Cape Lookout

We wake up to a very calm morning. It is a short run out to Cape Lookout. 8 miles to the Ocean and another 8 miles out to Cape Lookout. After we pull up the anchor we stop at the Spooner Creek Marina to fuel up and pump out. The Beaufort Inlet is currently being dredged so there is a lot of equipment to dodge. Once we leave the inlet and are out on the ocean there are numerous shrimp boats dragging their nets. One that we pass has 10 or dolphins swimming over the net looking for a free meal I assume. 

Nice calm motoring and we are anchored at Cape Lookout by noontime. During the last few miles of motoring the wind picks up and there is a pretty good chop at the anchorage.


After lunch we dinghy over to the lighthouse. There is a dock for the ferrys, but no docks for dinghies and signs saying no PWC’s allowed on the beach. We beach the dinghy anyways and put out the anchor, because there is a significant tide here.

 

We are a week too early for the lighthouse, it is not open until May 15, but we do get to see the lighthouse keepers museum. From there we follow the boardwalk across the island to the beach. There are a few people here. We walk back and find the visitors center which is open and talk with the ranger. Linda gets her National Park Stamp and I buy a Cape Lookout Poster. I expected to find the dinghy floating when we return, but the tide has gone out further and we have to drag it down to the water.



We take the dinghy further south and walk across to the beach expecting to see less people. We don’t see anyone else, but do see lots of tire tracks in the sand. Further north on the island is a car ferry for 4 wheel drive vehicles and the very wide beach has lots of tracks below the high tide line.

Lots of well worn pieces of shell fragments, more like sea glass. Some of the polished pieces have rather interesting patterns. We are a little disappointed because we have been told how clear the water is out here and how it reminds people of the Bahamas. Well, not this trip the water visibility is barely a foot.



We shower off on the back of the boat in day light since no one is around, instead of our usual waiting for dark. That evening after dark it gets quite noisy inside the boat. I don’t know what kind of fish they are, but they get quite noisy. Sounds like they are tapping the hull. Up on the deck of the boat you can’t hear them at all, the sound is coming through the hull.