It seems that when we stop here at Atlantic Yacht Basin, something is bound to need fixing. Fortunately, they are equipped with men and machinery to fix about everything and you are close enough to shopping to get away from the boat. Tuesday, the day after we get here, the fan on the inverter went out, but we were able to set up the battery charger to keep up the power. While Gordon worked on that, he decided to have the batteries tested. We had some concerns that they were going to need to be replaced, although they are fine. Sparky, the electrician here at AYB, gave them a jolt of electricity and they are performing great now!!
On Wednesday we rented a car, since we had to wait on parts to arrive. We decided to do a short road trip to the northern Outer Banks and the town of Corolla. I had just finished a book “The Banker Ponies” on the wild ponies
of the Outer Banks and there is a heard of about 150, located at The National Estuarine Research Reserve there. You can rent jeeps to drive the beach to see them, but we were lucky enough to see them from a lookout area since it was really late in the afternoon by the time we got there. 
We were told it would take about an hour to get there and it wound up being closer to 2 hours!! (Never ask a local how long the drive will take!!) About the ponies though…it is sad the government has almost destroyed this animal. They date back to the 1600’s when the Spanish first came to America, and to lighten their load, would toss the ponies overboard when their ships ran aground. The creatures survive on little to nothing still to this day. (Leslie this is a must see for you!!) While in Corolla, we made a trek to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.
It was put into service in December of 1875 and was the last to light up the treacherous Outer Banks. It was automated in 1939, but still has its original Fresnal lens. There are 214 grueling steps to reach the top!! It was also left unpainted so you can see the many red colored bricks used to build it. It was opened to the public in 1990 and in 1999-2000 it under went a major restoration. On the return trip to the boat, we stopped at a huge farmers market and got some fresh sweet corn that had been picked that afternoon, some big peaches, some tomatoes and an orange-cranberry sweet bread. It is so nice to get back to getting fresh picked vegetables…they taste soooo good!!!
1 comment:
Those ponies are pretty neat and it is a shame they are not better taken care of. There used to be a herd of the same type ponies on Ocracoke Island. They just kind of wandered the beach area not far from ferry landing on north end of island. Not sure if they are still there.
Post a Comment