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Ocracoke Express to continue midweek schedule through September

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The Ocracoke Express passenger ferry on its way to Ocracoke. Photo: C. Leinbach

From our news services

Due to popular demand, the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ocracoke Express passenger ferry will continue running on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays through September. The service was previously slated to end for the season on Labor Day.

From Sept. 5 to 28, the Ocracoke Express will continue to operate its current schedule from Tuesday-Thursday, which are the busiest days for ridership. The schedule is: 

From Hatteras: 9:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
From Ocracoke: 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The Ocracoke Express, now in its fifth season, whisks people on a 70-minute trip between Hatteras and Silver Lake Harbor in Ocracoke Village, where a free tram operated by Hyde County is available to carry them around the village to shops, restaurants, accommodations and attractions. The passenger-only ferry allows visitors to make reservations and avoid the lines typically found on vehicle ferry routes. This gives people more time to enjoy Ocracoke, one of North Carolina’s most charming coastal treasures.   

More than 75,000 people have ridden the Ocracoke Express over its previous four seasons. Surveys about the service have been overwhelmingly positive. 

Advance reservations for the Ocracoke Express are available online at www.ncferry.org or on the phone at 1-800-BY-FERRY.

Tropical Storm Idalia departs OBX

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A raging ocean surf post Idalia on Aug. 31. Photo: C. Leinbach

By Connie Leinbach

As Tropical Storm Idalia moved off the North Carolina coast Thursday, Ocracoke Islanders and visitors ventured outside even as village roadways had standing water.

An afternoon ride around Ocracoke showed a lot of standing water but no damage to structures.

Ocracoke School will be closed on Friday due to the standing water on the village roads.

The National Weather Service out of Morehead City/Newport said Thursday afternoon that the heaviest rain has moved out of our area, with only light rain for the rest of the day.

The core of the strongest winds is over our sounds and coastal waters and has slowly moved east of the area as of late today.

The NWS is still concerned with elevated water levels, peaking through this evening in some areas, and remaining high through Friday night.

The forecast is for partly cloudy overnight with a low of 71 degrees. Winds are north at 25 to 35 mph and could occasionally gust to over 50 mph.

By Saturday it will be will be partly cloudy and temperatures in the 70s and a bit breezy.

Several inches of water cover Back Road. Photo: C. Leinbach

Irvin Garrish Highway on Aug. 31. Photo: C. Leinbach
Every space in the NPS parking lot, one of the highest spots on Ocracoke, at the south end of Ocracoke has a vehicle. Photo: C. Leinbach
Flooded Sunset Drive. Photo: C. Leinbach

N.C. Ferry Division to suspend service on most routes Thursday

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On the Hatteras ferry. Photo: C. Leinbach

Due to anticipated impacts from Idalia, the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division will suspend service on most routes Thursday, Aug. 31.

“Safety is always our top prority,” said Interim Ferry Division Director Jed Dixon. “Between heavy rain, tropical storm-force winds, and extreme tidal conditions, we are suspending service to protect our passengers, employees and vessels.”

The status of N.C. Ferry routes for Thursday will be as follows:

  • Southport-Fort Fisher: Service suspended
  • Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach: Service suspended
  • Bayview-Aurora: Service suspended
  • Cedar Island-Ocracoke: Service suspended
  • Swan Quarter-Ocracoke: Service suspended
  • Hatteras-Ocracoke: Service suspended after the 4:30 a.m. departure from Ocracoke
  • Currituck-Knotts Island: Will assess conditions in the morning to determine if service is possible.

All suspended routes will resume service as soon as it is safe to do so.

Passengers can receive real time text or email alerts from their preferred routes by signing up for the Ferry Information Notification System (FINS) at www.ncdot.gov/fins.

System-wide route status updates will also be posted on the Ferry Division’s Twitter and Facebook pages.    

For real-time travel information, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on social media.

Ocracoke Seafood Festival is on for Saturday

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The Ocracoke Seafood Festival for Saturday, Sept. 2, at the Berkley Barn is still on, officials announced today.

The announcement follows the predicted wind and rain from Hurricane Idalia starting as early as Wednesday evening into Friday.

However, if the situation changes, plans may change.

Activities begin at 4 p.m. with a silent auction until 5 p.m. Food will be served from 4 to 6 p.m. A live auction will begin at 6 p.m. followed by music by the Ocracoke Rockers and the Ray McAllister Band.

Proceeds from the festival benefits the Ocracoke Health Center.

Hurricane Idalia expected to bring heavy rains

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The National Weather Service out of Newport/Morehead City is forecasting today (Aug. 29) that as Hurricane Idalia sweeps upward toward the Carolina coast, the area may experience significant rainfall, up to four to six inches, and a possibility of tornadoes primarily from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday.

Ahead of this storm, the Ocracoke Express passenger ferry will suspend service at the end of the day today (Aug. 29), as the vessel will be brought to the Manns Harbor shipyard for safe keeping during the storm.

All other routes will suspend operations if and when conditions worsen. Passengers can receive real-time text or email alerts from their preferred routes by signing up for the Ferry Information Notification System (FINS) at www.ncdot.gov/fins. System-wide route status updates will also be posted on the Ferry Division’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

All suspended routes will resume service as soon as it is safe to do so. 

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore is expected to close its campgrounds on Wednesday. Updates on the impact of the storm will be posted on its Alerts and Conditions web page: https://www.nps.gov/caha/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

The storm may impact travel on the Outer Banks, especially with overwash on Route 12.

With the potential wind speeds of 39 to 57 mph, in addition to temporary suspension of ferry service, scattered power and communication outages are possible.

Within the heaviest bands of rain, up to eight inches of rain may fall depending on the track of the storm.

On the storm’s current track, impacts may be felt as early as Wednesday afternoon and it is expected to be a tropical storm as it approaches eastern North Carolina on Thursday.

The area remains in a prolonged period of dangerous rip current/surf conditions and beach erosion as Hurricane Franklin passes offshore.

Updates will be provided as the storm approaches.

Sea turtle nest excavation to take place at 10 a.m. Monday on Ocracoke

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Photo by Jolanta Lorenc of Canaan, Connecticut, of a sea turtle nest excavation in Frisco

Printed courtesy of Island Free Press

By Joy Crist

Visitors and residents on Ocracoke Island are invited to join rangers at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore for a public sea turtle nest excavation on Monday (Aug. 28) at a nest site approximately 0.04 miles north of the Pony Pen Beach Access.

The excavation will begin promptly at 10 a.m., and visitors can park in the lot adjacent to the Ocracoke Pony Pen.  Please allow for extra time to walk to the nest, and bring water and sunscreen.

During the excavation, spectators can watch National Park biologists dig up a recently hatched nest and inventory what’s inside. 

Biologists will count empty eggshells, collect unhatched eggs, and occasionally find live and/or dead hatchlings during these excavations. While the biologists perform their examination of the nest, a park ranger will present a program on sea turtles and share what the biologists have found.

For more information and to learn about additional upcoming public nest excavations, call the sea turtle nest excavation hotline at 252-475-9629.

Photo by Jolanta Lorenc of Canaan, Connecticut, of a 2021 sea turtle nest excavation in Frisco

2023-2026 Ocracoke re-entry permits now available

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A resident re-entry tag.

New re-entry tags for island entry after emergency evacuations are now available to Ocracoke Island residents and property owners.

Hyde County Emergency Services Department issues multi-year re-entry permits for use when emergency conditions limit general access to Ocracoke Island.

All re-entry tags will expire by Dec. 31 this year, said Teresa Adams, Hyde County liaison. However, islanders may renew their tags any time before Dec. 31.

They can do so with Adams in her office inside the Community Center during her business hours of 8 a.m. to noon Monday and Wednesday.

Those people with existing permits only need to bring their existing tag to apply for a new 2023-2026 expiration date sticker for their tag.

If renewing your permit in person, make sure to bring the plastic hangtag with you.   

If applying for the first time, you will need to complete the full application and supply all necessary documents: Copy of the tax card/tax bill validating that the property is in your name or documentation verifying any rental arrangements and a copy of a valid driver’s license for each member of the household (black out the driver’s license numbers).

You may also apply for a new permit by mail.  Mail-in applications are processed weekly.   

To complete the process by mail, include a self-addressed and stamped envelope with all necessary documents. Applications are available for printing on the Hyde County website hydecountync.gov.  

Please mail this application and self-addressed stamped envelope to: Hyde County Attn: Teresa Adams, P.O. Box 921, Ocracoke, NC 27960 

These applications will be processed and returned as soon as possible.   

No applications are accepted during an active emergency event.

The week will begin with an offshore hurricane watch

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Photo: P. Vankevich

The National Weather Service Forecast Office out of Newport/Morehead City reports that prolonged, dangerous rip current/surf conditions and beach erosion will begin Monday and continue through the week as Hurricane Franklin passes offshore.

Localized ocean overwash along the Outer Banks is also possible during this time.

Additionally, Tropical Depression 10 (TD 10) has formed in the Gulf of Mexico. The NWS expects this system to strengthen into a hurricane that will be named Idalia and will cross the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It will gradually weaken as it moves across the Southeast over the coming week. 

Impacts to eastern North Carolina from this storm could occur mid-to-late week, but the extent at this point is uncertain.

The forecast by NWS will be updated as more tracking information is gathered and can be found at weather.gov/mhx/tropical.

This is the time to make sure that you have completed your hurricane season preparations: weather.gov/mhx/hurricaneprep.

Storytellers perfect their art on Ocracoke

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Muffie and Liza Newell.

Text and photo by Peter Vankevich

Donald Davis runs storytelling workshops throughout the country.

Every year he holds two of them in his home village of Ocracoke and the island benefits from having the storytellers perform at the Ocracoke Preservation Society and at Books to Be Red.

One of those performers was Liza Newell of Richmond, Virginia.

She has been attending storytelling festivals with her mother, Muffie Newell, since she was eight years old and fell in love with the art.

“I had so much energy when I was a little girl and I remember having a really hard time sitting still,” she said. “But at the Storytelling Festival I was so drawn into the stories that I could sit still and listen to stories for hours.”

Liza has heard Donald Davis tell stories since she was a little girl. When she learned that he led workshops on Ocracoke, she and her mom signed up.

Liza was selected to recount her humorous and surprise-ending story on a lovely Saturday June morning at Books to Be Red about her first summer camp as a young girl. It was her first time telling a story in front of an audience.

“My mom went to Camp Lachlan outside of Lexington, Virginia, when she was a little girl and so did three of my aunts,” she said.

By the time it was her turn for camp at age 10 she had heard many stories about Camp Lachlan, including stories about the Jump Mountain Hotel and Country Club, which sat on top of the mountain, overlooking Camp Lachlan.

“The image of the hotel and country club had been built up in my mind through years of hearing stories from my mom and aunts about how special it was,” she said.

She recounted how all the camp girls with the camp leaders set out on an adventure to visit the resort only to learn when they got to the top of the mountain that the hotel and country club did not exist.

They had been pranked.

“It was really special to have the chance to work on that story with Donald and the other workshop participants, including my mom,” Liza said.

Donald Davis has been one of her favorites.

“He’s the type of storyteller who makes you want to pull up a chair and not miss a word,” she said. “It was such a special experience to learn from his expertise during the workshop.”

Observer captures news awards

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The following was first published in September 2023 print issue of the Ocracoke Observer.

The Ocracoke Observer received seven awards at this year’s North Carolina Press Association annual conference Aug. 25 in Raleigh.

The Observer won first place for its editorials. Editorials are written by Observer co-publishers Connie Leinbach, editor, and Peter Vankevich.

Vankevich won first place in spot photography for his photo of two Least Terns in the story “Birds of Ocracoke: The Least Tern, resilient and feisty,” published July 10, 2022.

In sports coverage, former Observer reporter Richard Taylor won second and third place awards for his stories on the 2022 Ocracoke Dolphins baseball team: a thrilling game and Dolphins finish second.

Leinbach captured third place in spot photography for her photograph of a ferry in the Pamlico Sound as seen through the rigging of Rob Temple’s sailboat “The Windfall II.”

She also won third place for “ledes,” which are the first sentences of stories. Those stories were about Ukrainian exchange student Sonya Voitenko, a record-breaking Scotch bonnet and a story about the OVFD Firemen’s Ball.

Vankevich won third place for his photo essay “The atmospheric moods of Springer’s Point,” published May 22, 2022.

The winning stories were published on ocracokeobserver.com between October 2021 and September 2022.

Although the Observer prints a monthly issue 10 times a year, it competes in the online division in the press association’s annual contest.

It has won more than 50 awards, many in first place, since joining the N.C. Press Association in 2015 and entering the con-test starting in 2016.

Ocracoke Observe co-publishers Peter Vankevich and Connie Leinbach receive third place in General Excellence for ocracokeobserver.com in the 2017 North Carolina Press Assn. annual awards banquet.
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