Norman LeBlanc congratulates Hunter O’Neal. On left, Hunter’s parents, Fletcher and Heather. On right is Norman’s grandson, Maverick Genest. Photo: P. Vankevich
By Peter Vankevich
Norman LeBlanc, a frequent visitor to Ocracoke, had a boat he no longer needed.
Rather than try to sell it, he thought maybe Ocracoke School could use it.
The boat is a 1985 Downeaster 17-foot, flat-bottomed skiff with a well-mounted outboard.
School Principal Walt Padgett decided it should be given to a deserving student who has expressed interest in Ocracoke’s waterman economy.
The lucky recipient of this boat was Ocracoke School senior Hunter O’Neal, who has grown up around and on water, fishing and hunting. He also helps his parents with their Devil Shoals Oyster Co. oyster farm in the Pamlico Sound.
Hunter already knows what he wants to do with it.
“I plan to use the boat for commercial fishing, and hope to one day pass it down to one of my brothers for the same use,” he said.
Hunter enjoys doing community service and is a dedicated junior volunteer firefighter.
LeBlanc, of Beverly, Mass., is the father of islander Justin LeBlanc.
Oysters are being farmed in the Pamlico Sound by the Ocracoke-based Devil Shoals Oyster Co. and are already being sold and served on Ocracoke. Photo: C. Leinbach
Potential and established shellfish growers can sign up for a free aquaculture workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.
With a focus on oyster aquaculture, the workshop will be held at the University of North Carolina Wilmington Center for Marine Science, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane.
Lunch will be provided. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required and will be limited to 75 attendees.
To sign up, contact Vanda Lewis, at 252-222-6307 or vanda_lewis@ncsu.edu, by Oct. 7.
The sessions are being offered by North Carolina Sea Grant, in cooperation with the N.C. Shellfish Growers Association, UNCW Center for Marine Science and Carteret Community College. The meeting is funded through a grant from the NOAA Sea Grant Extension and Technology Transfer Program.
“This workshop will provide a lot of good information and tips for those who are starting out in their shellfish aquaculture ventures,” said Chuck Weirich, Sea Grant marine aquaculture specialist. “However, our invited speakers, who represent the research and industry communities, also will offer new insights to established growers,”
Participants will receive information on topics such as leasing and siting their operations, culture gear and techniques, harvest and storage regulations, marketing strategies including the potential of forming grower co-ops, and USDA programs available to producers.
Ami Wilbur, director of the UNCW Shellfish Research Hatchery, will provide an overview of research and a tour of research facilities. In addition, Bill Walton, who researches fisheries, restoration and aquaculture at Auburn University, will discuss how oyster aquaculture is being expanded in the Gulf of Mexico. Jay Styron, president of the N.C. Shellfish Growers Association, will offer a grower’s perspective on oyster farming in North Carolina.
Clickherefor directions. Signs will direct you to parking and the meeting site.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Seashore) has released the agenda for its upcoming science workshop Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 26 and 27) to evaluate factors affecting shorebirds and sea turtles on Seashore beaches.
The Monday workshop will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the Tuesday workshop will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon, both in the Ramada Plaza Nags Head Oceanfront, 1701 S Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills.
The workshop is open to the public. All attendees will be asked to register. Attendees wishing to comment need to sign up to comment during the registration, and will be given three minutes each to comment on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore monitoring and research program.
Agenda Monday, Sept. 26:
8-8:30 am Registration 8:30-8:50 am Welcome and Introductions 8:50-9:20 am Status of Nesting Wildlife on Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches 9:20-10:30 am Piping Plovers Biology, Monitoring, and Management 10:30-10:45 am Break 10:45-11:30 am Oystercatcher Biology, Monitoring, and Management 11:30 a.m. to noon Colonial Waterbird Biology, Monitoring, and Management
American Oystercatcher. Photo: P. Vankevich
Noon-1 pm Lunch on your own 1:00-1:35 pm Sea Turtle Biology, Monitoring, and Management 1:35-2:05 pm Coastal Geology and Sea Level Rise 2:05-2:50 pm Human Dimensions: Visitor Management at Cape Hatteras National Seashore 2:50-3:00 pm Break 3:00-3:30 pm Gaps in Biology of the Species and Research Priorities 3:30-4:00 pm Gaps in Monitoring and Management and Research Priorities 4:00-4:15 pm Gaps in Changes in Coastal Geography and Geology and Research Priorities 4:15-4:35 pm National Park Service Research Activities 4:35-4:50 pm Gaps in Human Dimensions and Research Priorities 4:50-5:20 pm Future Research and Monitoring Programs 5:20-5:50 pm Public Comment 5:50-6:00 pm Wrap Up and Next Steps 6:00 pm Session Ends
Agenda Tuesday, Sept. 27:
Dunlin. Photo by P. Vankevich
8:30-8:45 am Registration 9:00-9:15 am Welcome and Introductions 9:15-11:30 am Panel Deliberation on Discussion Questions 11:30-12:00 pm Public Comment Noon Session Ends
The goal of the panel is to: review current knowledge of the ecology, population dynamics, and habitat needs of beach-nesting bird and turtle species at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and prepare a written report that:
Synthesizes the relevant scientific knowledge about the abiotic and biotic factors that may affect the species’ use of Seashore habitats and their productivity;
Assesses the role and relative importance of these abiotic and biotic factors in determining the species’ use of Seashore habitat and their productivity;
Assesses the reasonableness of the Seashore’s management targets, i.e., desired future conditions for the species; and
Provides conclusions about key uncertainties and scientific monitoring and research needs that would assist the Seashore in reaching management objectives through adaptive management.
The ferry from Hatteras heads to Ocracoke. Photo: C. Leinbach
MANNS HARBOR – The North Carolina Ferry Division’s Hatteras-Ocracoke route will run an amended schedule on tomorrow (Sept. 22) and Friday (Sept. 23) while crews conduct mandatory sea trials and a Coast Guard inspection on the M/V Thomas A. Baum.
In October, 2014 several regional artists set up their easels throughout the island to paint along Silver Lake, historic homes, the lighthouse and beaches, and they will arrive again Sept. 25 to Oct. 1.
They are long-time friends who love painting together en plein aire, which is French for “outdoors,” and they especially love painting on Ocracoke.
“I am so delighted to return to beautiful Ocracoke, said Joanne Geisel, the group’s contact person. “My colleagues and I will be able to devote uninterrupted time appreciating the island, honing our creativity and skills and sharing insights and ideas with one another.”
During their island sojourn, the friends also share their love of music.
“Two of our artists are musicians who play the guitar, ukulele and steel drums,” Geisel said.
By Friday (Sept. 30), there should be a number of completed (though still wet) paintings to be seen at their rental, The Bluefin, 1251 Irvin Garnish Hwy., and the curious are invited to stop in to view or purchase them from 4 to 6 p.m., Geisel said.
Along with Geisel, the other artists are Mike Rooney, Dan Nelson, Ann Hair.
Each artist, all of whom show work in North Carolina galleries, has a unique approach to painting.
End of Summer, by Joanne Geisel
Rooney, a highly-regarded painter and teacher who travels the East Coast, spending winters in Key West and summers in New England. He resides in Surf City, on Topsail Island. His work has been on display here in Down Creek Gallery.
Nelson is an event painter who dons a tuxedo to paint at weddings, parties and fundraisers. In addition, he is a popular teacher and painter in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Recently he was juried into the prestigious 2016 National Oil Painters of America Show.
Hair’s background includes teaching art in public schools then turning to professional oil painting. Represented by several NC galleries and published in two books of North Carolina artists, she resides in Wilmington.
Geisel has a degree in art education and returned to her lifelong love of art after careers in higher education and career planning. A popular instructor, Geisel, of Leland, conducts workshops and classes in the Wilmington area. She has been the featured artist in many art gallery exhibitions over the past several years.
The Village Thrift on Irvin Garrish Highway, across from Community Square.
The Village Thrift, on Irvin Garrish Highway, across from Community Square, has begun its $5 bag sale today.
In this sale, customers can fill paper bags with clothes, accessories and shoes–all for only $5.
Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This sale, which will continue indefinitely, will help clear out some of the summer items to make way for the addition of winter clothing, said Gael Hawkins, one of the store managers.
The Village Thrift operates under the aegis of the Ocracoke Youth Center, which is the parent company for the both Community Park ball field and the store.
Proceeds from the Thrift are the Youth Center’s ongoing fundraiser.
Luana Gibbs, RN, is the interim Hyde County Health Dept. director. She will be at the OVFD upstairs training room from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Sept. 22, to meet and great islanders.
Acting Hyde County Health Director Luana Gibbs will be on Ocracoke from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Sept. 22, in the upstairs conference room of the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Dept. to meet islanders and answer questions about the services provided by Hyde County Health Department.
Enter in the rear of the building
Gibbs, an RN, replaced David Howard in May and is a longtime employee of the department.
For 70 years, the Health Department’s mission has been to promote, protect and assure the health of Hyde County and surrounding areas by providing public health services essential for a safe and healthy community.
This agency’s work includes disease prevention and control, preparedness and response to emergent diseases and events, environmental health, home health, in-home aide, medication assistance, WIC nutrition and supplemental food, and personal health programs, such as family planning and child health
The Hyde County Commissioners meeting voted at their Aug. 1 meeting to explore the proposed sale of its home health agency, Hydeland Home Care, to Liberty Home Care Management Services.
If approved, the transfer could be effective on or before Oct. 1.
Students gather at the start line at Ocracoke School for last year’s Color Run. this year’s run will be Oct. 1, starting at the school. Photo: C. Leinbach
The second annual Color Run, a benefit for the Ocracoke School PTA, is looking for more participants.
Ocracoke students, community members and visitors are invited to walk, jog and run their way toward a healthier life this year while raising funds for the PTA in this fun, untimed event from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at the school campus.
The run includes a few spots along the three-mile route where participants get will experience color splash zones where they’ll be doused in color and end with a final color toss celebration.
Cost to participate is $25 to $40, depending on the runners’ age and registration date.
Check in starts at 7 a.m. and the run begins at 8 a.m.
Registration includes a race bib, color packet, and T-shirt only if you sign up before Sept. 19 items can be picked up at the registration table the day of the event.
Besides individual student pledges, the school will accept business pledges.
Luana Gibbs, RN, is the interim Hyde County Health Dept. director. She will be at the OVFD upstairs training room from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Sept. 22, to meet and great islanders.
Coyote Den: Coyote Plus One, Aaron Caswell, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 21
Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Kate McNally, 7 to 10 p.m.
Deepwater Theater: Ocrafolk Opry show, 8 p.m.
Coyote Den: An evening with Coyote – Marcy & Lou, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 22
OVFD, upstairs training room. 9 am. to noon. Luana Gibbs, interim Hyde County Health Dept. director, is available to meet islanders and talk about the health department, Hydeland Health and hospice care.
Ocracoke Oyster Company: Martin & Lou, 3 to 6 p.m.
Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Edgar Scruggs, 7 to 10 p.m.
Deepwater Theater: Molasses Creek concert, 8 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 23
Jolly Roger: Willis Gupton, 6:30 p.m.
Ocracoke Oyster Co.: Live Music, 7 p.m.
Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Barefoot Wade, 7 to 10 p.m.
Barefoot Wade
Coyote Music Den: Martin Garrish & Friends, “Ocracoke Memories,” 8 p.m.
Gaffer’s: Straits Haven, 9 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 24
Skipjack Wilma Lee, “Anatomy of a Sailboat” workshop. 9:30 a.m. Community Square Dock. Free. RSVP info@ocracokealive.org or 252-921-0260.
Fall Festival in Swan Quarter, dawn to dusk. For
Jolly Roger: Willis Gupton, 6:30 p.m.
Ocracoke Oyster Co.: Martin Garrish, 7 p.m.
Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Barefoot Wade, 7 to 10 p.m.
Gaffer’s: Straits Haven, 9 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 25
Ocracoke Oyster Co.: Martin Garrish & Lou Castro, 7 p.m.
September on Ocracoke brings many late summer visitors, and although the paid lifeguards at the Lifeguard Beach are gone, the dangerous rip currents are not.
With no lifeguards available to advise location or provide rescue, ocean swimmers must be more vigilant than ever about the frequent rip currents in the surf.
Ocracoke Island had two drownings this summer of swimmers in “rips,” and numerous rescues.
So, it behooves beach-goers to be extra vigilant while the water is still warm enough to swim in.
Islander Danielle Creeksong found this out Sept. 11 when she and her family watched three swimmers nearby swept out in a rip current that’s still off the Lifeguard Beach.
“Amazingly, the same rip current that hauled them out also saved them,” she said.
It was just past low tide, she said, when her son Chris Kosub and his wife, Lee, Creeksong’s daughter-in-law, who themselves were past the first breakers and on a sandbar, watched as a teenage boy wading in waist-deep water appeared to launch himself backwards, sailing out headfirst and belly-up, she said.
“Moments later, he was as far offshore as Chris and Lee were, but still moving rapidly,” she said. “Just as rapidly, he swerved in a tight semicircle and pulled himself up onto the same shoal they stood upon, only 15 feet further down. He seemed totally unconcerned.”
After looking more intently at the water, the Kosubs noticed a large rip current.
“But then, to their horror, they watched as the boy’s father and younger brother waded right into the center of it, totally unaware of what had just happened,” Creeksong said.
Within seconds the father and son were both knocked off their feet and sucked out headfirst and belly-up towards deep water.
“Just as they sailed past the sand shoal, the son began screaming and his father yelled for help,” she said. “But the strong surf at ripʼs edge forced first the father, and then the son with his assistance, onto the shoal.”
Once ashore, Creeksong and her group went over to talk with them.
“They had moved recently to North Carolina from California, and none in the family had ever encountered rip currents in the beach area where they frequently swam, which had a gently sloping bottom and no shoals,” she said. “They had chosen to go in where they did at Lifeguard Beach because the water looked calmer there, but this is a common and dangerous mistake.”
The calm water was actually the rip current rushing back out to sea from the feeder zone into the rip’s neck, Creeksong said.
“My family and I gave as thorough of an education on rip currents as we understood, including having them stand still and assess the current near the shore,” she said. “They then chose a safer place to swim and reentered the water together.”
After that, Creeksong went up and down the beach to advise all folks about the rip in front of them.
“Not one person besides myself, my family, and the family of the ones pulled out had seen it happen, it was that fast,” she said. “One lady argued with me at first, certain that it could not be dangerous because she did not see a ‘warning flag.’”
Two families said they would move further up beach to find a ‘calmer’ area.
“So I began educating again because the water that had just sucked out the individuals appeared calm,” Creeksong said.
Islander William Howard, a surfer, recently noted that the ocean “is just crazy this year. I’ve never seen it like this before.”
Creeksong said she recently talked with some people from the Cape Lookout area in Carteret County.
“Just like us, they also have an unusual rip current issue caused by a close-in sand shoal that won’t go away,” she said. “Two deaths occurred there that they knew of with lots of saves.”
On Thursday, Lee and Chris Prout of New York City were swimming beyond the trough at the Lifeguard beach, though they did not venture in above their heads.
Lee and Chris Prout of New York City talk about rip currents. Photo: C. Leinbach
A former Nags Head resident and surfer, Chris said he and his wife had experience with Outer Banks surf and were being cautious.
Lee, who was once caught in a rip current that pulled her under, said she is always wary of sand bars “because that’s what creates rip currents.”
As the two studied the water, Chris noted the trough in which other bathers were swimming.
“It’s not a classic rip current,” he said about this area of water that had seen a lot of rescue action while the lifeguards were on duty.
And he knows whereof he speaks.
“As a surfer, I look for rips to get out into the ocean quicker,” he said.
For a different view on how to escape a rip (which is markedly similar to what saved the father and his two sons), read about a man who jumps into rip currents for research purposes:
