Lighthouse, Ferry, Ft Macon & Miss Ashley

It was a long day today!  None of us slept much last night due to cold rooms, hot rooms, heavy rain, etc. Plus,  jet lag has caught up with us. Breakfast was at 7 a.m. this morning since the ferry left at 10 a.m. and we had to be in line by 9:30 plus there was few things we wanted to see in the town of Ocracoke before we left. We visited our 2nd lighthouse of the trip and it was a beautiful setting.  However, it was all white and the sky was all cloudy so the lighthouse wasn't as dramatic as it would have been if it was against a blue sky.

Our ferry from Ocracoke Island to Cedar Island (mainland) was a twin of this one which was coming into harbor from another island. Originally, we were going to skip Ocracoke but everyone who has been in the area said "you must go there". The only way to the isalnd is by ferry. We were leery of taking the ferry since I have a depth perception problem, which includes driving in tight spaces,  and Nancy is prone to motion sickness.  But we added it to the trip and are very glad we did - I didn't have any problems driving onto the ferry and Nancy didn't have any motion sickness. It was interesting last night being on a pretty small island knowing that the only way off was by ferry. The distance from the island to the mainland on was only 23 miles but it took 2 1/4 hours to cross the water. At times the water was relatively shallow and the channel very narrow so it was slow going for the ferry. The crossing was very smooth. In the below picture, Jane and I are enjoying the sun on the deck at the front of the ferry.

We stopped at the historic seaside town of Beaufort, NC which goes back to the early 1700's. There are a lot of wonderfully restored homes in the town that are so beautiful. We were surprised at how large some of the yachts were that were docked in the harbor. Then it was on to Fort Macon State Park to look at a Fort that construction began on in 1824 and was captured by the Union Soldiers during the Civil War.  Most of the original buildings remain.

And by now you may be wondering who Miss Ashley is.... After 2 days, we have named our GPS system Miss Ashley because she is disgustingly polite, never says "recalculating" like Gertrude loves to say in her condescending voice, has a slightly breathy voice in an almost southern accent.  Miss Ashley is delightful and tomorrow her job will be to get us to Charleston, SC.