Manteo and 4th of July

We have had our fill of mosquitoes and left Ocracoke on Wednesday and sailed up Pamlico Sound to Manteo. The sail was rather bumpy and wet as the spray came over the bow. It seemed like it took forever to make the journey as I watched the clock for it to end. Once we rounded the inside of some of the small barrier islands north of Bodie Island the water and wind calmed down and the last 2 hours weren’t too bad.

Manteo, NC is a small town on Roanoke Island and is home of Andy Griffith and the courthouse used on his TV show Matlock. The town it’s self is rather small and dependant on tourists. There is the Festival Park that hosts many activities and a pirate ship for people to see. Every morning and through out the day you hear cannon shots fired from across the marina. There is a restored light house and a Maritime center where boats were built up until a few years ago to also visit. The docks and marina are clean and very friendly and accessible to shopping and restaurants. Yes Larry, we had to check out the food!! Strippers had some awesome seared tuna on Asian noodles and the Full Moon Café did a great seafood pasta with shrimp, scallops, and spinach, with a sun dried tomato-Alfredo sauce. WOOOOOO!! We also happened to be in Manteo on the first Friday; where the shops stay open late, music is everywhere and streets are packed and full of activities. On the 4 of July the waterfront was decorated with flags and the boats including us, were decorated too! Everyone was sporting their red, white, and blue from babies to gray hairs and even the dogs, cats and a rabbit walking on a leash! (Sorry, we didn’t get a picture.)

Schooner got her bath on Saturday afternoon and I put on her new flag bandana, that Gordon relented on to let her wear, and we awaited the fireworks show. We had gotten news of the fireworks explosion down in Ocracoke, and what a terrible loss. Thank God they didn’t explode on the ferry or there would have been more than the 5 lives lost for sure. Having just been there, and so close to the ferry dock where it happened is scary. There probably won’t be fireworks in Ocracoke ever again since the only way to get there is by ferries!! Manteo put on a spectacular fireworks display and we got to view it while sitting on the front on the boat. Oh, so close!!! We hope everyone had as wonderful day as we did and Happy Birthday USA!!


Should have done a slide show with all these pictures...oh well!!