We stayed at the Cedar Island Ranch Motel Monday night to be close to our morning ferry to Ocracoke. Cedar Island Ranch offers an old style motel, RV and tent camping, and stables for horse rides. It is right there at the ferry landing! We were up at our usual early hour and enjoyed a great walk along the beach before lining up to get on the ferry.
We docked in Ocracoke around 12:30 and drove the very short distance to the Castle Inn and Villas. I stayed in their B&B many years ago on the Vineyard sisters’ Carolina Tailwinds trip. Bikes are everywhere on Ocracoke. Most people park their cars and either grab a bike or a golf cart to get around. The village is very close to the ferry and the majority of accommodations.
We hopped on our bikes and took a short ride out of the village and down a bike path that runs for a few miles along Rte. 12. I knew we were in for it when the 4 miles seemed to fly by and, sure enough, we rode those 4 miles back into a mean headwind. That was enough to work up a bit of a sweat and we were happy to have a dip in the pool at the Castle Inn to cool off.
Today (Wednesday) was perfect for a ride out to the farthest point on the island – the Hatteras Ferry landing. We stopped at the Variety Store in the village to pick up a bit of lunch and headed off. It’s 14 miles, mostly on road, sometimes with a decent shoulder. There are many beach access points. This one had a nice boardwalk and many people were setting up for their day on the beach.
As we got further out on the island there was a continuous stream of big dump trucks ferrying sand back to what looks like an area of dune repair. They were very courteous and gave us the whole lane when they passed, but we did get a blast of sand occasionally depending on what way the wind was blowing. When we got to ferry landing there was the expected line of cars waiting to board and a line of birds that appeared to be waiting for something; bird ferry maybe? We enjoyed our lunch on a bench while we watched the cars board and the next ferry come in with more cars and delivery trucks and the odd dump truck as well! Many of the cars are packing serious fishing gear on special racks.
It was breezy on the way back but nothing too serious. We pulled off when the line of cars from the latest ferry would start coming by and of course pulled off to see the wild ponies! The wild ponies have been corralled now because of increased traffic and the impacts of climate change on their habitats. When we first pulled in there was not a pony in sight so we took a short stroll down a boardwalk path. Sure enough when we returned several ponies had appeared. Must be some sort of contractual obligation with the pony minder.
