Manteo to Ocracoke, NC (Anchorage Marina)

Day #404; Loop Miles to Date = 4,480 

We had a great day in Manteo yesterday, renting a car and touring around this section of the Outer Banks with our friends on Corkscrew. Just north of the marina in Manteo is a National Park Service run facility that focuses on the Lost Colony. This is the group of early settlers (1580 time frame) who came over from England as one of the colonization efforts that was sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh. The short version of the story is that after settling here, and being left behind by their leader and captain (who returned to England with plans to return with supplies and provisions) this group of 117 souls completely vanished. The leader of the colony (James White) took 3 years to return due to political difficulties, and when he finally returned to the settlement it had virtually disappeared. There is no factual explanation for what happened to this poor group of settlers, but theories center around them assimilating into local Indian culture, or simply dying off while trying to relocate the settlement, or somehow succumbing to disease. Regardless, there is still no real factual account that historians can pinpoint, and it made for a very interesting educational experience. 

Then we headed to Kitty Hawk (Kill Devil Hills more specifically) to tour the Wright Brothers National Park area. This was also a great learning experience, and it dovetailed nicely with the experience that we had in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian when we saw the Wright Brothers display there. It was a beautiful day to be out walking around, and we’re glad that we took the time to see the actual site of man’s first powered flight.  

 

This marker denotes the spot where the Wright Brothers first flight commenced. The first attempt went as far as the first white marker, the second and third went just past this to the next 2 markers, and the fourth flight went to the marker off in the distance. To give a sense of perspective the first marker is only about 120 feet, or about as far as a baseball catcher throws to second base...and it took 12 seconds! The fourth marker is 852 feet, a little less then 3 football fields, and it took 59 seconds.

Bronze full sized replica of their plane.

 

Our next stop is Ocracoke, NC still on the Outer Banks, but down on the southern end of them. We’re actually penning this entry while in transit…it is a rather long 67 mile day today. The really good news is that we have a glorious day to cross the often treacherous Pamlico Sound. This is a big open body of water, and if the wind is up, it can be nasty. However, today the winds are calm, and it is as flat as a pancake out here…of the 67 miles, about 50 of it is simply open water. As we speak, we can see Corkscrew a couple of miles away, but not another vessel or any sign of land in any direction. A really good day to make sure we have calm conditions!

 

Replica of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse at Manteo...representative of the screwpile lighthouses, circa 1830.

At sunrise before our departure to Ocracoke.

All for now…we’ll let you know what we thought of Ocracoke…we plan to be there for a couple of days, and then grab another weather window to make our way back to the ICW.