Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island, Sunday daytrippin'

We spent a great day cruising the islands today. We are camped on Hatteras Island and after breakfast burritos we took a drive to Orcacoke Island for the day. The south end of the Outer Banks seemed so much better than the north end with it's development and congestion. Here the park service owns more of the island and the housing is less dense and much more sporadic. We drove for several stretches where there were miles of wilderness. Then when you came to a village it was not over developed and a lot more quaint and rustic. Much more like the old fishing towns we were expecting.
The North Carolina Transportation Authority operates the ferries that go between the islands here. The one that went from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island was free and took about forty minutes to make the crossing. We got in line and were on the next ferry in about fifteen minutes. Ocrakoke Island is sixteen miles long and the first thirteen miles are national seashore. After that the town of Ocracoke was only a mile wide and very quaint and old time. This would be the place I would concentrate on whenever I come back to the Outer Banks.

Kite boarders on Hatteras Island. The Outer Banks are one of the favorite locations for this sport.

Typical beach houses on the outer banks. Many are four stories with exterior stairways and balconies. I bet the hurricanes love to play with these! I wouldn't want to be an insurance company covering this nonsense!!

We were on a car ferry like this going from Hatteras to Orcacoke Island.

The laughing gulls (notice the black heads), love to follow the boats looking for food that gets stirred up in the wake.

A line of cars and trailers waiting for the ferry from Orcacoke to Cedar Island.

This building is a teaching facility for the state of North Carolina.

Hurricanes constantly change the layout of these islands and demolish what man has built on them.

Silver Lake in Orcacoke village

The Lighthouse.

Some of the local residents.

Ponies at Orcacoke Island. They are derived from the spanish settlers and are considered wild even though they are cared for by the park service.