Castaway

 Some of you might remember the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks.  In the movie he is marooned on a deserted island after his plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean.  With no way off the island, he learns to live by himself with only a volley ball that also washes ashore which he names Wilson.  Well after all the wind we had last week here in Ocracoke, it has been a little like the movie.  Starting Saturday, September 19th there were 4 days of gale force winds that washed out several places along highway 12 on both Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands.  For those unfamiliar with the area, Hwy 12 is the only road that traverses the length of the islands.

The following photos are from the Ocracoke Facebook page.  We could not get there as they have the road closed to the public while they work to fix it.

The Atlantic Ocean washed away the sand dunes and came right across the road (Highway 12).

This area is north of the village of Ocracoke and the marina where we are docked.  It is the road we take to get to the north end of the island and get the ferry to Hatteras Island.

Here is another shot of the over-wash on Hwy 12

The guy in this front end loader better be careful he doesn't get washed into the Atlantic.  Hope he is getting hazard pay.

There was also significant overwash on Hatteras Island.  Here is a shot of Hwy 12 near Rodanthe

As they attempt to plow the sand back onto dunes along the ocean, the waves continued to break over and wash back across the road.

So the road has been closed for several days.  On top of that the ferries have also not run in 4 days.  The wind had them completely shut down (Saturday the 19th to Tuesday 22nd).  Essentially there was no way on or off the island unless you had to be medevaced off via the US Coast Guard.  Keith just made it back to Ocracoke before everything shut down.  He had to fly to Colorado for a family funeral.  His flight into Raleigh landed at 11:30 PM Friday night and he drove immediately to Hatteras.  Knowing the wind was to get really bad, he wanted to catch the 5:00 AM ferry across from Hatteras to Ocracoke hoping it would still be running Saturday morning.  He caught one of the last (if not the last ferry) across before they shut it down.  He said the ride was quite nautical, with waves being blown over the sides of the ferry onto the Jeep.  He was also lucky that the road had not yet washed over.  This occurred later in the day on Saturday and during Saturday night.  So although we are not alone with just a washed-up volleyball; it is a bit like being marooned on an island.  

The wind slowly subsided by mid-week.  The ferry at the north end of  Ocracoke to Hatteras is still not running as the road is not passable.  The ferries out of the south end that go to Cedar Island and Swan Quarter on the mainland have had a severely reduced schedule.  The winds shoaled Big Foot Slough, the channel they use to come into Ocracoke.  Because of this shoaling, of the 5 ferries running these routes only 1 can get into Ocracoke.  Starting Tuesday, the one ferry began running.  Needless to say, nobody is getting on or off this island quickly right now (crazy!!!!!!).