Friday, September 9, 2011

an uninhabited island, an episode with a raccoon, and sand fleas

What better way to pass your summer vacation than by spending a night on a beachfront campsite on an uninhabited island? Right? Well, yeah, that's what I thought as I boarded the small passenger-only ferry that transports people from the mainland across the sound to Bare Island, NC.
The island is part of a state park called Hammocks Beach State Park. While no one lives on the island, anyone can pay $5, and ride the 15 minute ferry to this beautiful piece of land located south of Emerald Isle. For a few extra bucks, you can camp at one of the 12 campsites on the island, and that's exactly what my family decided to do.
As I disembarked the ferry, I looked at the sand tail in front of us that wound through a maritime forest for a mile. The searing summer sun beat down on me and made my 20 pound backpack feel much heavier than it actually was.




The trek across the island (from the sound side to the ocean side) wasn't too hard- it was just flat and sandy. As I crested the last dune, I was in awe of the natural unspoiled beach the stretched for miles! I squinted in the sunlight that reflected off the water and watched the waves lick the shoreline.
Our campsite was another half mile hike down the beach. Between my parents and me, we had all our camping gear on our backs: our tent, all the drinking water and food we would need, clothes, sunscreen, and towels.
We pitched our tent as fast as we possibly could in the scorching heat, threw on our swimsuits and ran down to cool off in the ocean. Boy, did the water feel refreshing!
The waves were amazing! A die-hard surfer who had carried his surfboard across the island was out shredding the gnarly waves. I was jealous that I hadn't brought a board with me. But oh well, I had had enough stuff to carry across the island.
For dinner that night we just ate meal replacement bars and drank our warmed-by-the-Carolina-sun water.
We took a stroll down the beach as the sun set and did some shelling. The sea shells were some of the biggest I’d even seen!
When night came, I was astonished by the amount of starts that were visible. We made our way back to our campsite by the moonlight that illuminated the beach.
There was a nice breeze that was blowing off the ocean that made the air cool down some. We climbed into our tent, thinking what a good night sleep we would get.
Never- I repeat- NEVER underestimate a raccoon’s sense of smell! And- Never store your food in your tent (which was exactly what we did).
In the middle of the night we heard a small scratching noise our side our tent. This strange sound kept persisting. Then my mom, who was sleeping near the side of the tent, felt something outside the tent brush up against her back. She hit the side of the tent, and whatever it was scampered away only to return a few minutes later. We dealt with the scratching and sniffing outside our tent all night long.
When we awoke the next morning to a quarter sized hole chewed into the bottom of our tent by very hungry raccoon.
Because of the problems with the raccoon and the other problem with I had with being eaten alive with sand fleas, or no-see-ems,(I’m not sure which one) we decided not to spend another night there!
It was a fun experience, but next time we won’t store our food inside our tent!