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| Bodie light on a misty day |
It has been 19 months since our last blog post, and here we
are on the Outer Banks of North Carolina!
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| Bodie lighthouse sits next to a freshwater marsh |
Today we went to visit the Bodie Lighthouse, North of Oregon
Inlet and Hatteras Island, where we are staying. The Bodie Light has distinctive horizontal black
and white markings and a light that can be seen 19 miles out to sea. It warns southbound ships that are riding the
Labrador Current that they need to move further out to sea to avoid the constantly
changing shoals off these barrier islands, and also avoid the area (a few miles
South) where the Labrador Current and the Gulf Stream intersect. The more famous Hatteras Light similarly
warns northbound ships. This area is
known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic for good reason.
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| Sadly, we didn't get to climb to the top |
We arrived at the lighthouse just in time for a Ranger Talk
about the light, but (sadly) the day after the lighthouse was closed for
climbing. This is actually the third
lighthouse built in this area. The first
one developed a prominent lean and had to be taken down. The second one was destroyed by the Confederate soldiers who were concerned it might fall into Union hands. This one was built in 1872, and still uses
its original 1st-order Fresnel lens.
It was originally fueled with pig lard, then kerosene, then electricity.
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| Calm September sunrise |
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| Easy swimming |
We came to
Rodanthe/Waves/Salvo in mid-September for our first adventure on our own
since the world changed in March 2020.
We liked it so much, we returned in mid-October, the next time our
schedules permitted. The tri-village
area is much less developed, and therefore less crowded, than the towns further
north. It hosts 5 campgrounds – 3 along the ocean. September was our third trip to this area
since we started traveling, and we stayed at our third campground, Camp
Hatteras. All of the campgrounds are very
nice. Camp Hatteras has campsites on
both the ocean side of Hwy 12 and the “Sound” side. It has a boat launch into the Pamlico Sound
for our kayaks. So we are back here
again in October.
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| Angry October seas |
When we were here in September, the weather was bright and
hot. We swam in a calm ocean and walked
along the beach. We had several kayak
paddles in the Sound, surprising pelicans and admiring the vast expanses of
calm, shallow water. You can’t see the
other shoreline of the Sound from here. In
October, we have encountered high winds, and often torrential rain. On calmer days, it feels like we are sitting inside of a low cloud with moisture leaking out of the mists. You can't really call it rain... The ocean has been magnificent in its fury,
though our beach walks are certainly shorter.
We’ve played cards, read books, watched movies, taken naps. Experiences just as lovely as the swimming, kayaking
and biking of our September visit.
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| We met a crab... |
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| ... and some pelicans |
Where have we been the past 19 months? Home, mostly.
We’ve taken the motorhome to Tennessee a few times and more recently to
Minnesota to see family members. It is
easy to keep socially distant when you carry your own kitchen, bedroom and bath
with you. We’ve missed being out on the
road, and we’ve been told that some of you miss hearing from us in our blogs. Is it time to start both up again…?
