Now, the town of Ocracoke was in the throes of Halloween.

Today, we discovered the amazing North Carolina Ferry System. To reach the next OBX island of Ocracoke Island, we had to take an hour-long ferry ride. I did a google search for times and fees, and to our surprise, it ran every half-hour and was free. I also learned that North Carolina has a ton of ferries transversing all the Sounds up and down its eastern seaboard and most are free. The ones that charge a fee are cheap. Looking at the map, I can see that over the next week and a half, we can ride several ferries.

To drive to our next campground, we would have to go all the way back up the OBX and then head west for a total of 160 miles. If we take the 3-hour ferry across the Palmico Sound from Ocracoke to Swanquarter, we save 100 miles of drivings and about $30 in gas. The cost of the ferry with trailer is $30. I booked our spot for the 1:30 pm boat on Wednesday. I am psyched.

So, as a practice run, we took the Hatteras to Ocracoke Ferry to explore Ocracoke Island. The ferry system is very efficient, and I imagine cheaper than building a bridge. They land, disembark the current load of vehicles, reload, and are off again in barely 5 minutes.

I was struck by how shallow the mammoth Pamlico Sound is. Pamlico is the largest body of water on North Carolina’s coast. The distance between Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island is a couple of miles, but the ferry had to follow a circuitous route through a narrow buoyed channel that snaked way out into the sound before landing on Ocracoke Island. I heard a deck hand explain that the route used to be much straighter and only took 30 minutes. After a storm, I didn’t get which one, the old channel closed up and they had to follow this new channel. What looks like a vast open sea is deceptively shallow, maybe only 2 or 3 feet deep in many places.

We are discovering the wonderful world of the North Carolina Ferry System.

Leaving the harbor in Hatteras.

Pamlico Sound required a lot of buoys to tell the ferry boat pilot where to safely navigate.

We are being approached by the ferry going in the opposite direction.

90% of Ocracoke Island is undeveloped National Seashore. It is very narrow, maybe only as wide as a city block in some places. With its own kind of stark beauty, we stopped and romped on a couple of the dunes.

The weather was doing its oscillation-thing again - full sun/full overcast. It could swing back and forth in minutes.

Highway 12 as we drive down Ocracoke Island.

A kid and his dad were flying a kite.

At the far end of the island is the town of Ocracoke. It is shaped like a horseshoe, wrapping around the harbor bay. We parked next to the ferry that we booked for Wednesday, and walked the town. It reminded us of a Mexican town. Some back streets were dirt, narrow, and pot-holed lined with funky little colorful shops. The bars and restaurants all looked inviting. Of course, they had a craft brewery. There even was a Mexican food truck.

The horseshoe-shaped harbor at Ocracoke.

One of the Mexican-like back streets.

Our favorite - a Mexican food truck.

No town is complete without a couple of murals.

We stopping in at a seafood shop. No, they don’t have smoked fish, but they had a wide assortment of gorgeous looking fresh fish fillets with exotic names. We explained our simple little camper setup and asked what fish could we easily pan-fry and not stink up the trailer. The lady recommended Flounder. She explained that it cooked quick and flakey. It had a mild and delicate flavor that would not be smelly. We promised to return on our way out of town to pick up a slab of Flounder.

This shop-keeper recommended Flounder.

A nice model of the family fishing rig.

As one might expect, Ocracoke was home to the Ocracoke Lighthouse. It was on the way to a nature trail through Springer’s Point Preserve, so we checked it out. The light keeper’s house looked very nice with wonderful gnarled old oak trees draping the siding. The lighthouse and house were closed.

The nature trail, as nice as it was with its own odd vegetation, had mosquitos. This was our first insect issue on our trip. It wasn’t bad as long as we kept moving, but we didn’t dare stop. With the two miles of walking through town and another 2 miles of trail, we scraped up 4 miles of walking. Not great - not bad.

A pretty good map of the trail system.

As promised, just before leaving town, we picked up our fillet of Flounder. The return ferry ride was just as awesome. I can’t get enough of these boat rides. The ferries have upper decks and even seating lounges. All they need is a bar.

Upon returning to V-Jer, we cooked up our catch. The lady was right, it was delicious. We used a little olive oil and butter, a small squirt of lemon juice, and a drip of water to barely cover the bottom of the pan. I found some lemon pepper in our spice drawer and applied a shake or two. We covered the pan and kind of poached it. Served with rice and steamed carrots, it was pure gourmet. Best of all - no smell.

Later, when I looked up Flounder, I was shocked to see what that ugly fish actually looked like. Yikes - it is that crazy-looking horizontally flat fish with both eyes on the top, no fins, and a yellow flat belly. OK, calling it ugly might be a little harsh, but it is very odd-looking, indeed.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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