Friday, August 18th - Ferry to Ocracoke, NC

Got up at 6:30 this morning to pack up and drive the 60 miles to the Cedar Island - Ocracoke Ferry. We had to check in by 9:00am and, in fact, we arrived 15 minutes early. While we waited to be boarded, MA baked cinnamon rolls. We could not operate the generator on board. We also had to turn off the propane tank.

The ferry ride was 2.25 hours and very enjoyable. We traveled in Pamlico Sound, sheltered by barrier islands so it was quite smoothe sailing. Gypsy did not care for the boat ride...much preferred to sit on the dashboard and bark at fellow travelers as they walked by the coach. Several people stopped by to talk about rv'ing. Gypsy took a dim view of these intruders.

We are camped at the Ocracoke Campground at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The good news is that our NPS Golden Age Passport (for old folks only) allows us to camp at half the $20/ night fee. The bad news is that there are no hook-ups here and we have to operate the generator a lot. We turn it off at 8:00pm and on again around 8:00am (well clear of the 10:00pn - 6:00am restriction).
Ocracoke Village is the only area on Ocracoke Island that is not NPS land. It is a very cute and VERY crowded fishing village. It has many restaurants, shops & inns devoted to the tourist trade . There is absolutely zero Cingular service here so we have very limited communications capability.