, but not this time.
70 turns into 12, which goes through the
Cedar Island NWR, and we have the road to ourselves.
Houses for boats:
Gas sign, they can’t believe our CA prices … me either.
Crab traps:
More fishing bumpers:
At the end of this road is the Cedar Island ferry terminal to Ocracoke, the one that’s always full in summertime. Besides a campground and hotel for those who might’ve missed their crossing, it has a spectacular waiting area for those who arrive early.
The building is under construction, but the rinse station is working:
and down that little path is this:
the best beach ever for the pups!
This part of Pamlico Sound is such a shallow slope, I think you could walk a quarter mile out without getting your knees wet. We stayed for a couple hours.
Before leaving, Anne says “Try the reservations line.” So I give it a shot – someone has cancelled their reservation in a couple days. Woohooo!
$15? Yes I’ll take it
Ocracoke, here we come …
