Coming to visit you in June

[finstotheleft]

herman once bubbled...


There are 7 working and 1 non working lights (2 if you count a river light)in NC. It's a long treck between Oak Island in the south (newest and one of 2 brightest in the world)and Corolla in the north. Last I heard you can climb Corolla and go on the balcony. The closest one to Morehead City is Cape Lookout. It is NOT accessable by land, you must take a boat or ferry to get to it. Ocracoke is the next closest but it is a 1hr drive followed by a 3 hr car ferry ride. I took some photos of all of them a few years ago so I am fairly familiar with them. If you can only get to a couple, I would suggest Ocracoke then on north to Cape Hatteras, the tallest light on the east coast and likely the most famous light in the world.

Can you see Cape Lookout from any point on land? The plan is to hit every lighthouse that I can with the time I've got. I'm camping out for the last leg of the trip, probably on Hatteras island. I'd also like to visit a maritime museum...Ocracoke was Blackbeard's old hideout so I'm looking for any interesting sights relating to that as well.

 

[Wreck Ranger]

Most of the Blackbeard research is being done in Beaufort. They have a building over in Beaufort that the people at Olympus can probably direct you to to see some artifacts. There is also a Maritime Museum in Beaufort too.

Wreck Ranger

 

[herman]

Yea, you can "see" it but it's quite a ways away in the distance, not really worth bothering with IMHO. As you exit the inlet on our way to the dive sites, look to your left, thats most likely the best oppertunity to see the Cape Lookout light you will have short of taking the ferry over to it.

If you make it up the coast a ways, drop by the NC Aquarium in Manteo. Well worth seeing. As suggested by WW, Fort Macon is a nice place to visit close the the dive op.

Camping in June on the outer banks....BRAVE GIRL!! The skeeters on the outer banks are horrible, take lots of bug repellent and use the stuff heavy on the deet, the wimpy stuff just makes to OB bugs hungry. I will not camp out there until at least mid October. There is a nice KOA campground in Rodanthe (SP?), one of the better ones on the OB's. It is on the ocean side of the island which is the better of the sites for the buggs but then there is no shade, buggs or shade....you decide.

 

[finstotheleft]

This past October, I camped out on the Florida Panhandle at Cape San Blas, about 30 min. east of Panama City. At this particular time, they were having a MAJOR skeeter control problem along the coast, and did not want to let us camp at first, but we talked them into it. We were the ONLY tent campers there...and we found out why. Skeeters in swarms, biting flies big enough to pack us off...it was crazy :wacko: ! We re-named that campground "The Mosquito Coast".

I am ready for the skeeters....bring em' on! :getsome: (and thanks for the heads-up!)

 

[NCwreckdiver]

Regarding NC diving, I dive from Morehead City frequently as I live only 30 min. away. I would not recommend spearfishing on that wreck. One of my buddies speared a grouper. He was coming up the anchor line when one of the sharks rushed him to get the grouper. He shot it out of self defense. Interestingly, National Geographic was filming the sharks that day and when they came up, they started yelling and screaming at him because he killed the shark! Also be aware that a great white has shown up on a wreck a few miles away. This occurred last summer and the summer before. If you want to hear an interesting story about this...pm me.

 

[Lead_carrier]

Don't wear a yellow wetsuit. The sharks think you taste like chicken. They won't bother you, the only time that they even notice is when turkeys spearfish amongst them.

If you tend get seasick. Scopolamine is available by perscription but it is fantastic if you can use it.

 

[finstotheleft]

I'm hearing more and more about great white sightings...how frequently is this occuring? I was just trying to get used to the idea of sand tigers!

 

[DeputyDan]

raised in NC - you must be nuts to want to camp on the coast this time of year...........

 

[finstotheleft]

DeputyDan once bubbled...
raised in NC - you must be nuts to want to camp on the coast this time of year...........

It went alright! Of course we forgot to buy bug spray before we got on Ocrakoake island, and paid HEAVILY for it....over $8 for a can of OFF! I will not make that mistake again! Skeeters didn't bother me much, but my poor buddy got eaten alive...hehe :mean:

There were lots of people camping at the national park campground there...and we absolutely LOVED Ocrakoake. It was the highlight of the trip! I will stay there again the next time I'm down that way.