Ocracoke Island, North Carolina

Thursday morning, Adam and I waited in line for the little ferry from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke, another island, much smaller, which is the last of the Outer Banks. The ferries that run the route are small and free and so the queue is long, but once aboard, we caught a salty breeze on deck and saw a slick gray dolphin jumping in and out of the water!

We loved Ocracoke immediately. It's small -- you can drive from one end to the other in fifteen or twenty  minutes -- and incredibly beautiful. The island has ponies (feral, not wild, just like the ones on Assateague) and we saw Paloma, the first filly to be born on the island in a couple decades, rolling around to cool off in the sand. The beaches here are lovely and clean (with no trucks!). And it's got a tiny, funky beach community with coffee stands, bake shops and little traffic (except from bikes and golf carts).

Since we were still on the camping leg of our journey, we picked out a site at the national campground, another rustic place to call home with cold showers and beach access just over the dunes. The waves were massive -- at least eight feet high, judging them against the top of Adam's head. This made for excellent rounds of 'tsunami,' a game I'm told that Adam and Chris made up years ago.

At night, the cool air coming off the water kept us fairly comfortable in the tent, although I was spooked when I spotted a sand-coloured crab coming out of a hole in the ground just beside us. We figured out that they sleep under the sand during the day and, at dusk, scuttle across the dunes to the beach to feed. As you probably know, crabs look a bit like naked spiders, have beady (but also cute) eyes and only walk sideways. A little unnerving to have them motoring around us while we slept.

Friday, we sought respite from the heat again at Ocracoke Coffee, a local hang-out filled with yoga instructors, sunburned surfers and piles of teenagers. We took a walk, afterward, literally down Back Road, strolling down to Zillie's, a gourmet food and wine shop with a great selection of beer and a four-seat bar. Naturally, Adam had to try a brew, so we cooled off, made friends with the owners and got a little tipsy -- all before lunch. The Ocracoke way, we're told! Adam 'got all North Carolina' on the way back to the car by taking off his t-shirt to beat the heat. Of course, ladies have to keep their clothes on and suffer.

Next stop is Carolina Beach. Catching the ferry off the island Saturday morning.