I can honestly say, the Outer Banks has the most spectacular sunrises I have ever seen.

In all fairness, I haven’t seen the sunrise everywhere, but I have seen them in a few places, and here, in the Outer Banks, it is incredible. (I did research it online however, and it is rated as one of the best places to see the sunrise – and incidentally, the sunset on the other side).

Yesterday ROB woke me up to go see it. Unheard of. I usually wake him up. But he got me up just in the knick of time and we watched the sun peak out over the water and rise – a beautiful, firey, orange ball. I won’t post any more pictures of it – but it is soooo gorgeous!

Yesterday we decided to drive to the most southernest point in the Outer Banks, and catch the ferry over to Ocracoke island. We tried to do this last summer with the kids, but the ferry ride wait was over 3 hours, so we ended up beaching in Hatteras – which was pretty amazing anyhow.

We boarded the ferry within 10 minutes (timing was perfect I must say) and loved the 40 minute ferry ride! It was amazing how the ferry navigated between sandbars. Of course buoys marked the path for it – but man, you really need to know those waters as there are sand bars everywhere! The birds were quite amazing too. Flying along with the ferry. It was beautiful and sunny. Rob was only a tiny bit stressed about his car being so close to other cars and having so many people “brush up” against it. Typical boy.

We arrived on the island and did a little tour. It is really quite tiny – but oh, so beautiful. We checked out the little village of Ocracoke, then went to the lighthouse – the 2nd oldest lighthouse in the nation.

 The island really does feel like time has stood still – with the quaint little houses and laid back vibe.

We lunched at a place called “Dajio” – quite appropriate I thought since Zandra calles her Daddy, “Da-jio” (with the j sounding like a y). We had an amazing – and I mean amazing – lunch. THIS is what I was looking for. We started with some tuna tartar with an amazing salsa and nachos, followed by a fish sandwich and shrimp and grits. Neither of us had ever tried grits before – they were pretty yummy!

We then headed to the beach. It was practically deserted. We found a spot (not hard to do when there are only 10 of you on a beach that stretches 14 miles!) and spent the afternoon marvelling at the beauty. The sand was like icing sugar – so soft and white. The beach is so natural and rugged – the dunes keep it that way. The waves came in layers – and there were really shallow parts that were warm! We walked for a bit, and Rob flew the kite he had bought the day before. Well, we flew the kite – as he bought a fancy one (the woman in the store pressured him he said! She was a world champion kiter!) and needed me to keep throwing it up in the air for him. It was pretty hard to control – but he is getting the hang of it!

The rest of the afternoon was spent snoozing in the sun, and reading a bit too. Certainly one of our favorite beaches ever (hence all the similar pictures!) – although quite similar to the Hatteras beach in my opinion.

We headed back to mainland on the ferry again and then checked out the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

We then started looking for a place for dinner. The place we really wanted to eat at was closed – but we ended up finding a little dive – which served some yummy seafood. It was called “Pop’s” – and when I first walked in I thought I was in an all men saloon (much like Cusino’s in Ste Anne’s!). But no, they served us (outside) some yummy spicy steamed shrimp, and a fish sandwich and a crab cake sandwich. I must say, we stood out a bit but the food was good!

We then hunted down some key lime pie. I never liked it, but had it last summer here and now am trying to find a good slice again! We found a little one in the grocery store – it was ok – but think we will have to head back up to Duck to get the real thing I fell in love with last summer!

We finally made it home – and to end our perfect day – Rob built a bonfire on the beach, right in front of our house, down by the water. It was awesome!! We enjoyed the fire and the incredible stars, and then headed back inside – too tired for the hot tub but fell into bed happily exhausted from such an awesome day!