A very happy Mothers “Day After” to you! I hope that you had a joyous family adventure celebrating the day with your mother or like me, celebrating her life with fond memories of the times you shared together. My mother passed away a few years ago and like most in my position yesterday was a difficult day but I did share in celebrating her life and I know that she celebrated with me.
You may have noticed that there is a slightly different “look” to this week’s blog. I am in the midst of rebranding my logo and the look of my website. Over the next couple of weeks we may experience a few bumps in the road but at the end of the journey I hope you will be pleasantly surprised at the new look and imagery. Many thanks to Joshua Smith with True Source Entertainment in Nashville for the vision and the new design (www.truesourceent.com).
As I commented last week, my biggest struggle coming home was the thought of narrowing down the magnitude of imagery I had shot and how I was going to provide a descriptive narrative in such a way that it gave some insight into our travels. Last weeks journey provided details on how ships, well before my time, found their way to the islands. I hope this week’s blogs provides a little insight on how modern day travellers arrive on the island. For most of us common travelers we reach the Outer Banks by driving down Hwy 12 or arriving by ferry from the south.
As part of our journey, we chose to drive south to Swan Quarter, NC and take the two-hour ferry ride up to the southern most part of OBX, Ocracoke Island. The two hour ride was something that I had not done while I lived on the island. The township of Ocracoke sits at the southern end of the island. Mostly known for its very laid back attitude, the village boasts a population of around 600 (excluding the hoards of tourists) and is most notably known as the location of death of the pirate Blackbird.
Our plan was to spend two days on Ocracoke Island and then take the ferry over to Cape Hatteras and spend the rest of our journey capturing as much of the island as we could and eating as much of the local seafood as we could possibly get our hands on. The ferry ride from Ocracoke to Hatteras use to take around ½ hour but the storm in October 2016 changed the makeup of Pamlico Sound and not the ferries crisscross the sound taking a little over an hour to go port to port. As you transport on the ferry you meet other ferry’s going in the opposite direction and in close quarters.
One of my first and fondest memories of the Outer Banks was my very first ride on the ferry heading from Hatteras to Ocracoke. As we left the docks I could not wait to get out of my vehicle and photograph anything and everything in site. I remember our first encounter with a passing ferry heading in the opposite direction and how happy and cordial everyone was as we waved to each other. As we arrived on Ocracoke I realized that the only way home was by the same way we came. It was truly memorable.
Enjoy the ride and look for more from the Outer Banks – most affectionately known as OBX!
