A Month in a Little Village by the Sea

SawyerTed · June 12, 2023, 06:56:58 PM

Prior to Hurricane Dorian the island was 27 miles long. Even now there's several square miles of undeveloped barrier island with some pretty harsh conditions for the average visitor here.

Don't underestimate the ability of urbanites on vacation to get themselves into predicaments that your average rural citizen can't imagine.

Stephen1 · June 12, 2023, 07:22:41 PM

Up here we call them citiots!

SawyerTed · June 15, 2023, 08:02:34 PM

This first photo is of the on island housing for us. We have well water for bathing and washing dishes. It's really not good drinking water. It's sulfurous smelling. Our drinking water comes out of jugs. We have basic propane appliances and solar/generator supplied electricity. We have one window ac for the bedroom.

The accommodations are rustic snd basic. It clean but dated and storm beaten.

This was the galley for the life saving crew that manned the life saving station next door. The LSS is a three story building with a cupola/observation tower the life saving crews manned 24/7/365 keeping watch for vessels in trouble along this section of NC's outer banks.

The large doors are on both sides of the building for rolling the life saving boats and apparatus in and out of the building.

The large brick box on the porch is a cistern. They had two. Around back is a large wooden cistern with metal bands around it.

My photos are made between the two buildings. Back in the 1950s, the Armfields of the Armfield textile empire leased the life saving station for a hunting snd fishing lodge. They had a North-South and East West airfield built by young men from Ocracoke. The Armfields would fly from Pilot Mount NC to Portsmouth to hunt and fish.

The buildings were built in 1894-1898.

Neither was significantly damaged by Hurricane Dorian.

Tom King · June 15, 2023, 08:11:42 PM

Love it! Thanks for posting the pictures.

Old Greenhorn · June 15, 2023, 09:04:19 PM

I am enjoying your whole venture immensely. At this stage of our lives and in consideration of the circumstances we have found ourselves in, retirement just means working to make money at things we enjoy, but I still have to make money to get by. For me, this means 7 day weeks with a few days off here and there to do some fun stuff for us, or me here and there. So I have resolved to live my 'retirement and vacations' vicariously through the lives of others such as yourselves, LTjohnsaw, Firefitherontheside, and Machinebuilder. I am not disappointed. You folks are living the dream for sure, and I thank you for letting me share some of it.
Your working vacation strikes me the most because I was raised on saltwater and I learned to walk on a boat before I could walk on dry land. Nothing would appeal to me more than doing what y'all are doing. But my wife has aged out on that stuff and we are entering a new stage where things will get slower. That's just how it goes and I am good with that.
In the meantime, I am having a great time enjoying your photos and tales of your time on the island. What a wonderful experience and a wonderful way to spend your time. So thank you both very much for sharing the day to day, it really is a nice source of joy to a guy like me.
How many visitors today?

SawyerTed · June 15, 2023, 09:51:21 PM

Our days off are Sunday and Monday. We ride the big ferry over to Cedar Island where Emily keeps her car. That way we can just drive back and forth to the ferry in her car.

My truck and boat stay in Ocracoke over our days off.

This week the wind was blowing 30 plus knots on Monday. There was a small craft advisory. We waited until Tuesday to come back.

Strong wind was predicted for Wednesday too. Tuesday we had the boat that brings visitors to Portsmouth bring us over.

My boat stayed on the trailer until this afternoon. I caught a ride back with the small ferry. I single handed the launch and bringing my boat over. Emily met me at the dock to secure her.

She lays by the dock with 2 or three anchors holding her off.

This photo is from last week. We had both a king tide and a west wind. That would be left to right in the photo. It took some strategic anchor deployment to keep her off the dock. When I went to check her, she was rubbing the piling on that back corner; thus the cushion and fender on the corner until I corrected the problem.

I put her here because this is the most protected side of the dock. If she breaks loose here she will likely be aground within sight. On the other side, if she breaks loose, she will go to the inlet. That would be bad.

I just checked her between thunder storms, around 9 pm she's still riding fine.

My last boat was Diversion. This one is Diversion Too!

The boat is a Bulls Bay 230C. Made in SC by Pioneer Boats. She has a 200 hp Suzuki 4 stroke. We've had her 2 years and the motor is awesome. It's quiet and has high torque. The passenger ferry captains are switching from Yamahas to Suzukis. Yammies have gotten expensive and Suzuki has stepped up their game.

Fishing is kind of slow. There have been few sea trout caught. Black drum have dominated the creels of most fishing here.

This is one place where technique and bait choice determines what you catch.

SawyerTed · June 17, 2023, 02:10:41 PM

So our weekend is Sunday and Monday. Saturday and Sunday are rental "turn around" days at Ocracoke so there are very low visitor numbers at Portsmouth.

We usually catch a Saturday ferry to the mainland so today we decided to knock off at noon and enjoy Ocracoke for a couple of hours before the 4:30 ferry.

This is the open air restaurant, Smacnally's.

It's on Silver Lake which prior to WWII was a creek. The Navy dredged it out for defensive operations using mine sweepers and sub chasers.

SawyerTed · June 20, 2023, 06:21:13 PM

This is my evening view from the Lifesaving Station Porch. This afternoon it's a bit overcast with a North Northeast wind. So it's nice and cool here. An adult beverage and the quiet of the village makes for a relaxing time.

Emily and I pass many afternoons here after visitors are done for the day. We see jumping mullet in the creek, Ibis, great heron, heron, egrets, redwing blackbirds, rabbits and raccoons. Sometimes we see the marsh hens. Of course there are the ever present swallows nesting on the porch rafters. laughing gulls and terns. We have a few killdeer that play injured to distract us from their nests.

This afternoon there appear to be some trout and redfish in the creek chasing finger mullet or mud minnows.

Stephen1 · June 20, 2023, 09:07:58 PM

I'm torn between the last 2 pictures.... ;D

SawyerTed · June 22, 2023, 11:45:34 AM

Some days are rather quiet here. It's rained since yesterday. The afternoon was very nice once the rain cleared out.

Overnight and this morning we've had heavy thunderstorms. One moved in about a half hour ago and it's raining steady. We were scheduled to have several ferry loads of visitors this morning but the captains err on the side of caution most times.

The village is full of rainwater now. With the rains come the mosquitoes.

The little structure is what they call a cool house. It's how the residents kept food cool (relatively). It is screened, residents would put a pan of water in the floor and set or hang food items inside to cool via evaporation.

A family of raccoons have taken up residence in an upstairs room in the Visitor Center. This is a young one about 10 or 12" long not counting the tail. The biotechs with the Park Service will be coming to relocate them.

This is a view of the marsh looking south from the Visitor

SawyerTed · June 22, 2023, 12:02:04 PM

People here occupied themselves much like people anywhere.

They played croquet a lot during nice weather. They would play until dark, they would leave the balls in place and resume the game the next day.

Quilting, checkers, and music were also very common pastimes here. Much like anywhere.

Of course church was a central part of their lives as well.

Most houses had summer kitchens where the did most of their cooking. Summer kitchens were separate buildings to keep heat and cooking odors out of the main house and to save the main house in case of fire. Sometimes residents would stay in the summer kitchen during the winter to only heat one space.

They used cisterns and water boxes to catch fresh water from their roofs when it rained. A drop of mineral oil or kerosene prevented the mosquitoes from laying eggs and the larvae from hatching. Most houses eventually had pitcher pumps and sinks in their kitchen or summer kitchen.

SawyerTed · June 23, 2023, 10:27:42 AM

Sometimes you look for entertainment where you can find it! One source that rarely disappoints are the rental boats from Ocracoke. :D :D

It never fails, the boat "drivers" take a route over the shallowest shoal to get here. It's real easy to see the shallow areas especially at low tide.

This is a rental that came yesterday afternoon while it was relatively calm and between storms. You can see on either side behind the boat that the water looks "different." That's the shoal. My photo doesn't show it well but it is a light tan (sand) color where the deeper water is noticeably darker.

What do they do? Raise the motor and "plow" across!

The other source of entertainment and sometimes surprise is private boaters who bring their lake boats down for vacation. One bow rider "jet boat" operator got panicky near the dock and parked it on the dock last week. In the boat were several people including a mother and infant.

We got the boat back in the water with minimal damage. The mother with the infant told me privately, "I thought we were gonna die there for a second." I strongly suggested that she and the baby catch a ride with one of the ferry operators. She took her chances.

SawyerTed · June 24, 2023, 01:09:00 PM

Ocracoke light built in 1823

SawyerTed · June 27, 2023, 09:56:48 AM

In years past we would stay on duty 4-6 weeks straight-with days off. This year we elected to spend 3 weeks on duty, take a week off at home then return to Portsmouth for 3 more weeks.

We are at home this week. Sleeping late, enjoying our family and hanging by the pool. I'll mow some grass and we'll do a few other chores and head back on Sunday.

More to come.

SawyerTed · July 03, 2023, 09:59:11 PM

Few if any get to see things like this!

This is tonight's "buck moon" rising to the east over the Summer Kitchen of the Portsmouth Lifesaving Station.

SawyerTed · July 06, 2023, 08:56:26 PM

It's been a stormy three weeks. Even today we had morning rains. But the thing about this place is when it turns nice, it is beautiful! Around 1:00 or so it started clearing up and this afternoon was gorgeous!

The sunset topped off a good day!

red · July 07, 2023, 09:39:32 AM

Beautiful Sunset . . thanks for taking us along

SawyerTed · July 08, 2023, 01:31:39 PM

Saturday afternoon starts our days off.

The natives in Ocracoke use the term "off" to mean away (off of) the island.

We are both "off duty" and "off island" for our days off.

The commute starts with a 25 minute boat ride from Portsmouth to Ocracoke. We have to load the boat on the trailer. The truck and boat/trailer stay on Ocracoke.

We have a small push cart that we use to carry our gear as we walk on the vehicle ferry. We get to ride the ferry, one round trip each per week, for free. We could get a single vehicle round trip each week but it's a headache getting reservations, we don't get priority over anyone else. No reservations are required for walking on.

The NC DOT has four ferry routes that service Ocracoke. One runs from Hatteras to Ocracoke and is passenger only. One from Hatteras to Ocracoke carries vehicles. One runs from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke. The one we take runs from Cedar Island.

From Cedar Island, we take our car from the ferry terminal to Harkers Island.

Our commute is about 3 1/2 to 4 hours one way. We go off on Saturday and return Monday evening.

On days off we do laundry, go out to eat and grocery shop. Not much different than a weekend at home.

We believe one day Cape Hatteras National Seashore will provide Cape Lookout with an RV site for Portsmouth volunteers. When they do, we will be able to stay in Ocracoke for our weekends.

SawyerTed · July 10, 2023, 09:55:16 PM

The Ocracoke Light - 200 years old. 850,000 bricks. Who knows how many hurricanes she's weathered?

That's a little piece of the waterfront in Ocracoke along Silver Lake.

Ocracoke was a sleepy little fishing village until WWII. The Navy dredged out the "creek" to make an anchorage for mine sweepers and submarine chasers.

Ocracoke is in Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the southern most point.

SawyerTed · July 11, 2023, 04:02:36 PM

Visitors often ask about wildlife on the island.

We have marsh rabbits, nutria (very few), coyotes on occasion, there have been wild cows and ponies. We also have terrapins, green turtles, loggerhead turtles and leatherback turtles.

There are lots of birds, redwing blackbirds, swallowtails, ibis, egrets, herons, ospreys, eagles, skimmers, several terms and plovers.

There isn't a resident deer or bear population although there have been one or two here on occasion.

We've seen black snakes and garter snakes but no others.

In the sound there any number of fishes, crabs, skates, sharks and rays. Three weeks ago we had dozens of jellyfish washing in on the high tide.

Visitors see some type of fish swimming near the dock and they are always identified as "drum". Most often the fish are jumping mullet or striped mullet. With some regularity we do see black drum in schools around the dock.

Emily had a lady asking about the deer herds that obviously had to be here because of the droppings she was seeing. Turned out she was seeing little balls of sand made by fiddler crabs when digging out their burrows.

red · July 27, 2023, 03:32:09 PM

Where are you at ? Do we need to send a search party ?

SawyerTed · July 27, 2023, 08:25:38 PM

The last couple of weeks at Portsmouth were relatively routine, greeting visitors, cleaning buildings and some fishing.

This week we began our trek home. We made one trip Monday and stayed at home a couple of nights. That trip was to bring the boat. Wednesday we drove 6 hours back to Harkers Island to bring the camper home.

Now begins the clean up and stowing of gear, clean up if the boat and camper. Maybe Saturday I can start catching up on the yard and other stuff.

SawyerTed · May 30, 2024, 06:41:03 PM

We will soon be going for our 7th year as volunteers at the village of Portsmouth, NC. It a historic village that's part of Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Starting on June 11 we will resume our duties of meeting the passenger ferries, telling visitors about the history of the village and our usual grounds maintenance and building maintenance/light repair.

This year we get to keep our camper on Ocracoke which is a 20 minute boat ride from Portsmouth. In previous years we had to commute about 3.5 hours for our days off (2.5 hours was a ferry ride).

If you are in the vicinity, we'd love to have you come to Portsmouth. Send me a personal message and I'll share details on how to visit. We might even catch a fish or two.

More to come...