March 2009,Cape Lookout & The Shackleford Banks

First of all an acknowledgment. An anonymous person emailed me with a correction which I appreciate. In the posting about fishing off Pine Island, when Bill pulled up the extra anchor, I mentioned a Skate that MC caught and the emailer said it was in fact a Sting Ray. Thanks for the correction!

My brother and his family are anchored in the harbor of Beaufort, NC. It is the sailboat to the right...We were invited to a sail out to Cape Lookout National Seashore where we hoped to collect shells and see feral ponies who live there and are said to descend from those left by Spanish explorers way back when.

Mom, Denise, getting a little housekeeping done for the trip.

The weather was sunny, breezy and quite cool...in the 50s..and much breezier than we thought it would be. We motored the whole way except for a little bit on the way home...it was faster to motor and it took about 2 hrs or so.

Here Nayan is discussing something with Bill.

On Radio Island, right next to the harbor in Beaufort, Marines were being loaded onto a boat for a ride out to a large ship waiting for them outside of the harbor. They carried very large backpacks which made us believe this wasn't just a training event, rather embarking for a longer tour of duty.

Off the stern of Eleutheria and the pram, Kitty Cat, you can see the boat heading out to the big ship.

Here's the big ship and with binoculars I could see lots and lots of helicopters on the deck. You might be able to see them if you click on the picture.

We couldn't leave Mango and Pearl home for such a long day so we had to bring them but we were dreading it a bit because they are unaccustomed to boating except for a few short rides on our kayaks. We were pretty sure they'd be restless and no doubt throw up. But alas, they were great. We brought blankets to wrap them in since they always do better when warm...imagine that...and they were great. They just cuddled in the blankets, Pearl eventually stopped shaking, from fear, and if they didn't love it they were at least ok with the ride.

Denise and Mia enjoying the ride.

The islands make a little cove where we hoped to be sheltered from the wind but were disappointed in that respect. The wind was out of the north and made going to Cape Lookout side unpleasant, so we still anchored in the cove but went ashore on Shackleford Bank side, which was a little protected from the winds. My brother,Lunn, decided to stay on the boat because of the winds and the rest of us went ashore for a little while.

This is the Cape Lookout Lighthouse seen from our anchorage in the cove. It was built in 1859, is 150 ft. tall and one of the tallest on the East Coast.

After arriving on the beach the first thing we did was to run across the beach to the dunes, up the dunes to the top where we could look in to the interior of the island to try to see the ponies. We actually saw a few horses on the beach when we first pulled in to the cove to anchor but they quickly disappeared up over the sand dunes and this first look for them failed. We didn't see any. So, just before we left we had one more look from the dunes and saw these two grazing and meandering through the grass. Shell hunting was fabulous on the beach...there were piles of them and lots of different kinds. Nayan and Mia each had a shell collecting bag and a book to identify them.
Sea Urchin and Shells on the beach.

The Beach.

This was the biggest Whelk we found.

Kitty Cat and Eleutheria

Mia in her own world collecting shells.

Time to head out to the boat and head back to Beaufort.

A little snack on board before we head home.

Mia said Tiger enjoyed the ride,too .

We are presently on Ft Bragg Army Base in Fayetteville, NC. It's very rainy right now and cold but tomorrow the front should be moving out. Yeah. The Long Leaf Pine and Wiregrass woods of this area are very beautiful and the dogs and I have been taking long walks and loving it.

Bye for now.