Ocracoke Island report / OBX

At the end of the road on Ocracoke Island

Ocracoke Lighthouse in southernmost Dare County

Visiting the North Carolina Outer Banks can mean different things to visitors. Time at the beach is always a great way to spend a day, or spending time on the water in a boat or personal watercraft are other pursuits. Flying a kite, crabbing, bird watching and shopping are all on the menu. Coming into the OBX via Highway 64 brings you to Roanoke Island and Manteo. From there the OBX trail either leads North to Corolla or South to Hatteras and Ocracoke. Making the fateful turn to the south, and driving a further 60-miles brought me to the end of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and poised for a free ferry ride to Ocracoke Island. The state of NC runs the ferry that departs Hatteras for Ocracoke every 30 minutes. The short ferry ride lasts just 20 minutes and brings any island hopper to the sandy spit of land at the northern end of Ocracoke, offering a 13-mile drive to the inhabited southern end of the island. What I found at the end of the journey is a unique and hard-to-find island lifestyle and vibe that is hanging on at Ocracoke, with plenty of charter fishing boats hard at work. The first stop was to eat at SmackNally's, the restaurant with food so good it will make you smack yo momma! Fresh fish sandwiches and Red Stripe beer while dining in the sun makes one feel like they are on an island - but wait, you are on an island, and relatively far away from the mainland too. A visit to the historic Ocracoke lighthouse was next, with plenty of quaint harbor views to be found along the way. A bustling economy includes restaurants, tackle shops, ice cream stops and trinket shops - with lots of smiles to go around since everyone is on 'Island time.' To make a long story short, Ocracoke Island is a place that I never knew existed since I had not toured the OBX, and I give it my highest recommendation for those wanting to explore our coastal heritage in a pristine and natural setting!

Anchorage Marina lunch right on the charter docks!

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Inbound and outbound ferry service

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