The Second Day On Shackleford Banks

3/21/2026

Can you smell that boiling coffee?

Dulce waits for her hot dog at the Royal James

Second day. Awoke aboard the good vessel Grit. The sun was shining, the water sparkling. Several pelicans flew overhead as I stepped out of the companion way to greet the day and the island. Our red percolator bubbled and steamed. The cabin smelled of rich French roast. Bernie saw a dolphin swim up the channel right next to the boat.
We were planning to paddle to the island and walk east to find some ponies to observe for the day, when Bernie got a text from his friend Keith, who wanted to pick us up in his beautiful classic cruising motorboat and take us out to lunch in Beaufort. There was also a promise of a shower, and even though the offer was sooner than I would have preferred, I knew it would feel great and that we would have a fun visit with Keith.

Keith brought his cute cattle dog, Dulce, with him, and much to her delight, she got her own hot dog sitting right with us at the bar of the Royal James.

On the way back to Grit, Keith’s boat ran gently aground, and Bernie was able to push us off with a long oar. Then, as Keith was leaving Grit, he got stuck on the sand again, as finding the channel in this area is rather tricky. Bernie paddled out in a kayak and got aboard Keith’s boat, and he used the long oar to free up Keith’s boat as Keith steered.

Once we had waved Keith and Dulce off. I got myself organized and paddled over to Shackleford to find some ponies. I followed hoof prints to the edge of a brackish lagoon, where I assumed they had gone to get some water. I then walked up to the top of the nearest tall dune to scout for them. But I saw no ponies, only a tough landscape for ponies to live upon. This gave me a moment's pause to think of their flinty capacity to survive here. Not only the storms, but also the sandy, nutrition-poor landscape. The flies, the wind, the exposure, and yet, supposedly, the stupidity of some tourists is their greatest downfall.

Bernie joined me, and we walked towards the ocean from the bay side. On our way, we found the bleached bones of a deceased pony. The skull was very interesting to look at. The Shackleford ponies have deep jawbones and short muzzles, and the skull showed this feature. I could also clearly see all the skull sutures I had learned studying craniosacral. For those who do not know, a horse’s skull is not one solid bone but made up of different plates that have suture lines between them.

We also passed many stud piles as we walked through the interior, going from the bay to the ocean side. Stud piles are mounds of dung that the stallions make to let other stallions know their territory. Stallions spend a lot of time making them and sniffing them for information.

We got to the ocean, sat down, and drank a beer. No ponies but no people either. So extraordinary to be able to just sit vastly alone together with the long beach, the ocean, the dunes and somewhere close by some of the Shackleford ponies.

On our way back to the boat, we found the same band of ponies we had seen the day before. The old dark bay mare, the chestnut stallion, and the two yearlings. This time, there was also a sun-bleached dark bay mare with them. I do not know where she was the day before, but it now makes sense why we had seen two yearlings. I could not figure out why there were two foals the day before. We watched the dark bay mare nurse her foal. They all grazed.

Then they filed off in the setting sun. We went back to the kayaks in the orange-saturated light and paddled back to Grit. What a beautiful day it was.

Bernie is also posting about our trip to Shackleford. To read his posts go to riverearth.com.