Garrett Fisher

Author, Pilot, & Adventurer

  • Flying Videos
  • Writings
  • Best of the Blog
  • Press
  • Maps
  • Economics
  • TEDx Talk: Forget Economics
  • About Me
  • Español
  • Français
  • Català

Connect

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Powered by Genesis

Flight: NC Outer Banks: Ocracoke to Morehead City & Back

December 23, 2014 by garrett

Today presented an interesting conundrum. My newfound goal at Ocracoke is to break my consecutive daily flying record, which stands at 4 days (meaning that I flew daily for 4 days). This happened 3 times in the past, and the closest runner up was 5 times in 7 days during a NY February. It helps when I lived on an airport. If this scheme holds true, it will be 8 days of consecutive flying. We’re at 3 as of now.

The problem is, there are no airports with fuel within 40 miles. The gas stations on Ocracoke do not carry ethanol-free (certain airplanes can take ethanol-free car gas). Thus, if I wanted to fly around for fun for the next 3 days, I needed gas, as Morehead City would be closed for Christmas.

The weather was ok here at Ocracoke. Three thousand foot ceilings, steel gray sky, and haze. The rest of the East Coast was practically fog. Morehead City was reporting 300’ ceilings for most of the morning. Well, she cleared to 600’, and we were off.

Everything was fine, until within 10 miles of the airport. Ceilings dropped to 250’, though over the sound. I dipped down over the water to duck under it, and sure enough, it was higher on the other side, just barely high enough to get into the airport. After fueling up, I returned following the coast from Cape Lookout to Ocracoke, enjoying some amazing scenery along the way.

First of all, there are wild horses in Cape Lookout National Seashore, on the far western end. Lots of wild horses. Apparently the messianic stallion that everyone in Corolla is so excited about came from Shackleford Banks, another wild horse area I knew nothing about. Nonetheless. a fog bank sat over the lighthouse, so I got photos one would not expect possible in an airplane, and then saw pelicans in flight over the water, dolphins surfacing, and a variety of interesting features on land and in the sea, especially some inlets in the uninhabited sections of the southern Outer Banks. The sand formations and currents were truly amazing, despite day 3 of crap lighting. Tomorrow will be equally as foul weather-wise, and Thursday will commence clearing. On the descent into Ocracoke, yet again, the air temperatures changed at 600’, and cooled even more at 100’, like yesterday.

1-Sand Spit
New Drum Inlet
2-Ophelia Inlet
Ophelia Inlet
3-Ophelia Inlet
Ophelia Inlet
4-Shackleford Banks
Shackleford Banks
5-Cape Lookout Lighthouse Hiding in Fog Bank
Cape Lookout Lighthouse, Hiding in Fog
6-Cape Lookout National Seashore, Foggy
Cape Lookout National Seashore in Fog
7-Cape Lookout Lighthouse
Cape Lookout Lighthouse
8-The Pelican Brief
The Pelican Brief
9-Water Current Swirls, Ophelia Inlet
Ophelia Inlet Tidal Flow Swirls
10-Interrupted Fibonacci Sequence
Interrupted Fibonacci Sequence – New Drum Inlet
11-Pelican Brief, Part II
The Pelican Brief II – They make my flying skills look bad

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Email subscription form header
Subscribe
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
Powered by FeedBlitz

Blog Posts

  • Flight: France: “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” March 9, 2021
  • Flights: France: French Occlusion, An Artifice for Camera Purchases February 16, 2021
  • Book #30: Pobles de la Cerdanya December 31, 2020
  • Book #29: Cadí-Moixeró & El Pedraforca December 27, 2020
  • Art Manifesto: Book #28: My Struggle December 25, 2020
  • Flight: Switzerland: Quickie in the Sky December 15, 2020
  • Book #27: Abstractions of the Alps December 4, 2020
  • Flights: Switzerland: Old Town Bern & the Summit of the Jungfrau November 28, 2020
  • Book #26: Flight of a Lifetime: A Monument to an Epic Flight in the Alps November 25, 2020
  • Flight: Italy: Larches of Val Ferret November 16, 2020
  • Magna Opera: Book #25: Glaciers of the Bernese Alps November 6, 2020
  • Flight: Italy: Mons Silvius, Berg der Berge November 1, 2020
  • Book #24: Alps in Monochrome October 3, 2020
  • Flight: Italy: Glaciers That Weren’t There September 19, 2020
  • The 500,000th Photograph August 15, 2020
  • Flights: Switzerland: Coitus Interruptus July 20, 2020
  • Flight: Switzerland (BE, VD, VS): Of Clouds and Humans June 7, 2020
  • Podcast Interview: The Not So Straight and Level Podcast April 14, 2020
  • Book #23: Mountain Texture: Glaciers of the Alps March 21, 2020
  • Flight: Switzerland (BE, VS, VD): The Alps in the Dead of Winter March 16, 2020

Archives

  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (5)
  • November 2020 (5)
  • October 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (2)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (3)
  • November 2019 (3)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (4)
  • August 2019 (3)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (2)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (2)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (4)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (4)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (5)
  • July 2017 (3)
  • June 2017 (4)
  • May 2017 (5)
  • April 2017 (4)
  • March 2017 (5)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (4)
  • November 2016 (5)
  • October 2016 (4)
  • September 2016 (6)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (5)
  • February 2016 (4)
  • January 2016 (6)
  • December 2015 (4)
  • November 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (8)
  • August 2015 (8)
  • July 2015 (8)
  • June 2015 (8)
  • May 2015 (4)
  • April 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (5)
  • February 2015 (3)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (10)
  • November 2014 (4)
  • October 2014 (1)
  • September 2014 (3)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (3)