One of several Ocracoke School holiday art displays in the post office. Photo courtesy of Ocracoke School
Although Ocracoke is quiet the week between Christmas and New Year’s, there are a few things going on:
Wednesday, Dec. 27 1718 Brewing Ocracoke: Island Trivia, 6-8 pm
Ocracoke School Varsity Boys Basketball Holiday Basketball Tournament, to Dec. 30 at Patuxent High School, Lusby, Maryland. Will be broadcast on Ocracoke’s Community Radio WOVV 90.1 FM.
Friday, Dec. 29 Christmas Bird Count on Portsmouth. To help, sign up with Peter Vankevich at petevankevich@gmail.com.
Ocracoke Oyster Company: 29: Ray Murray, 6:30 pm
Saturday, Dec. 30 Christmas Bird Count on Ocracoke. To help, sign up with Peter Vankevich at petevankevich@gmail.com.
Ocracoke Oyster Company: Ocracoke Rockers, 7 pm
Sunday, Dec. 31 New Year’s Eve party at Ocracoke Oyster Company with the Ocracoke Rockers at 8 pm. Prime rib dinner special at 5 pm.
Just as the Outer Banks stunned-turtle patrols are gearing up as the weather gets colder, there is one remaining outlier from this year’s nesting season. On Dec. 3, a green sea turtle nest was found on Hatteras Island near the ORV Ramp 49 at Frisco.
This is the latest known sea turtle nest for North Carolina. The previous late-nesting record was Oct. 31, 2020, also a green sea turtle, and found on Hatteras Island in the same Frisco location.
A green sea turtle digging her nest on the beach of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Photo: NPS/Will Thompson
There has been much speculation as to whether the eggs could withstand the much colder sand temperatures and produce viable hatchlings. The incubation time is about two months and slightly longer when sand temperatures are cooler.
The prognosis for a successful hatching was set back when the nest was overwashed from the nor’easter that struck the Outer Banks on Dec. 17, temporarily shutting down the ferry service and on Ocracoke closing NC 12 north of the pony pens.
“It’s too early to say if that will impact the success of the nest or not,” said Michelle Tongue, deputy chief of Resource Management and Science, Outer Banks Group, that includes the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA). “We did not relocate the nest, as it did not meet the park’s management criteria for relocation. We’ll monitor its incubation the same way we monitor all our late laid nests.
“ If after 70 days of incubation the nest doesn’t show signs of hatching, we’ll continue checking viability every 10 days or so until the point the nest either hatches or is no longer viable. Four days following a hatch or at the point it is no longer viable, we will excavate and inventory the clutch.”
These days, DNA is collected from the turtle nests and provide invaluable insights on the sea turtle populations. Sea turtles will lay more than one nest during the season. At this point it is not known whether the December green sea turtle had laid other eggs this year.
North Carolina had a record number of green turtle nests, 52 in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and 98 in the entire state. In 2022, considered a high nesting year, there were 41 state-wide nests, 16 of them in CAHA.
A green sea turtle hatchling crawls on the sand on Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Photo: NPS/Evangelyn Buckland
“The number of green turtle nests laid per year has been increasing along the U.S. Southeast Coast for a while,” said Matthew Godfrey, sea turtle biologist for NC Wildlife Resources Commission. “I believe Florida had a record number of green turtle nests this year. We hope that it is a result of the conservation actions put into place back in the late 1970s/1980s to protect turtles and their nests.”
The Outer Banks has had the three highest number of nests in the past five years with 2019 the benchmark with 2,294 loggerhead, 62 green and two Kemp’s ridley.
Most sea turtles nests laid in North Carolina begin in mid-May and run into early September.
Whereas most nests on the Outer Banks are laid by loggerheads, the ocean and sound waters surrounding the Outer Banks are prime wintering habitat for young green and Kemp’s ridley turtles.
Green juveniles are omnivores, eating a variety of subaquatic vegetation, seagrasses and algae and insects, crustaceans, seagrasses and worms. Adult green turtles are described as herbivores whose diet is primarily plant life. Kemp’s ridleys favorite are crabs, but they also will prey on fish, jellyfish and small mollusks.
When water temperatures decline below 50 degrees for a sustained period, turtles can become lethargic, or cold stunned, experiencing decreased circulation and slowing of other body functions that causes them to float to the surface. At that time, winds and currents may push them onto land.
During these cold periods, NPS staff and volunteers trained by the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles (NEST) comb the ocean and sound side shorelines looking for stranded turtles.
After the recent storm, one live green and one loggerhead and a dead green sea turtle were found on the oceanside of Hatteras Island. The live turtles were transported to the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation (STAR) Center at the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island.
If you come across a stranded sea turtle, call the NEST 24-hour hotline, 252-441-8622
A meeting with the Ocracoke Community on the future of the Ocracoke pony herd showed that islanders care about the herd and would like to see it maintained.
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore staffers are studying the situation and gave a preliminary report at a meeting Nov. 29 in the Community Center to an audience of about 30.
The National Park Service has cared for the ponies since 1959 when after NC. 12 was paved, the horses needed to be corralled to stay safe.
That has been good for the herd but is a quandary for the park service.
The national parks were established to save native species, and horses are not native, said Elaine Leslie, a retired wildlife biologist with the park service.
Prior to her talk, Dr. Kent Redford, a retired ecologist, explained that historic data shows that horses actually evolved on the North American continent.
They then migrated to Asia and Europe, but they went extinct on the North American continent 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Europeans, who had been domesticating horses, reintroduced them to the Americas in 1493.
The ongoing myth is that they swam ashore from Spanish galleon wrecks, but Redford said there is no there’s no definitive evidence of where they came from.
Genetically, the wild horses along the East Coast are a hodge podge, and they are interlopers.
“There’s no agency that says horses are native,” Leslie said. “They’re considered exotic of feral.”
Ocracoke’s herd of 11 is unique among those on the Outer Banks in that they are well fed and cared for, she said.
Dr. Susan Sutska, a wildlife biologist at the Cape Lookout National Seashore, explained that the Shackleford Banks ponies in that park roam wild.
She just monitors them but notes that she is concerned about sea level rise and whether the herd will be able to survive that and saltwater intrusion into the ground water.
While the government does not take care of these horses, they are sanctioned by special legislation allowing them to be there, unlike the Ocracoke horses. Also, The Foundation for Shackleford Horses Inc., a nonprofit entity, is a partner agency tasked to preserve and protect the herd.
Meaghan Johnson discusses a management plan for the Ocracoke pony herd. Photo: C. Leinbach
Leslie explained that sea level rise is a growing concern for the Ocracoke herd since a large part of the north end of the 15-acre pen is under water.
“Their area is shrinking,” she said.
There is some higher land in the penned area, said Meaghan Johnson, chief of resource management and science, and they are going to start prepping it in January so that the horses have access to it.
She said the water is rising 5.32 millimeters (.21 inches) per year and is projected to rise 1.75 feet over the next 100 years.
“A foot of sea level rise is scary for a place that’s only one to two feet above sea level,” Johnson said. “By 2100, a solid meter (3.3 feet) of rise and saltwater intrusion is a concern.”
Leslie pointed out a project by the Ute Indians near Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado where the wild horses are being adopted.
Is that something Ocracoke could do? Could Ocracoke get a partner organization and enabling legislation like Cape Lookout has?
Johnson showed a timeline that final plan could be expected by summer or fall of 2025.
Four mares are breedable, one islander pointed out.
“To let one of our cultural resources die off is silly,” noted islander Rita Thiel. “The ponies have been on this island as long as people. It’s not fair for the park service to come in and say these horses have to go. We have to fight to save them.”
“We care about the ponies,” said David Hallac, superintendent of the National Parks of Eastern North Carolina. “We need to have a thoughtful discussion.”
Johnson said another public discussion on preliminary alternatives will be held over the winter or next spring with a management plan prepared by the summer or fall next year.
Public review of the plan would be held in the winter/spring of 2025, followed by finalization.
The Ocracoke Civic & Business Association is collecting comments and ideas on the future of the Ocracoke pony herd. If to present to the park service you want your comments to be anonymous, please indicate that in your email. Email your comments to ocba@ocracokeisland.net.
The next OCBA meeting will be at 6 p.m. Jan. 16 in the Community Center.
The north end of the pony pasture on Dec. 18 after the Dec. 17 storm shows high water. Photo: C. Leinbach
Ocracoke’s north end is cleared of sand on Dec. 19. NCDOT photo
By Connie Leinbach
The NCDOT has announced that NC12 on the north end of Ocracoke Island has reopened as of about 3:30 today.
There are still areas of standing water and sand and to drive carefully.
Ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke will resume with the 5 p.m. departure from Hatteras.
NCDOT also reported that the closed section of NC12 between Hatteras and Frisco reopened at 4 p.m. However, there is still deep water in the area — 12 inches in spots.
They are urging motorists to drive with extreme caution, and vehicles with low clearance should wait until tomorrow if possible.
NCDOT reported that the Cedar Island and Swan Quarter ferries were back to their normal schedules on Tuesday.
Internet and phone service was restored to Ocracoke this morning (Tuesday) around 10:30.
Brightspeed Director of Public Relations Gene Rodriguez Miller told the Observer that a fiber cut on Monday around noon was a result of the DOT clearing roads from the Sunday storm.
The roads were significantly flooded, she said. The water in the ditch line is 16 to 24 inches deep and the sand was like quicksand.
She said crews tried to find the ends of the cable Monday afternoon but were not successful. Excavation crews were back on the job Tuesday morning.
The outage was isolated to Ocracoke and Hatteras. Buxton and north were still in service.
Miller said that service impacted by the weather had been restored as of 1:45 p.m. and she was not aware of any other outages in the area needing repair.
With the loss of internet, some islanders with Starlink had service and some could go to the places that have the Tekniam backup system to get onto the internet.
Tekniam modules are located at the Hyde County sheriff’s office, the Community Center, the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Company, Ride the Wind Surf Shop and Harborside Motel.
When an outage occurs, islanders can go to any of the buildings listed above and search for HYCO. No password needed.
Another access line is: OINC-BIZ. The password for that is: TEKbiz456!
Ocracoke’s county commissioner Randal Mathews, who got the emergency system in place last year after several such fiber cuts, is working on getting the HYCO access open without needing a password.
The Ocracoke United Methodist Church also has Starlink available and that the doors are open.
Observer staff report and reporting by Sam Walker of WOBX
While NCDOT crews work to reopen NC 12 from overwash from the Wright Brothers Day Storm on Sunday, Ocracoke also is dealing with an apparent fiber cut since internet, cell and land lines have been down on Ocracoke since about noon on Monday.
No information is available on what happened since communications have been severed. Those who have Starlink have internet and the Tekniam backup system has been working. Verizon sent a message at 2 p.m. that there is a service disruption on the island and they are working on fixing it.
As for traveling to Hatteras or Ocracoke, according to DriveNC.com, N.C. 12 between Frisco and Hatteras Village could reopen as early as 5 p.m. Monday. But the work to clear the road between the Ocracoke pony pens and the north ferry dock is expected to take until Tuesday evening.
The N.C. Department of Transportation has been out since early Monday trying to clear sand and water that washed over N.C. 12 near the northern border of Hatteras Village, and on the north end of Ocracoke.
Some of that work was undone by the midday high tide, which has delayed reopening both stretches of the highway.
Due to the closure, ferry service across Hatteras Inlet remains suspended due to the road closure. The Ocracoke-mainland routes have resumed service, but they will only be running from Cedar Island and Swan Quarter with departures at 4:30 p.m.
Elsewhere, soundside flooding caused by a shift in the winds this morning has mostly been a minor nuisance in the usual trouble spots such as Downtown Manteo and from Pea Island to Hatteras village.
Access to the north end of Ocracoke is closed while NCDOT crews repair the area where the dunes were breached. Photo: C. Leinbach
Observer staff report
Calling it “The Wright Brothers Day Storm” for the December 17 120th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight, NCDOT crews on the Outer banks are assessing the damage Monday morning of the storm which peaked Sunday night.
Sam Walker of WOBX, using information from a weather gauge, noted this major storm on Sunday bottomed out for the Outer Banks at 985.1 millibars at 4:30 a.m. Monday, which is close to category 1 hurricane level.
Ferries to Ocracoke are suspended and will resume when safe to do so.
The NCDOT NC 12 Facebook page noted around 7 a.m. Monday morning that crews were arriving at the two closed sections of NC12 (the north end of Ocracoke Island and between Hatteras Village and Frisco) to begin clearing and assess any damage.
The remainder of NC12 is open and passable, but there are many areas of standing rainwater and blown sand on the highway. They urged motorists, if they must drive through these sections today, to use extreme caution and slow down and give the crews room to work.
Updates on reopening the road will be posted once the assessment is complete.
A quick drive around Ocracoke Village Monday morning showed no flooding, aside from the large puddles in the usual areas, some tree debris and some signs overturned.
A spokesman for Tideland Electric Cooperative said a brief power outage occurred around 10 p.m. Sunday night on the island’s south circuit around Loop Road. He and the local crew were restoring power to the holiday lights attached to the electric poles around the village.
Monday will be sunny with a high near 60 degrees and winds will diminish to the 20s with gusts as high as 45 mph. Winds will continue to diminish throughout the day as the low pressure system moves away from the Outer Banks area. Wind gusts peaked on Sunday night, with gusts of 67 mph reported in Avon and Ocracoke, according to an update from the National Weather Service
Tuesday will see a drop in temperature with a low around 41 with winds in the mid-teens to mid-20s.
Wednesday will be sunny, with a high near 48 with north winds 11 to 14 mph.
The long-range forecast into Christmas day has no rain and seasonal temperatures from the highs of mid-50s and no freezing temperatures.
Tideland Electric crews restore holiday lights on Ocracoke. Photo: C. Leinbach
The home of Melinda and David Scott Esham in Oyster Creek captures Best in Show in the 2023 Island Celebration competition. Photo: C. Leinbach
The many holiday light displays on Ocracoke brought the village to sparkling life.
Two visitors who served as judges on Dec. 15 deliberated a while before choosing winners, as many homes and businesses were decked out for the annual Island Celebration competition sponsored by the Ocracoke Civic & Business Association.
“A lot of effort was put into many of the displays,” noted one judge, who said there should be additional categories, such as “most elegant,” “most campy,” “the best combination of the sacred and the profane.”
But they selected the top contenders, who receive the glory of winning in one of five categories, designated by signs placed in front of their properties.
The winner for Best of Show was the home of Melinda and David Scott Esham for their fishing-themed “Merry Fishmas” display.
“It was original, had a theme and was traditional,” said one of the judges. “It checked a lot of boxes.”
The other winners are Best of Show Business: 1718 Brewing Ocracoke; Most Traditional: Debbie and Neal Leonard; Most Original: Rachel O’Neal; Best Theme: Linda and Jimmy Jackson.
Among the notables the judges considered were the following homes and businesses: a home on Middle Road with a creche, white lights and a blue Christmas tree; a decorated boat on Howard Street; and the home of MaryEllen and Jim Piland on Trent Road.
Rachel O’Neal’s home on Lighthouse Road is Most Original. Photo: C. Leinbach
Linda and Jimmy Jackson’s home on Cedar Drive is Best Theme. Photo: C. Leinbach
Debby and Neal Leonard have the Most Traditional decor. Photo: C. Leinbach
1718 Brewing Ocracoke is the Best Business of 2023. Photo: C. Leinbach
A boat on Howard Street was a notable contender. Photo: C. Leinbach
The Ocracoke Variety Store is decked out for the holidays. Photo: C. Leinbach
This home of Jack and Brenda Keys on Middle Road received an honorable mention. Photo: C. Leinbach
The home of Mary Ellen and Jim Piland received an honorable mention. Photo: C. Leinbach
The Village Craftsmen on Howard Street sports a large advent calendar. Photo: C. Leinbach
High surf on Ocracoke Island, N.C. Photo: P. Vankevich
By Peter Vankevich
The North Carolina Weather Forecast Office out of Newport/Morehead City has updated its forecast that a strong low will impact the area this beginning on Sunday. This system is coming almost exactly a week after a similar storm system caused heavy rain, high winds and forced disruptions to the ferry service.
The major concerns are winds gusting from the mid-40s to 60 mph, moderate to major coastal flooding, heavy rain and very dangerous marine conditions. There is a good chance that the ferry service will cease until conditions are safe to resume and there could be flooding on NC 12 on Hatteras Island.
The worst of this storm will be Sunday evening into Monday morning.
Depending on what bees feed on, Ocracoke honey can be either light or dark, but Darlene Styron’s light honey captured second-place honors. Photo courtesy of Darlene Styron
By Connie Leinbach
Ocracoke honey captured second place in the light-colored category in the recent Outer Banks BeeKeepers’ Guild honey tasting contest.
Denise Deacon, past president of the Guild, said 15 varieties of honey harvests from Ocracoke to Currituck competed in either light or dark categories.
Darlene Styron, who tends four hives along with Mary Dean, competed in the light category and tied for second place with Deacon for the Judges’ Choice, but won second place in the People’s Choice categories.
This was the first year since Hurricane Dorian wiped out their hives in September 2019 that Styron and Dean entered the contest.
“We didn’t have any bees until 2022,” Styron said.
While her hives can yield honey harvests in spring and summer, the honey she submitted was from the summer.
“We didn’t really have a spring (harvest),” she said.
Deacon agreed.
“The spring weather this year wasn’t too conducive to honey making,” she said, noting that inclement weather can affect the bees’ ability to forage blooming shrubs.
“Holly is usually a big producer of nectar for bees, but this year wasn’t the best,” she said.
In another area, Deacon said Ocracoke honey was second in the state for healthful phenolic compounds and hers, from Kitty Hawk, was third.
She cited a study done last year by UNC-Asheville biology student Aaron Jackson, who studied which part of North Carolina honey has the highest Total Phenolic Content (TPC), which are healthful properties.
“As advancements in the fields of chemistry and medicine have progressed, extensive research has been conducted on the negative effects of free oxygen radicals on humans,” Jackson says in his paper. “Through this research, honey has been linked to the prevention of oxidative stress.
“Honey is known to contain a wide array of phenolic compounds, which are correlated with antioxidant activities.
“These are present in greater, or less abundance in honey depending on the floral source from which the honeybees (Apis mellifera) extract pollen.”
The Outer Banks ranked second overall in Jackson’s study, Deacon said. The number one honey came from Newton, she said, and the honeys with the second and fourth highest concentrations of phenols are from Ocracoke.
Styron said she and Dean hope to get enough honey this year to resume selling it in Styron’s shop, The Sweet Tooth.
And Deacon may be down to get some.
“I collect honeys and Ocracoke is the best, as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “There’s something down there…”
Darlene Styron and Mary Dean check their hives. Photo courtesy of Darlene Styron
Checking a frame inside one of the hives. Photo courtesy of Darlene Styron
A honey frame before the wax is scraped off. Photo courtesy of Darlene Styron
Styron scrapes the wax off the frame to get to the honey. Photo courtesy of Darlene Styron
The queen bee has the green mark on her back. Photo courtesy of Darlene Styron4
Cooper’s Hawk can be seen in Ocracoke village in fall and winter. Photo: P. Vankevich
The Ocracoke and Portsmouth Island Christmas Bird Counts, normally held on the last two days of the year, will be modified.
This is because the last two days will fall on a Saturday and Sunday. To accommodate the Cape Lookout National Seashore staff and its volunteers, the Portsmouth Count will be on Friday, Dec. 29. Ocracoke will be the following day, Dec. 30.
These bird counts began on Christmas Day 1900. Ocracoke joined the thousands of others in 1981 and Portsmouth in 1988.
Some birders have quipped they consider these count days as their Super Bowl of birding, with its long hours, sometimes adverse weather and challenges to their identification skills while counting birds, such as the thousands of Double-crested Cormorants.
