Reprinted from Ocracoke Observer’s 2:30 p.m. Feb. 13 report

An Ocracoke Island man, Warren Howard Frantz of Sunset Drive, died Tuesday morning after his vehicle sailed off an overwashed N.C.12 at the north end of Ocracoke and landed in sandbags alongside the road.

Frantz, 61, and his wife, Janet, were driving to catch the 11 a.m. ferry leaving Ocracoke when the vehicle hit water on the road, it went airborne and off to the right toward the ocean.

A bystander, islander Thurston Sumner, ran to the vehicle and was able to get the woman out of the car. This reporter stood with Janet, who said she’d suffered a broken arm.

Soon afterward, Hyde County EMS and members of the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department arrived on the scene to attend to Warren, known as “Howdy,” and who was still trapped in the vehicle.

Hyde County Sheriff Capt. Joe Smith confirmed that despite rescue efforts and CPR, Frantz had died but Smith did not have further details.

North Carolina Department of Transportation officials have closed the road from the pony pens northward because of the hazardous conditions and after the 11 a.m. ferry left the N.C. Ferry Division suspended Hatteras ferry runs.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer.

Negative ions caused by crashing water can elevate our feeling of well-being, and so, apparently, can walking in the woods.

A growing number of studies show that when people are exposed to negative ions — electrically charged particles that occur when air is under the influence of energy sources such as crashing waves or waterfalls — they feel better, owing to negative ions raising the brain’s serotonin (happy hormone) levels.

Apparently, forest trees can also impart beneficial substances.

According to an April 2021 New York Times article, in the 1980s, researchers in Nagano, Japan, found that the practice of spending time in forests lessens stress, boosts immunity and lowers blood pressure.

Subsequent studies showed that soaking up the forest environment reduces cortisol (the body’s primary stress hormone) and activates the parasympathetic (self-healing) nervous system.

According to some reports, breathing in phytoncides, the aromatic oils released by trees, can increase the number of the body’s natural killer cells (a type of white blood cell crucial to the immune system that can limit the spread of microbial infections and tumors).

So “forest bathing” has become a thing, especially in Japan, where it is called Shinrin–yoku and where nature therapy has ancient roots.

For a recent article on forest bathing, visit www.japanesegarden.org based in Portland, Oregon.

You don’t need to get naked, put on your swimsuit or get wet during a nature “bath” because you’re bathing in the energy and clean air while walking in the woods.

On Ocracoke, one can experience this along the mile-long Hammock Hills trail across from the National Park Service campground.

A refreshment if you will.

“That’s exactly how I feel,” said islander Barbara Adams, who visits the trail just about daily with her dog. “I’ve always loved walking in the forest. Hammock Hills is just so fresh.”

This trail was heavily damaged during Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 and the wooden enhancements — some bridges and the look-out platform at the Pamlico Sound — have not yet been repaired.

And they might not be replaced since the trail has been thrice flooded and damaged in hurricanes Matthew in 2016, Florence in 2018, and most recently Dorian.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac said that his staff is taking a longer, open-minded look at the trail.

“It is, in fact, a hiking trail, and hiking trails get wet and flooded sometimes,” he said. “For some folks, that’ll be part of the experience and for others, it just might not be able to be used all the time.”

So, they’re looking for a less complex and less costly, long-term way to manage it, he said.

Nevertheless, the trail is open and available for breathing in the pine-scented atmosphere.

In the warm months, arm yourself with bug spray.

In the fall and winter, listen for the high pitched “yank-yank” call of the red-breasted nuthatch, a northern visitor that loves longleaf pine trees.

A ranger-guided, 60-minute nature walk on the half-mile trail will be held at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20. Attendees are encouraged to bring bug spray.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer

Andrew Hawkins is concerned that Ocracoke might lose an iconic feature — the Banker pony herd — if more foals aren’t born soon.

Hawkins, a part-time islander who, with his wife, volunteers as a National Park Service campground host, also volunteers with the care of the 14-member pony herd, corralled at the center of the island.

“We’re just worried that if they don’t do something, we’re going to lose the herd if we don’t breed them,” he said. “We haven’t had a foal in four or five years.”

These Banker ponies are a special breed with a different number of vertebrae and ribs.

The herd has two stallions, one gelding, 10 mares and one filly. The mares range in age from 4 to 36 years.

“At least five are too old to breed and one too young,” Hawkins said. “So that’s five of breeding age and because of their relationship to the stallions we must discount one. That leaves only four mares eligible to breed, but father/daughter and brother/sister relationships make it complicated.”

Also complicating increasing the herd is the lack of a plan by the NPS, who manages the herd.

The Ocracoke ponies are part of an Outer Banks attraction of free-roaming horses, which are descendants of those that survived shipwrecks hundreds of years ago.

On Shackleford Banks in Cape Lookout National Seashore south of Ocracoke, and on the Currituck beaches in Dare County to the north, the horses still run free.

On Ocracoke, the herd ran free until the National Park Service bought almost all of the island in the 1950s.

When N.C. 12 was paved in 1957, permitting vehicles to drive 50 mph, the National Park Service corralled the ponies for their own safety, creating the 180-acre pasture area that in 1959 was officially named the Ocracoke Pony Pens.

“They’re managed much more like a domestic herd at this point,” said David Hallac, Cape Hatteras National Seashore superintendent. “We manage it as a cultural resource or historic resource. There are questions if that is the right management model. So, we need to develop this plan.”

Meaghan Johnson, chief of resource management and science with the national seashore, said the park first needs to receive funding to devise the plan. She said they applied for funding this year from the regional office but did not receive it. The most recent plan was from 1995.

A new plan would include the history of the ponies, the current herd size and their ages, their genetics and how a herd aligns with park service policies, she said.

Sea level rise and the groundwater sustainability in the area of the pens are also on the radar.

“Looking at the sea level rise projections, do we need to be thinking about the pen where they are currently?” she said. “I think we need to understand where we’ve been and to look at it in a broader picture before we make any decisions such as continuing breeding and what is the right number for that herd.”

Johnson doesn’t have the answers to that but hopes a management plan will yield those.

If they get funding, developing the plan would probably take a year.

In the meantime, a priority this year, she said, has been assessing the status of the pony pen facilities, the fencing, getting some new gates and managing the vegetation around the pens.

After the Ocracoke Light Station, also owned by the park service, the Ocracoke ponies are one of the top island attractions.

“The ponies have always been of interest to tourists because they’ve been here so long,” said Helena Stevens, executive director of the Ocracoke Township Tourism Development Authority. “The state tourism bureau gets a lot of inquiries and sends them to us.”

As of now, the Ocracoke herd consists of the following horses:

• Adults: Winnie, age 4, Jobelle, 5, Hazelnut, 7, Captain, 9, Rayo, 10, and Paloma, 12.
• Middle-aged: Jitterbug, 14, Sacajawea, 15, and Lawton, 18
• Seniors: Maya, 22, Luna, 24, and Easter, 28.
• Geriatric: Oops, 33, and Lindessa, 37.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from Ocracoke Observer

The passenger ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke will continue until Sept. 6, thanks to more funding approved by the North Carolina Legislature.

Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday signed House Bill 121, which appropriates an addition $220,000 to Seastreak out of New Jersey for use of their rented catamaran-style passenger ferry.

This is the same company that the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division has used since 2019 when the passenger ferry still under construction was sidelined because of numerous faulty welds.

The original appropriation of $700,000 for the service this year was to cover until Aug. 15.

Hyde County Manager Kris Noble was pleased with this turn of events, noting the popularity of this ferry that helps relieve the wait at the Hatteras ferry terminal for people wanting to visit Ocracoke.

“It’s a viable transportation alternative since we’re not able to meet the demands with the traditional ferry service,” she said in an interview.

The bill also will help Ocracoke as it waives the local match required for dredging of ferry routes that are under NCDOT control.

“We can go ahead and put in an application for the dredging of Sloop Channel,” she said.

This is the northwest corner of the route between Ocracoke and Hatteras and through which two ferry boats can’t pass at the same time.

The bill waives the local match for ferry routes in Hyde, Carteret and Dare counties, she said.

As for the passenger ferry being built by the state, Noble said it will probably be next year.

The Ocracoke Waterways Commission, which works on these concerns, will next meet at 6 p.m. Sept. 21, in the Ocracoke Community Center.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from Ocracoke Observer

The Ocracoke Waterways Commission’s meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday will focus on one agenda item: the proposal by the North Carolina Department of Transportation Division 1 to submit a South Ferry Dock relocation proposal to the State Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP.

The meeting will be in the Ocracoke Community Center and will be open to the public with facial masks as required by the state. It will also be broadcast live via the Hyde County Facebook page.

The STIP program is NCDOT’s 10-year transportation plan, which is updated every two years. It prioritizes transportation projects according to region and each region is given an allocation from which to fund them. The STIP’s Division 1 consists of Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

Of concern to islanders and officials has been the continued erosion at the South Dock ferry basin at the north end of the island and overwash along the north end of N.C. 12.

The Waterways Commission last fall received the NCDOT feasibility study for moving South Dock to a spot about a mile south of the pony pens.

According to the study, for Option A, a ferry ramp would extend approximately 9,000 feet from the existing N.C. 12 easement and beyond a nearby sand reef into the Pamlico Sound, and would require minimal to no dredging for ferry vehicles. It would cost about $87 million.

In Option B, the ferry ramp would extend into the Sound approximately 5,000 feet from the existing N.C. 12 easement to a point inshore of the outer sand reef and would require channel dredging to accommodate ferry vessel operations. It would cost about $52 million.

Both propose that N.C. 12 would end there. However, ferry crossing time from Hatteras would be about 90 minutes.

Other ideas in the study suggested moving the road, building a bridge in the Pamlico Sound or building a causeway over the area.

During the April 20 waterways meeting, Catherine Peele, planning and development manager for the Ferry Division, said the division would submit the proposal to move the South Dock to the STIP.

“We hope to review how and why NCDOT got to this decision, how the process unfolds from here, and how our community can voice our perspective(s) on this proposal,” said Justin LeBlanc, chair of the commission, in a press release about the meeting.

He said the meeting will start with a short overview presentation and NCDOT officials will be available remotely to answer questions.

Kris Noble, Hyde County manager, reported at the April meeting that Hyde County was among 25 coastal counties to receive a Resilient Communities grant. This is a planning grant that will create a process where Hyde can identify hazards and risks to the community.

The proposals in the feasibility study are possible long-term solutions, Noble said at the meeting, adding that Dare County also received a Resilient Communities grant to deal with the road problems on Hatteras. Hyde is part of the newly formed N.C. 12 Task Force.

Eventually, Noble said, she will seek community input and consensus on a sustainable solution for the highway, but in the short term, the state Department of Transportation will continue to add sandbags and scoop the sand back onto the dunes as needed.

“That’s DOT’s highway,” she said.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from Ocracoke Observer

Dredging in Big Foot Slough in the Pamlico Sound is expected to clear the way for the larger sound-class ferries in the next several days.

Kris Noble, Hyde County manager, said in an interview that the side caster dredge Merritt began dredging at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Cost of the project is thanks to a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division and Carteret County, which supplied the $62,916.50 local match required, she said.

The total project will cost $251,666, Noble said, with the state contributing $188,749.50.

“Carteret County is being proactive and planning ahead so that we don’t get caught like this again,” she said about the aid from the neighboring county to the south.

At the meeting last week of the Ocracoke Waterways Commission, Brent Johnson, the project manager for grants and waterways with Dare County, said the last time dredging was done in Big Foot Slough several years ago it had not been not done to project depth.

For this job, the money needed is almost double from the last time allowing dredging to go to 10 feet.

In July, the latest survey at that time by the Army Corps of Engineers showed water depths in Bigfoot Slough as low as 8 feet.

That meant the ferry system’s two largest sound-class vessels, the M/V Swan Quarter and the M/V Sea Level, could not traverse the area safely.

Ferry service since then has been reduced to one boat a day leaving each port of departure during some of the busiest summer travel times on the coast.

“The Ferry Division is monitoring it every day,” Noble said about the dredging. “If the track is sufficient depth-wise, they’ll resume the three-boat schedule.”

Noble said Hyde County will also support Carteret County’s efforts in seeking reimbursement of the local match from the state legislature.

The Ferry Division is also looking into getting a Federal Lands Access Project grant, which is a pot of money designated for communities adjacent to national parks.

Catherine Peele of the Ferry Division said during the waterways meeting that these grants can be sought to improve transport to federal lands such as Ocracoke.

This grant would seek money for surveying the inlets, permitting for all the inlets and possible relocation of the ferry waterway west of Big Foot Slough, which is a man-made channel, Noble said, to a natural channel called Nine Foot, which is a bit westward.

If Nine Foot could be the authorized channel, it could be maintained better since it is natural, she said, and would shave a few minutes off the long-route trips.

Shaving time off the Hatteras-Ocracoke route also is something the commission would like to see happen, said Justin LeBlanc, chair of the commission.

If the transit time on this most popular route in the entire ferry system could be 50 minutes or less, the Ferry Division could run the peak number of ferries during the high tourism season, LeBlanc said during the Monday Facebook live meeting.

This would involve realignment of the Rollinson Channel among other complications not easily solved.

In other waterways commission action, LeBlanc said the Coast Guard is scheduled to reposition the aids to navigation in the Ocracoke Inlet in the next couple of weeks.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer

The Hyde County Commissioners Monday night agreed to allow visitors to mainland Hyde starting at 5 a.m. on Wednesday and will work with Dare and Currituck counties to lift the visitor restriction on Ocracoke before Memorial Day, possibly on May 21.

Hyde County Manager Kris Nobel will work with the two counties as to the exact date for reopening and to issue a joint press release, which could come in a day or two.

The commissioners met in the Hyde County government center in Swan Quarter with Ocracoke Commissioner Tom Pahl participating via a video feed from his home.  Due to the restriction of not having gatherings of more than 10 persons, the meeting was closed to the public and broadcast live on Hyde County’s Facebook page.  Much of the meeting was devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic and Hyde County’s response.

Commissioner Pahl said the Ocracoke Control Group, which is made up of various officials who convene when hurricanes threaten or other disasters strike, met to discuss visitor reentry.

Ocracoke wants to coordinate its reopening with Dare since many visitors travel through Dare to get to the island. Otherwise, they would have to go through Swan Quarter or Cedar Island.

The Hyde County commissioners previously OKed allowing all nonresident property owners, or NRPOs, on the island starting May 11.  Hyde County is asking them to bring their own provisions.

“We can’t stay closed forever,” Pahl said and Hyde, Dare and Currituck want businesses that do open to put some restrictions in place.

He said Gov. Roy Cooper was to give further directions Tuesday and noted that even if Cooper extends the statewide Stay At Home order, which expires on May 8, “that would not prevent us from lifting the visitor restriction.”

He said that once the restrictions are lifted, businesses will be asked to put (social distancing) restrictions in place.

“I had a woman begging me to go back to work,” said Commissioner Ben Simmons III. “We’re stopping people from making a living.”

He said Hyde and Ocracoke residents have been going in and out of the county the whole time of the lock down and that to really stop the virus, “we’d have to stop everything.”

He also stressed that businesses that don’t want to open don’t have to.

Earl Pugh Jr., board chairman, said he and Dare County Board of Commissioners Chair Bob Woodard agreed to the joint statement.

During the public comment period, Noble declined to read the many letters and comments the county received, noting that many would have exceeded the 3-minute limit and that if all were read, “we would be here until midnight.”

However, she said, county staff would post all of the comments on the Hyde County website within 24 hours.

The pandemic caused numerous travel restrictions nationwide to help prevent the virus spread. Hyde County followed by prohibiting visitors and nonresident property owners on Ocracoke unless the repairs to their homes from Dorian damage was extensive enough for a building permit.

“I think that when we put this visitor restriction in place, the COVID virus was very, very new to us,” Noble said. “I don’t think that this board or any other municipalities put the COVID restrictions in place to completely keep the virus from coming into our communities because I think we’re well aware that that’s not possible. But I think those restrictions were put in place to give us enough time to make sure we have adequate precautions in effect and over this period of time we’ve had our restrictions in place.”

Nevertheless, the NRPO restriction was met with anger from some Ocracoke nonresident property owners, many of whom expressed themselves on Facebook and wrote letters to the commissioners.

“These property owners, NRPOs, of which we are part, support Hyde County extensively with property taxes, some with occupancy taxes, and many with funding for nonprofits on the island of Ocracoke such as the Fireman’s Ball/Volunteer Fire Service, and Ocrafolk/Ocracoke Alive,” wrote Dr. Brenda Peacock of Washington.

“They are also year-round customers of many of the local businesses on the island. With so many NRPOs concerned about our status, and hurricane season basically upon us, now is the ideal time for the Hyde County Commissioners to address at least some of these issues.

“One: Hatteras ferry priority access as a property owner same as a resident of the island. Two: representation of NRPOs on the decision-making bodies such as the Ocracoke Control Group. These property owners could then at least be involved in determining restrictions and re-entry criteria for themselves as well as tourists.”

Peacock acknowledged some restrictions had to be put into place in both after Dorian and pandemic but noted that “exposure with virus was ongoing, maybe even more so, without more restrictions on permanent residents and off island contractors.”

Hers and other letters are included in a separate post.

In other business, Luana Gibbs, Hyde County health director, reported that there is only one confirmed COVID-19 case in the county.

Reprinted from Ocracoke Observer

A portion of the disaster declaration for public assistance on Ocracoke following devastating flooding by Hurricane Dorian Sept. 6 has been approved President Donald Trump.

Although Gov. Roy Cooper, in a return trip to Ocracoke Monday, told islanders gathered outside the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department, that no Federal Emergency Management Agency public assistance request had been approved, newly elected U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy, in a visit to Ocracoke on Saturday, had said the declaration had been approved.

But he clarified in an email to the Ocracoke Observer Monday evening that President Trump had signed a portion of the public assistance request, which was the emergency declaration for immediate needs, such as state emergency services.

“That portion provides emergency protective measures limited to direct federal assistance under the Public Assistance program for Hyde County and other counties in North Carolina,” said Wayne King, Murphy’s senior adviser, in the email.

The email further stated:

“Cooper has requested the second part of public assistance and individual assistance and amended the request to add additional counties. Our office has spoken with the White House, FEMA officials, NC Emergency Management Director and Governor Cooper’s office. Dr. Murphy has been clear that this assistance is needed immediately to the people impacted by Hurricane Dorian.”

Cooper in a Sept. 13 letter asked the president to approve a request for public assistance to cover the cost of infrastructure repairs and debris removal for eastern North Carolina.

On Sept. 21, he asked for individual assistance, which would provide grants to residents who suffered damages from Dorian and could open the door to additional FEMA recovery programs, such as temporary housing.

Cooper told islanders gathered at the volunteer fire department Monday, that the FEMA regional office No. 4 is still processing the damage assessments.

“Once that’s done, they’ll ship them to Washington,” Cooper said. “The damage estimate has been sent in.”

He noted that long-term housing money doesn’t arrive from the federal government “for a long time” after disasters. “We’ll probably have to ask for matching assistance from the General Assembly.”

Several of Cooper’s cabinet members made the trip to the island Monday, including Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen, Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan, Department of Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks, Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry, Department of Transportation Chief Operating Officer Bobby Lewis and Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Todd Hunt.

Cooper on Monday also signed Executive Order 108 to authorize the North Carolina Department of Transportation to remove Hurricane-related debris from public rights-of-way.

Murphy, who is a physician, said Saturday that he had been seen devastation firsthand from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the earthquake in Haiti.

Murphy had also noted on his Facebook page on Saturday that the public assistance declaration had been signed, but in the days following, that post was taken down.

Murphy, who won the special Sept. 10 election to fill the remaining two-year term of longtime Congressman Walter Jones, who died in February, was sworn in Sept. 17 to represent the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Ocracoke.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer

OCRACOKE — The North Carolina Department of Transportation will begin construction of a bulkhead at the north end ferry terminal, known as the South Dock, later this month.

According to Tim Hass, spokesman for the North Carolina Ferry Division, work is scheduled to begin July 22 on the emergency project to protect the South Dock ferry basin and vehicle stacking lanes from further shoreline erosion.

In the last few years, the north end of the island has sustained erosion from overwash from numerous nor’easters and hurricanes.

A big chunk of N.C. 12 has fallen into the sound from the overwash, making the stacking lanes unusable. Ferry workers have relocated the ferry stacking lanes farther south on the highway.

NCDOT in June awarded a $1.9 million contract to Carolina Bridge of Orangeburg, South Carolina, for construction of a 1,000-foot bulkhead on the north end of Ocracoke Island to help slow the erosion.

State Ferry Division Deputy Director Jed Dixon, speaking at the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association meeting Wednesday night, said the contractor will install the metal bulkhead around the point and will end at the midpoint of the ferry stacking lanes.

The work is expected to be completed in October, Dixon said.

Dixon said that the Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, does not allow hard structures to extend into the ocean.

So, at the point where the bulkhead will end, three legs of rip rap, or groins, will be installed perpendicularly into the inlet to try to catch sediment and slow the shoreline erosion, said Justin LeBlanc, who is on the Ocracoke Waterways Commission and the business association’s board of directors.

“Sandbags didn’t work,” Dixon said. That’s when the DOT was able to pull the emergency permit from CAMA for the remedial action.

The groin part of the project is in the planning and permitting stages and the National Park Service is accepting public comments on that portion of the project. Comments can be made online.

With additional materials for the project, the total cost will be $4 million.

Learn More

• Park Service Seeks Input on Shoreline Project
• DEQ Issues Ocracoke Bulkhead Permit
• DOT Awards Ocracoke Bulkhead Contract

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer

Ocracoke should have a passenger ferry this year starting May 24, thanks to a lawmaker friend in Raleigh.

John A. Torbett, R-Gaston, said Wednesday night that while in budget meetings Tuesday, Secretary of the Department of Transportation James Trogdon said he would pay for leasing a passenger ferry from May 24 to Sept. 22 out of his budget.

“Typically, I’d budget that (in an appropriation) but the secretary said he’d get it done,” Torbett said.

Torbett, who is chair of the House Transportation Appropriations Committee, said the deal has not yet been inked, but he expected it to be done by middle of next week. He wasn’t sure if the Senate would have to approve the deal because the money was in Trogden’s budget.

Torbett said he did not want Ocracoke Island to be forgotten.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “My interest is to get it now for the season. I told them: ‘We owe it to them (Ocracoke). They need something and they deserve something,’ and all my chairs agreed.”

Torbett said the ferry will be leased from Seastreak, a private ferry company operating in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in New England.

The 102-day rental of the 147-seat vessel will cost $867,000, not including fuel, Torbett said.

The propeller-driven boat is a two-deck catamaran-style aluminum boat built in 2005.

He said that prior to Wednesday’s approvals, the Ferry Division met with the owner of Seastreak on March 29 in Hatteras and a test run was done on the route, though Torbett did not know whether that run was done with the proposed rental vessel.

Torbett said the Ferry Division also looked into purchasing a used boat.

“And that’s available,” he said. “We’ll keep that in the hunt.”

The state Department of Transportation continues conversations with US Workboats, which has been building a new passenger ferry, the Ocracoke Express, since 2017.

“If the new one is dead, we might purchase one,” Torbett said.

That aluminum, catamaran-style ferry was scheduled to debut on May 14 and carry up to 98 passengers on a 70-minute trip from Hatteras directly into Ocracoke Village.

DOT in 2017 awarded a $4.15 million contract to Armstrong Marine Inc. in Swansboro to build the new boat. Armstrong is now U.S. Workboats.

Last June, the Ferry Division announced that the new boat was taking longer to build than planned. Citing a lack of welders, the Ferry Division said the boat would not be ready for last year’s tourist season. They suggested it might be ready in the fall, but the fall came and went with no boat.

This year, work on the vessel stopped on Feb. 19 after a report from Elliott Bay Design Group, Seattle, who designed it, identified “several issues with the construction, among which were many of the aluminum welds. A follow-up Coast Guard inspection confirmed these issues,” said Ferry Division Spokesman Tim Hass in an email.

Torbett said Jed Dixon, Ferry Division deputy director, told his committee several days ago that about 70 percent of the welds failed.

Since then, Hass said, US Workboats submitted a plan for remediation that was approved by both the Coast Guard and NCDOT, and work resumed March 25.

“However, US Workboats has been instructed not to perform any weld work on the hull without the presence of our quality assurance specialist,” Hass said.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

Reprinted from Ocracoke Observer

Although work has resumed on building the Ocracoke Express passenger ferry, which was recently halted because of construction problems, the North Carolina Ferry Division is looking into the possibility of a rental boat for the coming visitor season.

Ferry Division spokesman Tim Hass said Friday that work stopped Feb. 19 after a report from Elliott Bay Design Group in Seattle, Washington, who designed the boat, identified “several issues with the construction, among which were many of the aluminum welds. A follow-up Coast Guard inspection confirmed these issues,” Hass wrote in an email.

Since then, US Workboats of Swansboro submitted a plan for remediation of the issues that was approved by both the Coast Guard and NCDOT, and work resumed March 25.

“However, US Work Boats has been instructed not to perform any weld work on the hull without the presence of our quality assurance specialist,” Hass said.

Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston, chair of the House Transportation Appropriations Committee, said in an interview Thursday that Jed Dixon, Ferry Division deputy director, briefed the committee that day on the passenger ferry construction problems and other needs for the ferry system.

In the short term, they are looking at renting a ferry this year for Ocracoke.

“We’re doing everything in our power to have a walk-on ferry for Ocracoke this season,” Torbett said.  “Our concern is that the island has something.”

“It’s too early to discuss which, if any, companies will submit proposals,” Hass said about a rental option.

Infrastructure, including passenger shelters, dockage and trams for Ocracoke Village, is already in place.

As for the Ocracoke Express, Torbett could not say if the boat is repairable or toast.

“It appears to be salvageable, but it won’t be ready for this season,” he said. “They brought in more professionals.”

Torbett said Dixon told his committee about 70 percent of the welds failed.

Questions also are unanswered about whether the electric trams, which debuted last September despite no passenger ferry, would be in use this year since they were to be run in conjunction with car-less passengers.

Hyde County received occupancy tax money for the trams in conjunction with the state chipping in, but it is unclear where this stands. The tram is expected to run for Easter weekend during the Ocracoke Waterfowl Festival.

In prior communication March 11, Hass said the Ferry Division, after learning of the construction problems, has embedded a contractor on-site to monitor and provide quality control and assurance.

“Once a full mitigation plan has been received and approved by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Ferry Division should be able to tell the local stakeholders of the anticipated delivery date,” Hass said.

The aluminum catamaran-style ferry was scheduled to debut May 14. When it does, it will carry up to 98 passengers on a 70-minute trip from Hatteras directly into Ocracoke Village.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation in 2017 awarded a $4.15 million contract to Armstrong Marine Inc. in Swansboro to build the new boat, but Armstrong is now U.S. Workboats.

In June, the Ferry Division announced that the new boat was taking longer to build than planned. Citing the lack of welders, the Ferry Division said the boat would not be ready for the busy tourist season.

They suggested it might be ready in the fall, but the fall came and went.

“The company is paying $1,000 a day in late penalties,” Torbett said about the boat that was to be delivered Aug. 6, 2018. “They’re 250 days late.”

The idea of adding a passenger-only boat for the busiest Hatteras-Ocracoke run surfaced in 2015 when the long route across the Hatteras Inlet was officially sanctioned after the short ferry route between the islands became unnavigable in early 2013 due to continued shoaling.

The one-hour ferry ride has resulted in fewer runs, longer wait lines at the Hatteras terminal and fewer day-trippers visiting the island. Islanders’ concerns prompted the Ferry Division to explore the purchase of a passenger ferry to help relieve the traffic lines at Hatteras.

The entire project, passenger ferry and infrastructure, is about $9 million. Funds have come from an appropriation by the state General Assembly and a federal grant through the Federal Lands Access Program.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

Reprinted from Ocracoke Observer

OCRACOKE — The Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or NEST, is seeking volunteers interested in helping patrol for and transport sea turtles that wash up on the shore during the fall and winter months.

NEST will hold an informational meeting with training at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Ocracoke Community Center.

Established in 1995, NEST is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of sea turtles and other protected marine wildlife on the Outer Banks.

It is committed to contributing to the preservation of these species through research and rescue and rehabilitation efforts and to fostering greater understanding and appreciation of these species and their habitat through education and enhanced public awareness.

The network also rescues and transports sick and injured sea turtles to the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation, or STAR, Center at the Aquarium on Roanoke Island. It has rescued hundreds of turtles stunned by the cold water and stranded in Pamlico Sound.

For more information, contact NEST’s Hatteras Island Coordinator, Frank Welles at fgwelles@aol.com or 252-995-2417.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer

Ocracoke’s electric microgrid is serving as a laboratory for how North Carolina can embrace clean energy to become more competitive not only to attract big companies here but also to benefit consumers.

That’s what Michael Regan, secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, said when he toured the Tideland EMC facility in October.

With its combined energy sources from the main power line through the Outer Banks, rooftop solar panels, several Tesla batteries and Ecobee thermostats, the plant on Odd Fellows Lane is providing the knowledge that will lead to both cleaner and more cost-efficient energy, said Lee Ragsdale, senior vice president, grid infrastructure and compliance for the North Carolina Electric Member Cooperative (NCEMC).

NCEMC owns the power plant and Tideland, a nonprofit cooperative based in Pantego, Beaufort County, operates it, said Paul Spruill, Tideland CEO.

Ocracoke’s microgrid is one of two that Regan visited. The other is Butler Farms, a hog farm in Harnett County that has a microgrid powered by solar panels and is harnessing methane from hog waste.

While Ocracoke’s grid is connected to the main grid, it can operate independently.

“The co-ops of North Carolina took this on as an R&D opportunity,” Ragsdale said about Ocracoke’s microgrid. “We wanted to make the investment in these assets so as prices come down we’ll have that working knowledge to apply throughout the state.”

The DEQ is excited about this experiment, Regan told the group of Tideland and NCEMC officials.

“These rural cooperatives are living, learning laboratories,” he said. “Too often we’re hearing about the technological limitations from some of the larger utilities, and so this is a great opportunity for us to come out and see how advanced technology works – how cleaner energy works, how efficient energy works.”

Tideland, he said, is pursuing advanced technology for all of the right reasons.

“And then there’s a huge environmental co-benefit (of a cleaner footprint),” he said.

That environmental co-benefit got more traction on Oct. 29 when Gov. Roy Cooper issued Executive Order No. 80, which calls for the state to protect its environment in the face of climate change while growing clean energy technologies.

“With historic storms lashing our state, we must combat climate change, make our state more resilient and lessen the impact of future natural disasters,” Cooper said in a press release.

Without the pressure of shareholders, who are the focus of the big electrical guys, rural electric co-ops can focus on both customer service and being competitive through innovation, Regan said.

“You are leading the way for North Carolina into this 21st century approach to energy delivery,” he said. “I think that’s pretty remarkable. If North Carolina is to be competitive, it’s going to be the Dukes and Dominions trying to keep pace with what the rural electric co-ops are doing.”

The microgrid does not just include the diesel generator, solar array and Tesla batteries. It also involves customers who use Ecobee thermostats that Tideland has distributed throughout the island.

These devices enable Tideland to control electric delivery during power crises and allow customers to make choices about and understand their own energy use, said Nelle Hotchkiss, senior vice president of the North Carolina Electric Cooperatives, the state trade association.

“We spend a lot of time on the educational side and use labs like these with Ecobees and water heaters as opportunities for consumers so they can make choices, understand their energy use, their appliances and how can they optimize at home,” she told Regan. “Those who have the resources can make those changes, but we won’t disadvantage those who can’t, and co-ops are all about that.”

Regan thought Ocracoke Island is the “perfect petri dish” for this research in reducing the carbon footprint and making energy delivery more efficient and more accessible to all people.

Such future choices will make North Carolina more competitive when recruiting large companies to build here, he said.

“It’s just great to see this level of innovation in Eastern NC in our rural counties,” he said. “All of our solutions are not coming from our urban areas.”

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer

OCRACOKE — The long-awaited tram service in Ocracoke Village made its debut Saturday under warm, sunny skies.

Joseph Ramunni, who was awarded a contract from Hyde County to manage the tram operation, began driving two of four open-air, electric trams in the afternoon on Irvin Garrish Highway.

It turned around at Howard’s Pub, then went down Back Road and back to the No. 1 stop at the newly built shelter in front of the National Park Service Visitors Center at Pilot Town Road.

Although there were no walk-on passengers from the just-arrived Swan Quarter ferry at 1 p.m. Saturday, Ramunni fired up the vehicle for an N.C Ferry worker and a member of the press.

Then it was on to stop No. 1 at Community Square.

“This is history,” Ramunni said as four Ocracoke School fifth-graders hopped on.

The tram service, which was authorized last year as part of soon-to-be passenger ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke, is free for anyone to use.

Although the passenger ferry is still under construction, the electric trams will run daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., as necessary, Ramunni said.

“This is awesome!” said Juliette Jordan, one of the fifth-graders. “I’ve been waiting for this.”

“Don’t feed the animals,” Ramunni said as the open-air vehicle made its way through the Ocracoke “downtown.”

Some members of the Saturday Ladies Lunch group boarded at stop No. 4 between Howard’s Pub and 1718 Brewing Ocracoke.

Debbie Wells boarded with her dog.

“Yes, it’s pet friendly,” Ramunni said.

Finley Austin rode up front with Ramunni and grabbed the microphone.

“Keep your hands and feet inside,” she joked with the now-full tram.

“This is quite nice,” said Liz Hotchkiss. “People who don’t drive could use this.”

“It’s adorable,” said Marcy Brenner, co-owner of the Coyote Den.

Later Saturday afternoon, Ramunni said Ocracoke youth were taking advantage of the ride and were observed riding again on Sunday.

“Yep. The kids are using it,” he said.

He said he has several drivers to help and no special license is needed.

Starting at the NPS Visitors Center, the tram will make continuous trips on its route and will stop at the following designated stops: Community Square, the Island Inn, the Variety Store, Howard’s Pub, on Back Road at Ocracoke Coffee Co. and Zillie’s.

“We tried to make a stop at each area (of the village),” he said.

To fill in the service gaps, Norman LeBlanc, father of Justin LeBlanc, who owns Ocracoke Beach Tours, had that open-air vehicle waiting at the south-end ferry dock. Hand-made signs indicated the vehicle will give free shuttle service to island hotels and rental homes.

Although no walk-ons departed the Swan Quarter ferry, LeBlanc said he’d be back for the later arrivals.

According to a release Friday from NCDOT, ferry tolls have been waived for travelers on all routes until further notice due to Hurricane Florence’s effects on the region.

The Cedar Island and Swan Quarter routes to Ocracoke Village are operating on a limited schedule until further notice. The Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry is currently suspended due to damage of N.C. 12 on the northern part of the island.

The Cedar Island and Swan Quarter routes to Ocracoke Village are operating on limited schedules until Friday. Ferries from Cedar Island are at 7 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. and from Ocracoke to Cedar Island, 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Swan Quarter-Ocracoke schedule is from Swan Quarter at 7 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m. 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and from Ocracoke: 7 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 12:45 p.m., 3:45 p.m. and 9:30 p.m

Ocracoke visitors can park their vehicles at the ferry terminal and walk on. ride the trams, which are part of the new passenger ferry service that will be coming to Ocracoke in the future.

Depending on the weather, NCDOT expects pavement repairs on N.C. 12 to be completed by Sept. 28, allowing for the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry to resume operation.

Learn More

• NCDOT Ferry Temporary Schedule

Reprinted from Ocracoke Observer

OCRACOKE — A chorus of “Aww!” went up through the crowd as the first loggerhead turtle baby was freed Tuesday morning during an excavation of a recently hatched sea turtle nest by Cape Hatteras National Seashore staff.

A tiny turtle, about the size of an adult palm, wriggled as it was placed in a bucket.

The National Park Service allowed the public to watch as they dug up and inventoried the nest about a quarter mile north of the Lifeguard Beach stand.

“After nests ‘boil’ (the term used for the nest hatching), we dig them up and inventory what’s hatched,” said Jocelyn Wright, lead park service biologist on Ocracoke. They gather the live babies and count the leftover eggs as part of their stewardship of the Seashore, she said.

All along the beach, roped-off areas protect nests laid early in the summer by various sea turtles.

Before the beach is open to driving each morning, Park service staff ride the beach to check for the signs of turtle nests, telltale tracks from the ocean to spots near the dunes.

“There are six in this area,” Wright said about the number of roped-off areas visible at the Lifeguard beach.

Letitia Lussier, a seasonal park service interpreter, gave a play-by-play as Wright and the others dug about 2 feet into the sand to extract eggs and hatchlings still in the nest.

“When they hatch, they climb over each other to get out,” Lussier explained. “But it’s tough to crawl out of the sand without a ladder.”

Those babies that can’t get on the “ladder” remain behind.

She explained that a female loggerhead had crawled onto the beach in the middle of the night May 29, used her hind legs to dig a two-foot hole and laid her eggs. Then the mother left.

The nests hatch in 60 days and this one boiled on Aug. 2, Lussier said, But there always are eggs left over. Four days after nests boil, staffers dig up the nests. In this nest, some of the babies had died, but many survived.

“We lost count of the hatchlings today she said with a laugh as a staffer displayed a bucket of about two dozen writhing baby turtles. “There are just too many of them.”

Lussier said the surviving babies did so by feeding from the yolk still in their shells.

She said these youngsters would be released into the ocean in the dark, after the beach closes to driving.

Wright showed the bystanders leftover egg shells and allowed them to be touched.

“The shells are soft and contain a little air, like a basketball,” Lussier said.

Seashore staff have counted 41 nests on the Ocracoke beach this year.

“That’s half the nests we normally have,” Lussier said. “We’re hoping it’s just a down cycle, but we don’t know. Turtles are mysterious because they live in the ocean.”

There are seven species of sea turtles worldwide, she explained, with loggerheads the most common.

As the excavation concluded, having counted 53 egg shells, Lussier admonished the crowd to manage its own trash, especially plastic bottles, grocery bags and balloons.

“Since the 1950s, plastic has started to pollute our world,” she said.

Sea creatures think plastic grocery bags are jellyfish, a prime food.

“Don’t use plastic water bottles, and pick them up — on the beach or the side of the road — when you see them,” she said.

“This was phenomenal,” Doug Hinkle of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, told the park service staff as the crowd dispersed. “It made my whole vacation.”

A frequent island visitor, Hinkle said this was the first time he’d seen an excavation.

“I’m so impressed that they did this and let all of these families watch,” said part-time islander Traci Riggs. “It’s not only fun but it’s teaching these kids.”

“This was wonderful,” said Pam Leonard of Arlington, Virginia, about the excavation. “It’s inspiring and important.”

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer

OCRACOKE — Ocracoke Island will see a new transportation option in late August when four passenger trams will begin circulating around the village.

Joseph Ramunni, manager of the Community Store and the successful bidder with Hyde County for the tram contract, said at the July 11 Ocracoke Civic and Business Association’s civic affairs meeting that trams will run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Starting the service before the arrival of the new passenger ferry, Ocracoke Express, expected sometime this fall, will allow him and his staff to work out the operations.

“We want to be sure the tram flow doesn’t impede the rest of the traffic,” Ramunni said. “The point is for this to help.”

The 11-person trams and two wagons, primarily for handicap needs, will be stored at a building on Berkley Manor property as well as charging poles. Signage for the stops has been approved.

Ramunni was unsure if animals other than service pets will be allowed to board.

While the new passenger ferry is expected to be delivered to the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division this year and some preliminary runs may be done, full service will begin next year.

Ocracoke’s county commissioner Tom Pahl said the village needs improvements for public safety, particularly, the roads lack painted lines for traffic and crossings. He noted the high number of vehicles this summer, including motorized skateboards.

Poor visibility because of vegetation at numerous intersections around the village should be cut back, he said.

Pahl said Ocracoke should consider setting up a fire district that would permit taxing, like the Mosquito Control Board, to fund the village fire department.

There are two ways to handle this, an easy one and a hard one.

The easy one would simply be for county commissioners to approve it. The hard way is to get signatures, hold public meetings then hold a community vote, which he favors.

Outgoing Hyde County Manager Bill Rich said the county is on track to collect about $550,000 in occupancy tax this year. Recently, the county received tax payments from online vacation rental service AirBnB, which previously had not been collected.

The county expects its new emergency medical services building in the lot across from the Island Inn to be installed in September or October.

David Senseney complimented the convenience center, saying it is better maintained this summer. Pahl said that the county installed liquid runoff collection from the trash bins, which has greatly diminished the bad odors.

The Ocracoke Civic and Business Association has a contract with Element Advertising of Asheville ready to sign with the Ocracoke Tourism Development Authority.

Element, which markets Ocracoke and measures return on investment, is to provide lodging statistics as to the effectiveness of the advertising.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from the Ocracoke Observer

New passenger-only ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke will likely be launched in the spring of 2019, according to N.C Ferry Division officials.

Delivery of the 98-passenger catamaran-style boat being custom built by U.S. Workboats in Hubert, near Swansboro, was supposed to be ready this month according to the contract, said Jed Dixon, N.C. Ferry Division deputy director, at a meeting May 9 of the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association civic affairs committee in the Berkley Manor.

But on Friday, the Ferry Division announced at the Passenger Ferry Stakeholders meeting in Manteo that the new boat is taking longer to be built than previously planned.

“The builder is not meeting the schedule,” Tom Pahl, Ocracoke’s county commissioner, said Saturday. “This is not going to be operational until next year.”

Pahl said he, Dixon, and Hyde County Manager Bill Rich will confer Monday morning, and have a further statement. Additionally, the bi-monthly meeting on Ocracoke with the Ferry Division is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday in the Community Center followed by the Ocracoke Waterways Commission at 5:30 p.m.

Dixon said on May 9 and in prior meetings on the island that the ferry was originally expected to be ready by late spring of this year, but it was already having production delays.

A story in the Raleigh News & Observer Friday quoted Tim Hass, spokesman for the Ferry Division, that the ship builder has had trouble finding enough skilled workers, especially certified marine welders.

Cost of the boat construction is $4.15 million,

Inside the new boat will be seating for 98, including two wheelchair spaces, and 16 bicycle racks.

Upstairs outdoor seating for 29 won’t be sold but will be for people to be able to spread out. At this point, he said, the trip between the islands is expected to take 70 minutes over the 25-route in the Pamlico Sound.

Dixon said the hull is still being built and is expected to be flipped over in mid-June.

He also said the Ferry Division will hire a passenger ferry company with a three-person crew to run the boat at first so that Ferry Division workers can learn how to operate it.

Attendees at the May 9 OCBA meeting wondered if passengers could purchase tickets one day but return on another day to encourage longer stays on the island.

Dixon said the reservation system and scheduling is still being worked out, he said.

“We don’t want to exclude anyone who wants to use it,” Dixon said. “We won’t know until it’s up and running.”

Infrastructure for the new service including passenger loading docks, additional parking on Ocracoke and Hatteras, and covered waiting area is estimated at about $5 million, Dixon said. This new infrastructure is being built on both islands.

Regarding Ocracoke village tram service, the Hyde County commissioners at their May 7 meeting awarded a five-year contract to islander Joseph Ramunni, manager of the Ocracoke Community Store, to operate four passenger trams.

However, Pahl said subsequently that the timing of the rollout of tram service is still under discussion.

According to the contract documents, the first year’s operating costs will be $132,605 the second-year’s costs will be $160,615 and the third through fifth-year’s costs will be $160,065.

DOT has committed to paying up to $90,000 of the yearly tram costs and Hyde County the rest including maintenance costs, Rich said at the May 9 meeting. The county will request $35,000 from the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax board for two years toward the tram costs.

He said DOT is purchasing the four trams.

“There’s no cost to the county for the trams themselves,” Rich said.

The trams will carry visitors on a half-hour loop and around the village. All Ocracoke visitors and residents may ride the trams for free.

Signage by the DOT for the eight stops on the loop is still being worked out, Rich said.

This story is provided courtesy of the Ocracoke Observer, a newspaper covering Ocracoke island. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Ocracoke Observer to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

OCRACOKE — Who is “Mark,” and why does he have a path named for him on this island? Where’s the poker game on Poker Players Lane?

Streets in Ocracoke have sometimes quirky, sometimes obvious — Creek Road — even ho-hum names, such as North Street or Middle Road.

While Ocracoke has had European settlers since the 1700s, the island got official street names only in 1999 to make it easier on emergency responders.

Up until then, the sandy lanes were known for what they were used for, said Roger Garrish, manager of the Sand Dollar Motel on Sand Dollar Road.

The committee in 1999 wanted to call Sand Dollar Road “Circle Road,” but when Garrish found out he petitioned to have it changed to its current name “because of the motel.”

Who is “Ikey D?” Garrish said Ikey D. O’Neal was a master carpenter who worked for island builder-developer Sam Jones back in the mid-20th century. “Ikey built the (original) Castle,” he  said.

Ikey D is also the name of Sam Jones’s horse, buried beside him along the Springer’s Point path, and Ikey’s son, also named Ikey, still lives on Ikey D Road.

Islander Candy Gaskill, recalls that some island men would go drinking down off O’Neal Drive in the current Trentwood area, and the elder Ikey was one of them.

“When Ikey D drove by around 3 p.m., I knew it was time to go home,” she said.

When the first pass at the street names came out, she saw that the road by the lighthouse was to be named “Point Road.”

“When we heard about that, me and Dale (Mutro) threw a fit because it’s always been called Lighthouse Road,” she said. “That wasn’t ‘the Point.’ When we say, ‘We’re going to the Point,’ we mean South Point, not Springer’s Point.”

Lighthouse Road becomes Loop Road around the entrance to Springer’s Point, but that section of the road was once called Moonlight Valley Road, Candy Gaskill said. This name is noted on a 1997 Ocracoke Village Development Ordinance map.

Sunset Drive was most recently known as Firehouse Road because the firehouse was there at the intersection of Back Road.

Before that, it was Ammunition Dump Road leading to a site toward Oyster Creek where there were 10 to 12 ammunition bunkers during World War II.

Chester Lynn thinks Sunset Drive should still be called Ammunition Dump Road.

The first paved road on the island was the road in front of his house, Back Road. “It went from the (former Navy) base all the way down to the ammunition dump,” he said. “History should not be lost.”

It was a dirt road before the pavers arrived, said Darlene Styron, owner of the Sweet Tooth, who was on the original street-naming committee. “We used to dig up glass bottles from the war there,” she said.  “A lot of the names are self-explanatory, such as British Cemetery Road.”

With the arrival of the 911 emergency response system, street names with signs were needed so that EMS responders could find places.

“The county had preliminary names and asked us to review them,” she said.

After the committee made the street names public, several islanders petitioned for different names.

A lot of the names are for people who owned the properties or who lived there, said Kenny Ballance, who also was on the original committee.

Martha Jane Lane off Lighthouse Road was for a woman who lived along the road.

Sarah Ellen Gaskill has both a lane, in the Down Point area, and a drive, off Trent Drive, named after her.

“She lived Down Point,” said Clayton Gaskill, a grandchild of Sarah Ellen, who died in 1984. I would visit her every summer.”

One of her kin lived on the other side of the island and wanted to remember her as well, he said.

So Sarah Ellen got a drive on the other side of the island – near “Arretta Street” and “Bebe Lane,” who all were friends, according to Gaskill.

He surmised that because their men were away working off island, people would refer to these ladies’ houses by their first names instead of the family names.

Perhaps because so many island families — Gaskill, Gaskins, Garrish, O’Neal, Howard, Williams –intermarried and are still related, it was like one big clan.

When talking to native islanders about who’s who, one’s mind starts to reel as they rattle off the circular linkages: “That was my daddy’s cousin’s wife’s aunt.”

“We’re all mixed in,” said Roger Garrish with a laugh.

“Mark was my great-grandfather Markus Gaskins,” noted Ballance about Marks Lane, off Back Road, where Markus had lived.

Miss Elecia lived across the street from Ballance, and she was the island seamstress.

“Water Fired Lane,” off Lighthouse Road, was a term islanders used for bioluminescence that sometimes illuminates the surf in certain conditions.

Was “Lumpy” a person commemorating “Lumpys Lane” between Cabana Drive and Friendly Ridge Road?

Baby Boomers of a certain age might be reminded of one of the characters on the “Leave it to Beaver” show of the 1960s, but there was no islander with that name.

“It was named that because it was just a lumpy road,” Styron said with a shrug.

But the poker players were real. “They were island men who would hide from their wives and play poker down there on fish boxes,” said Rudy Austin, who said he couldn’t remember who the particular men were.  “We used to crawl over there and watch them. Then they’d run us off.”

There are three streets named Cedar — Lane, Road and Drive.

Ocracoke Commissioner John Fletcher is seeking that these streets be changed to specific cedars (such as White Cedar, or Red Cedar) to differentiate them for EMS dispatchers, as frantic callers might not know which Cedar they’re on. This is especially crucial when Hyde County merges its EMS dispatch with Dare County in three years and the dispatchers are in Dare County.

Retaining some of the old names was essential to the island street-naming project, Austin said.
“That’s the only way you preserve stuff,” he said.

As for other unusual names:

Nubbins Ridge—No one knows why it’s called that.  “It’s always been called that,” said Gail Hamilton, who’s lived on the ridge all of her life.  Several O’cockers questioned didn’t know why it was named that.
There really is no ridge. This part of the island, along with Friendly Ridge, off Sunset Drive, and Brugh’s Ridge, off Cutting Sage, are high spots on the island.

Winnie Blount Road—Winnie and her husband came to live on the island after the former slaves were freed following the Civil War. Bryant Lane also was named for an African-American family who owned all the property in the area of the lane.

Irvin Garrish Highway—Ocracoke’s first elected official, a ferry captain and Van O’Neal’s grandfather.

Boos Lane–is named after the Boos family, who live nearby.

Cutting Sage and Cutten Sage: Kenny Ballance said the first street was named “Cutten.”  Then other residents petitioned to have a street named in correct English, or “Cutting Sage,” which connects to Cutten Sage.

Pilot Town Road at the ferry dock: Ocracoke was first called “Pilot Town” after the many Colonial ship pilots stationed here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

Birders search for snowy owls amid the dunes of Ocracoke Island. Photo: Connie Leinbach

OCRACOKE — Peter Vankevich has been a birding ambassador this winter for more than 100 visitors wanting to see the two rare snowy owls now calling Ocracoke their winter hunting grounds.

There may even be a third one, Vankevich says on a recent morning while driving his red Jeep on the South Point beach where the owls have been seen most frequently.

He has gone out almost every day with folks since Jan. 4 to look for the owls, which typically plant themselves on the top of the dunes, constantly turning their heads 320 degrees in search of prey. Owls are night birds and most people hear them at night rather than see them, but snowy owls are out during the daylight.

“There’s just something about these snowy owls,” Vankevich says, with his ready smile and bubbling enthusiasm. “I call it the aesthetic of them on the dunes. Is there something more? I don’t know. Having these birds here is really unusual.”

His posts on his Facebook page prompted locals to drive with him for sightings.  Then his posts on the Carolina Birders Facebook page prompted birders from all over the state and beyond to visit Ocracoke in the last several weeks, resulting in an uptick of winter tourists.

“More than 150 people have come so far,” he said a week ago, after shuttling about 20 visitors—the largest group yet–to the dunes between the airport ramp and South Point ramp where the owls have most often been spotted.

“One day I had 17 people and another day 14,” Vankevich says.  “One man from Raleigh has seen 18 of the 19 species of North American owls and the last one he needed was the snowy.  He left here with a bang because he saw and photographed both of them.

“With just a couple of exceptions, everyone who’s come here has seen it,” he says.

It didn’t take long for the latest group to find one of the owls — the one Vankevich calls “Stanley.”

“This is truly amazing,” said Bob Oberfelder of Cary, as the group members got out their binoculars and telescopes. He had taken photos of a snowy owl more than 25 years ago in Delaware. When he heard about the snowy owls on Ocracoke, he decided to make the trip closer to home.

Peter Vankevich shows off some of the thank-you notes that birders have sent him for allowing them to see the owls. Photo: Connie Leinbach

“When am I going to get to look at them closer to home than this?” he said.

That was the sentiment of most of the group.

Matthew Janson, 15, his brother Chris, 14, and their mom, Liz, traveled from Charlotte to see the bird.  A ninth-grader, Matthew is an avid birder and already speaks with authority about the birds.

“These are all immatures because of the amount of black on their bodies,” he says after viewing the owl through his own scope.

Ken and Toni Blanton of Durham made it a birthday gift for Toni.

“I’ve been looking at pictures of the owl since December and have been making myself sick over it,” Toni said. “This is the best birthday ever.”

On the drive along U.S. 64 and N.C. 12 a bald eagle flew in front of their car, and they saw tundra swans and snow geese on Pea Island. “It’s been a white bird weekend,” Toni said.

Vankevich gets as much of a kick making sure the birders have a memorable experience as the birders do in getting this chance to see a rare bird.

“A couple in their 70s came all the way from Asheville to see the owls,” he says. “I can’t tell you the joy they had from this.”

The first owl that was first seen Dec. 27 on the island is all white.  According to eBird, it may be a male as males are all-white and females are darker.

However, that didn’t stop Vankevich, with the help of a group from Oriental in Pamlico County to give these two names.

“Since the white one probably came from the northern Quebec area, I suggested we name it Blanche,” Vankevich says as he and a reporter drive along the South Point beach scanning the dunes.   A Facebook conversation ensued, with someone suggesting the other one be named Stella (with apologies to “A Streetcar Named Desire”).

“No, I said, since the other one may be a male, let’s name it Stanley,” he says.

A snowy owl pokes its head above the dune grass. Photo: Connie Leinbach

An amateur birder since his 20s, Vankevich, 60, is retired as head of the information section of the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. His current job is manager of the Ocracoke Community Library.  He also hosts a weekly music show on the island’s radio station WOVV, volunteers at the Ocracoke Preservation Society and—most important to him–is a volunteer with the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department. Vankevich also organizes the Christmas Bird Count each year on Ocracoke and Portsmouth.

A Maine native, Vankevich is a font of knowledge about birds, and most Friday mornings hosts a bird walk somewhere on the island.  He also will send out tidbits of information to islanders, such as a recent e-mail explaining that the swirling flocks of birds everyone is seeing now are cedar waxwings that are munching on the cedar tree berries.

While driving the beach, he points out willets, sanderlings, Bonaparte’s gulls, great black-backed gulls and more.  He counsels that term the “sandpiper” is out of date. Call them “shorebirds,” he says. “Seagulls” are no longer called such and are simply referred to as “gulls”– because they can be seen as far inland as the Midwest, he says.

Vankevich stops to look at a great black-backed gull, which is the largest gull in the world, he says, almost the same size as a Bald Eagle.

The wanderings of the owls this far south is called an “irruption,” according to birders. Vankevich thinks the warmer Arctic weather produced more fledglings, which has put pressure on their food source, typically lemmings. So, the owls have simply ventured farther south for food territories. They eat “fur and feathers,” he says.

“From GPS tags, we have learned that they will go out in the ocean and grab ducks,” he says.

Owls are night birds, and most people hear them at night rather than see them, but snowy owls are out during the day because in the Arctic they have to adapt to many extremes, including times where there can be up to 24 hours of sunlight, Vankevich says.  This year, they’ve been spotted as far south as Florida, he says. One even hopped a boat in North America and traveled to the Netherlands. Owls have also been seen on Hatteras Island.

Cedar waxwings gather on a cedar tree to eat berries. Photo: Connie Leinbach

“They don’t like the wind,” Vankevich says about where to look for them.  When it’s very windy, the owls can sometimes be found in the secondary dunes.  They also have been spotted frequently at the shack at the end of the runway at the Ocracoke airport where they apparently roost. “Owls are known to hang around airports,” Vankevich says. “They’re often found in the winter at Logan Airport (Boston).”

Elizabeth Hanrahan, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist who lives on the island, has been a part of the effort. She does not get paid for her work rehabilitating injured birds and wild animals, but when folks ask if they can pay Peter for his time, he has suggested they give donations to Hanrahan’s Ocracoke Wildlife Rehabilitation.

“Peter has done an outstanding job publicizing the owl and getting people to come to Ocracoke who’ve never been here,” she says.  “I’m eternally grateful for the donations.”

Wayne Garrish, owner of the Bluff Shoals Motel, has had a few of the visiting birders stay at his establishment this winter. “We’ve definitely benefitted from the owl,” he says.

Betty Helen Chamberlain, co-owner of Captain’s Landing Hotel Suites, also has noted the arrival of patrons who have come specifically to see the snowy owls, and Sean Death, manager of the Beachcomber campgrounds and gas station, has met many of the birders.

“It’s definitely helped business,” he says. “Every little bit helps at this time of the year.”

Hanrahan speculated that perhaps the appearance of the owls presaged the colder, snowy weather the island has had this year. “Several years ago there was another irruption of snowy owls in the South, and after that we had a huge snow storm,” she says.

That might that be why owls are synonymous with wisdom, or something else other-worldly.



“They are prophecy birds,” says Sarah Klinger, who with her husband, Jeff, came to the island to see the owls. “This is just exciting to see.”

Birders wishing to see these owls might be wise to come soon to Ocracoke as Matthew Janson speculates that they might be gone by early March.

• Snowy owl photo gallery

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

The aerial, taken this month, shows the shoaling of Rollinson Channel in Hatteras Inlet. Photo: Don Bowers, Island Free Press.

OCRACOKE — The Coast Guard has come to the rescue of Ocracokers desperately in need of medications from a pharmacy in Hatteras while the ferry between the two islands is shut down by shoaling in the channel.

Chris Wright, officer in charge of Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet, said last week that the Coast Guard will transport medications from Beach Pharmacy to the north end ferry dock where someone from the Ocracoke Health Center will pick them up.

“As long as the weather holds out, we’ll be making a daily run at 1 p.m.,” Wright said, adding that he spoke with Steve Evans, owner of Beach Pharmacy in Avon. “We ran it up the chain (of command) quickly and, yes, we can help.”

He also said he will reach out to both Dare and Hyde County Emergency Management so that these groups know the Coast Guard is there to help if they can.

Evans explained that he had made a few runs himself to deliver medications to the island and recruited his friend Marshall Foster, who works for the N.C. Department of Transportation Ferry Division, to take him to the Ocracoke ferry dock in one of Foster’s dad’s boats.  Dwight Burrus of Hatteras village, who has a private plane, also has been pressed into service.

This channel marker should be floating upright instead of tilting on its side in the shallow water. Photo: Connie Leinbach, Island Free Press

“We’ll get the medications to Ocracoke any way we can,” Evans said.

A four-person Coast Guard crew traversed the channel on Jan. 23 in 15 minutes to hand off medications to Jamie Tunnell Carter, the manager of the Ocracoke Health Center, who gave them a container for the courier on the Hatteras side.

The Ferry Division suspended the ferry between the islands Jan. 18 after high winds the night before caused the ferry channel at markers No. 9 and No.10 to shoal over and become impassable for the ferries, which draft about four feet of water.   Boats with lower drafts of one or two feet, such as ones Foster and the Coast Guard can use, have been able to get through the channel to Ocracoke.

The ferry Division added runs between both Cedar Island and Swan Quarter and exempted residents and vendors from the tolls.

Allen Burrus of Hatteras, a Dare County commissioner, said at last week’s board meeting that the Army Corps of Engineers has identified another route farther into the sound that the ferries possibly could use while the regular channel is being dredged.

The Corps is surveying that area, said Jed Dixon, deputy director of the Ferry Division, but it may not be a feasible route as it depends on several factors–particularly a viable depth.  Then the Coast Guard has to certify a new channel and set channel markers, all of which could take days to complete.

“My position is that this is all speculation,” Dixon said. “At this point, I don’t know the likelihood of this happening.”

Meanwhile, the pipeline dredge Richmond, owned by Cottrell Contracting of Chesapeake, Va., is pretty much on schedule and has worked through two of the “hot spots,” said Roger Bullock, chief of navigation for the Army Corps. It is heading toward the next hot spots in the Hatteras Inlet.

The dredge is about 65 percent through its contracted area, Dixon said.  After the dredge finishes at the final hot spots at markers No. 9 and No.10, it will move back into the Rollinson Channel area.

Jamie Tunnell Carter, office manager of the Ocracoke Health Center, receives medications from Coast Guardsmen. They are from left: Adam Preiser, Riley Peters, Steven Haughton and Chris Perrett. Photo: Connie Leinbach, Island Free Press

The dredge this week is in the vicinity of marker 9A, and the project is about 60 percent complete by quantity, according to a DOT statement.

The contractor has removed 76,751 cubic yards of material to a required depth of 10 feet, with two feet of over dredging since Dec. 1, according to the statement.

The DOT said the Army Corps of Engineers will be providing a weekly report to help keep residents updated on the progress of the project.

Meanwhile on Monday, Congress gave final approval to a $50.5 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill.

Part of the package includes money for the Corps to pay for additional dredging at Hatteras Inlet, along with Oregon Inlet and other waterways around the area.

Money from the bill that is now headed to President Barack Obama for his signature will also reimburse the DOT for repairs to N.C. 12 at Mirlo Beach and Kitty Hawk, washed out by Hurricane Sandy.

As for the suspended ferries, Dixon said they are assessing the channel daily.

“A big portion of the channel is filled in below four feet,” he said. “We can’t operate in that depth.”

Until the Hatteras ferry lane opens up, Ocracokers are finding other ways to get their business and personal needs met, such as veterinary services.

Roanoke Island Animal Clinic in Manteo has a standing third-Wednesday-of-the-month clinic on Ocracoke but hasn’t been to the island since November.  The clinic hopes to get to the island in February.

Reggie Mosser, a New Mexico resident who with her husband, George Brown, lives in Ocracoke for the winter, had to find a veterinarian last week in Morehead City to get annual shots for her dog.

Others with doctors’ appointments are similarly scrambling.

“My son has some dentist appointments with Dr. Slagle in Frisco,” said Merle Davis. “I don’t know if he’ll be able to get to them.”

The Coast Guard boat pulls away from the dock at the north end of Ocracoke Island. Photo: Connie Leinbach

“It’s a hardship beyond belief,” said Gail Hamilton, a village resident, about having to use only the Swan Quarter ferry. “My mother was born here, and I’ve never known them to shut down for more than a day or two.”

Other residents have had to stay overnight in Dare County to keep doctors’ appointments.

Ken DeBarth, a physician’s assistant who works weekends at Urgent Care in Nags Head, said having to take the Swan Quarter ferry has added several extra hours to his commute each way, sometimes forcing him to stay overnight either before or after his gig.  Juggling his drive time has been tricky since October as he couldn’t catch the Hatteras ferry at low tide then encountered difficulties at N.C.  in northern Rodanthe at high tide.

“But it’s great that they put the extra two boats on at Swan Quarter,” he said.

Brian Samick, a local carpenter, noted that the building supply trucks have arrived.

Sean Death, manager of the Beachcomber Campground and Gas Station, said the Sysco (food) truck has gotten here, and he has given the drivers complimentary food.

“Tommy’s (Hutcherson at the Variety Store) put some up overnight,” Death said.

Celeste Brooks, postmaster at Ocracoke, said the only time the mail hasn’t gotten here was two days two weeks ago and that she asked the ferry to modify its schedule to accommodate the post office’s turn-around.