Our WOWO Cruise

Silver Lake, Ocracoke Island
N 35 06.926 W 075 59.168

They call them RORO ferries. That is ferries that are designed for vehicles to roll-on roll-off. When I bought tickets for Libby and I to ride as passengers, the lady said, "WOWO. Walk-on Walk-off." So that's what I call our WOWO cruise.

It was fun. We had a sunny, warm day, with blue sky and no wind. The ferry ride took 2.5 hours. After posting blogs at the coffee shop this morning, we left on the ferry about 10:30. I met some motorcyclists from Glenns Falls, NY on the way. They and others were heading for the big bike meet in Myrtle Beach. More than 200,000 bikers are expected for that. Wow.

At the Cedar Island end, we had a 90 minute layover. We ate lunch in a picnic pavilion, then we walked on the nearby beach. There we saw a very strange sight. It was a bird in the water, about 100 feet out from the beach. The bird appeared to be half submerged, and trying to swim with its wings. But it was almost stationary. At first we thought it was a pelican, perhaps fouled in a fishing net. I took a video of it with the camera. Then, it suddenly lifted up and flew away. It looked like
an eagle. As it took off, it shivered in mid air to shake off water like a wet dog does. It was actually an osprey. Now we understand what it was doing. It was clamming. It was digging in the under water mud with its claws while standing in water less than 6 inches deep. It was digging for clams. Very cool.

On the ride back we encountered a group of 15 bicyclists who were on a tour conducted by Sojourners, a Vermont company. They were on a week long bike tour. That was cool.

We met the 2nd officer of the ferry boat. She admitted to having a dream job, and getting paid to do it. This lady had a knack for finding dream jobs. Before the ferry job, she worked as caretaker at a cabin on one of the outer banks barrier islands. That too sounded like a dream job.

Upon return, I had to do a diving tour. Inspection of the propeller zinc this morning showed it to be missing. Damn. The last time I checked it was in Fernandina Beach. At least, we have been in fresh water 2/3 of the time since then. Anyhow, I had to go diving with mask and snorkel to put the new zinc on and to clean the propeller. After that, I took a sun shower because the water in harbors is not the cleanest. It was much easier to change zincs in the Bahamas where the water is clear.
Here, I had to work mostly by feel. I sure hate that zinc design for Max Props. It sucks.

Tomorrow morning we depart for Manteo at 0600.