- 45.1 miles
- 3 hours 53 minutes
- 11.6 mph average speed
- 6-17 mph winds
It was a beautiful day for our cruise out to the Outer Banks, right up until about 15 minutes before we were to dock at the marina but, besides Ellen getting soaked, we docked fine.
Ocracoke Island is 16 miles long, one to three miles wide and only accessible by private plane or boat. Ocracoke Village is only 4 square miles and home to about 800 residents. The rest of the island is part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore which was the first national seashore in the country and boasts to be one of the best beaches in the country. The seashore stretches more than 70 miles a long three islands: Bodie Island, Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island. It was so beautiful and peaceful! Famed pirate Blackbeard said Ocracoke was his favorite anchorage and he lived the last five months of his life there but is not buried there as his body was thrown into Pamlico Sound after he was beheaded in 1718.
We rented a golf cart to tour the village one day and rented bikes to visit the seashore the next as we were not allowed to take the golf cart as far as the seashore. During our golf cart ride, we visited the Ocracoke Lighthouse and the Ocracoke Museum. The Ocracoke Lighthouse was built in 1823 and is the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina and one of the second oldest lighthouse still in operation in the country. The Keeper’s Quarters adjacent to the lighthouse is now a privately owned home.
The Ocracoke Museum is housed in the David Williams House which was built around 1900.
We ate at several great restaurants including Howard’s Pub, Plum Pointe Kitchen and Ocracoke Oyster Company.
