An amazing day on Saturday in the East brought many planes out and about. The Mrs. & I headed out in our RV-8 to Ocracoke Island, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for another fly-out picnic. Saturday was the island's first official "open" day, and folks were streaming out to the beach by ferry and plane. The airport, W95, located in the National Park, is in great shape, with room for a couple dozen on the ramp with tie-down ropes. It was filled to over capacity this day, with several planes pushed onto the grass. Most businesses were still closed and re-building from last year's flooding hurricane. The golf cart rentals ARE open, and some eating establishments have take-out during limited hours. At least one hotel was open, but since we didn't spend the night I did not ask about their services. CALL AHEAD for everything, as this info changes by the minute. DO NOT RELY ON WEBSITE INFO! The little Ops building is back in operation with WIFI. No phone that I could see. My Verizon iPhone worked well. Two Port-a-Jons at the airport gate. No running water.
We got picked up by one of the friendly owners of Wheelie Fun golf carts..spent a little time touring the town of Ocracoke, but very little was open...they are all working hard to get things in shape, though. If you're not carrying a lot, you could get away without the cart...town is only a 15 minute walk from the field. We ended up having our picnic at Springer's Point on the beach in the speckled shade of knocked down and dead cyprus trees. After lunch, we returned the cart and got driven back to the airport, (no carts are allowed to be driven outside the town limits) where we swapped our lunchbox for beach towels, and joined the "crowd" that was streaming to the surf, only a few hundred yards from the ramp. It's a 'drive-on' beach, so there were several trucks, fishermen and families enjoying the water.
I would suggest a close study of the sectional, so you do not bump into one of the MANY Restricted Areas used by Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station...Osprey training!!! Use Cherry Point Approach Control if able.
Too many pictures to struggle to upload,
but here's a link to a Google album.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=ekpRQ1NrRG5EOU9nWkVCVTluODIzRTNYWFBpaEd3
Looking forward to an overnight visit sometime.