Ocracoke, NC

 3 airplanes departed one after the other from Eagles Landing bound for a "Hundred Dollar Hamburger" at Ocracoke.  (So-called because it costs quite a bit in aviation fuel to fly to the beach, haha)

 

Good to be back in the air with a purpose again!

 

South of Raleigh.

 

Over the phosphate mines near Aurora.

 

And out over the Pamlico Sound - you faintly see one of the 3 ferries in the sound.

 

Approaching Ocracoke Island.

A good view of Silver Lake where we sometimes dock or anchor.  (These aerial shots aren't anywhere near as fascinating now that everyone has drones to do the same thing....)

Coming up the coastline towards the airport.

The runway has been repaved/or remarked.  Very nice.

 

The three neighbors - John and Jean with their Cessna Cardinal

 

Dick and Lindy with their Mooney.

 

And of course, Duane and I with our Mooney.

 We hoofed it over to Howard's Pub. (They used to answer on the VHF radio and bring a golf cart down to the airport to pick you up, but apparently they no longer offer that cool service).

Howard's Pub is a long-time institution on Ocracoke - not our favorite place to eat - it was OK as usual.  Small helpings, crazy prices ($7.50 for a draft beer??  Of course no one drank any since we were flying, but still....)  Anyway, end of rant, you know what you're getting at Howard's.

The next photos will be more interesting to those who have been to Ocracoke over the years.  We've not been here for 2 years now - and a couple of hurricanes have really done a lot of damage to the island.

I knew the Jolly Roger was closed (temporarily, google says).  It's really sad - gutted.   You can see thru the windows all the way thru the building - nothing there.

 Ruined equipment piled all around.

And the newer covered eating area.

 

But Dajio is completely different too, in a better way, I guess.  We didn't go inside - but the old open bar with the ring toss is gone/replaced.  All that's familiar is the two little bathrooms.

 

This is the house where we often rented the old junky bicycles for cheap. 

 

Same house - there used to be a permanent "taco" stand under the big oak tree.

 

On to the dock area - just a few boats.  Not sure if the Hatteras "walk on ferry" is still operational, but the floating dock is still in place.

 

And we caught one of the free shuttles provided by the county back to the town limit.

 

A few more interesting places - the very popular Eduardo's taco truck is now pretty much permanently established across/down the road from the Variety store - with picnic tables and umbrellas.

 

They're apparently salvaging part of the old Ocracoke Island Inn - I guess it won't flood at that height!

 

 
And the building that used to house Ocracoke Oyster Company (before that Jimmy's Buffet) is just gone.  Gone!  A cart rental yard is there now.

 And sadly - our favorite 50 cent chicken wing/$2 tallboy Miller Highlife dive bar - Gaffer's - closed after Dorian, I believe.   It's now called Breeze - we'll have to check it out some other time.

 That's it for the trip - uneventful but bumpy flight home with me at the controls (so no more photos).