Shakleford Banks - The Trip Begins

Bernie and I left Oriental, NC yesterday under sail and arrived to our anchor off Shackleford Banks. We arrived at low tide in the late afternoon. As we were figuring out the anchoring we saw our first band of wild ponies stepping from the woods. It was a group of four ponies. They romped a bit, picked up a canter and headed down the beach away from our boat.

Today we launched our kayaks paddled to the island. We tied the kayaks up to some downed trees on the beach and set out to explore with a knapsack containing a lunch of devil ham sandwiches. We walked from the bay side to the ocean.  In between the bay and the ocean are dunes with juniper trees and grass. It's a mix of low forests and grassy dunes. We walked to a high dune near the ocean beach and saw a bunch of dolphins.

Then we walked to another high dune and saw the ponies down below grazing in a little valley of very short grass. There was four of them, a chestnut stallion, a dark bay mare and two yearlings. The mare and the stallion looked thin. They have just come through winter.

Bernie and I watched them graze for a while then we walked back to the bay side and ate our lunch in the shade. After the lunch we walked back to the kayaks and went back to the sailboat for a nap. After napping we rowed back to the island to pitch our tent so we now have a land base as well. Below are some pictures of the trip up till now.

Bernie sails his boat Grit towards Shackleford Banks

The location of our achorage on Shackleford Banks

Arriving on to Shackleford from Grit

The sailboat Grit from our camp on Shackleford Banks

Bernie standing in the dunes between the bay behind him and the ocean in front

The chestnut stallion with the dark bay mare

Yearling

Observing the ponies