We left Manteo and had more shallow ICW fun and another happy 65 bridge to drag our antenna across, and then slipped out into the Pamlico Sound. Unbelievably lovely in pretty much any direction you looked.
Here again was another choice. The Pamlico is very long and wide and can get very rough. I talked to a guy who said he got caught in 8 foot waves in the Pamlico, and his keel was thumping on the ground in the troughs between the waves. So barfy and terrifying at the same time. We needed someplace to run into just in case things got bad. We thought about a little island anchorage north of Hatteras, but there wasn’t much protection there, and we thought about some anchorages on the North side of the sound, but they were a lot of miles away.
The weather was perfect and conditions just right – cool but pleasant, calm seas and warm sunshine – so we decided to make for the tiny island of Okracoke and the little anchorage there in a bay called Silver Lake. We got in a couple hours after dark.
We were really glad we made this choice. Okracoke is a charming place accessible only by boat or ferry, and the folks have a nice small-town but resort-feeling vibe. Beautiful beaches. We took a walk down out of town and down to the shore, and stopped in at the local library to print out some math worksheets (which we left at the library, natch).
Sailing Perseverance 