To wrap up the summer we had our normal annual trip to OBX. We were planning on staying back in Hatteras this year with friends, but mother nature had other plans! The drive down was smooth and we got to OBX Saturday afternoon and decided to stop at Rundown Cafe in Kitty Hawk for lunch since we weren’t in a hurry. Food was delicious and the view from the top deck was incredible. Plus the beers were good and they were pet friendly! It made such a good impression on us we even decided to buy a pint glass. After lunch we finished the drive down Rt. 12 to Hatteras Island and we hung out on the beach for a bit before getting the notice that our rental, Diamond Turtle, was ready. We really liked the house and it had plenty of space for the 9 of us to enjoy for the week. After carrying all of our luggage and groceries inside, and up four flights of stairs, we got everyone settled in. We knew Saturday night was going to be an early night to bed since we were planning on a fishing trip Sunday morning. While it was an early morning, the fishing trip on Stormy Petrel II was great. We all had fun and caught a bunch of Spanish mackerel and blue fish. Interestingly, while on the boat the first mate commented that it was a good thing we got our trip in because they might have to cancel trips for a few days with the hurricane blowing passed?!? Apparently I had done a poor job monitoring the weather because I thought Hurricane Erin was pretty far offshore and wouldn’t impact OBX. We couldn’t control the weather so we headed back to the place and went to the beach for a normal day in the waves and soaking up the sun. Around 6pm we got the alert that all of Hatteras Island was under mandatory evacuation and we had to be off the island by 10am the following morning. I’m not going to lie, it stinks, it adds stress to a vacation that is supposed to be there to relieve stress. On the other hand, like I said, we can’t control the weather. I ran to fill up the gas tank in the truck knowing that we would be driving north for a while the next morning. We made the most of our last night in Hatteras, the kids hunted for ghost crabs while us dads had a bonfire on the beach! I went for a run on the beach Monday morning (the weather was calm and normal!) and then we packed up the truck to head north. Our original plan was to try to make it to Manteo and Alligator River during the week so we decided to do those things on Monday while we tried to find another place to stay. As I’ve said in other posts, Alligator River never disappoints. We saw several bear and even some bear cubs this year, it’s always a highlight of our trip!
I don’t think heading home was ever really an option for me. 😊 I love the beach, I dream of living there permanently and wait all year for any vacation that takes me closer to the ocean. To have our week trip cut down to two days was unacceptable. Regardless of the cost to find another rental, I had no intention of heading back home. This is probably a topic for debate but we never use rental/trip insurance. We’ve gone to OBX and countless other places over the past 25 years and I’ve never had a trip cancelled or a sickness/injury that prevented us from travelling. I think the cost of insurance for all of those trips would severely outweigh the extremely random instance when we actual lose money on a vacation. It wasn’t a big deal to me to be out the cost of our Hatteras rental, of course I would have liked to recoup some of that money but in the long run I feel that we have saved more not buying the trip insurance every year…who knows….maybe my opinion will start to change since we lost out this year?
While I was driving to Manteo, Kristen did an awesome job calling rental agencies and checking availability. The agencies were very accommodating and knew there was a lot of people looking to relocate due to the evacuation notice. Rather than price gouging or taking advantage of people, they worked with owners to offer partial week rentals at discounted prices. Leaving Manteo around 5pm we were able to stop in Kitty Hawk to sign some paperwork with Carolina Shores for our new rental in Corolla/Whalehead. It also worked out that my Uncle’s family was staying in Ocean Sands, so while we thought we wouldn’t get to meet up with them at all during our vacation we ended up being only a few minutes away instead. The new house we moved into was dated and had some minor issues, but it was way better than heading home and we were all thankful to be able to continue our beach vacation. Monday night we spent unloading the cars again, and carrying everything up a different three flights of stairs all over again! 😊
Tuesday morning I decided to go for a run on the beach (shocker), and for the first time in 25 years of OBX trips I got to see a baby sea turtle!!!! I was running south from Whalehead and saw a group of people on the beach. At first I didn’t realize what was going on but as I got closer I saw the chute set-up and the volunteers excavating eggs/shells. Apparently the nest had hatched a couple days before and this was the excavation to see if there were any remaining eggs or babies that didn’t make it out of the nest. I tried calling mom and Kristen to drive down but they weren’t able to make it in time. I was able to see the last baby sea turtle crawl into the ocean. It was incredible to witness and something that I’ve wanted to see for years.
Hurricane Erin definitely made for rougher waves and we weren’t able to swim out in the ocean after Tuesday. We still had a great time on the beach and playing in the surf (up to our knees only). It was crazy to see the ocean coming all the way up to the dunes and high tide waves were actually breaking on the dunes. On days we were at the beach we tried to build a sand wall around our tent to keep the high tide from flooding us, but even all the way back by the dunes the ocean eventually won and we would have to call it a day. Other than the rough seas, the rest of the week settled into a normal beach vacation. A lot of time playing in the sand, playing games with family and friends, and just relaxing…so glad we were able to stay!
