Home > Beach on the Cheap > Archives > 2009 > June > 23 > Entry
Stuck in Ocracoke
A catfight somewhere in the distance woke me up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so here I am up and at it since 4 a.m.
We are camping at Teeter’s Campground on Ocracoke Island, touring the North Carolina coast for a week and trying to accomplish it on a small budget. It ain’t easy.
When Josh and I pulled into this place we were a little skeptical. First of all, it’s full of RV’s and they look like permanent fixtures here, rather than one or two-night setups. But the price was right — 20 bucks.
So, not to judge a book by its cover, we rang the bell at the end of an arrow painted on the side of a weather-worn sign hanging on the side of a garage that said, “Office. Ring the door bell”.
About a minute later a man came out, took our 20 bucks and told us where the bathroms were. They also had a big sign on them. This one, a notice that you would be prosecuted if you were thinking of using them but were not camping at Teeter’s Campground.
The man also pointed to a spot about 50 feet away where we could set up our tents, and after a short discussion clearing up just exactly where his finger had pointed, we said thanks and headed that way.
We set up the tents and headed for the village.
The Ocracoke lighthouse was the fist stop on the list of things to see so we made our way there, passing an endless mass of tourists, some walking and some maneuvering rented bicycles on the side of the narrow roads.
The lighthouse was bathed in nice light in the setting sun and I shot some pics for a good 30 minutes as it slowly faded.
We made our way back to camp because it started to drizzle and we hadn’t covered the tents with the flys, then decided to get some bug spray and a bite to eat.
We found a place called Creekside Cafe where about four groups of people were sitting and chatting quietly while a musician entertained under an umbrella just outside the screened-in porch with an accoustic guitar.
The meals cost about 10 dollars each, which is a good price for these parts during the first week of summer.
After the meal we headed back to camp and wondered about our chances of actually getting a ferry today.
The talk of the locals in the village is all about the current state of that enterprise’s ability to get tourists on and off the Island without it being a bad experience. They want you to come back, next year.
We tried to make a reservation online but the Web site was down and informed us to call the toll-free number. That number gave us a message that all lines were busy, and when we finally got through it was too late to make a reservation, by three minutes.
So, this morning we will spend our time trying to secure a passage to Cedar Island, although it wouldn’t bother me a bit if we don’t make that ferry.
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