"On an uninhabited barrier island, just off the coast of North Carolina, live wild horses. They roam the dunes and marshes and swim in the small channels between the island and the nearby tidal flats, which ebb-out on the low tides and disappear again with the next high tide. For generation after generation of the coastal people, there have been stories handed-down about the wild horses that roamed these sand banks we now call the Outer Banks. Hardy and tough, they have survived where man could not. They have endured ... through hurricanes, droughts, north-easters, so'westers, and centuries. Now they need protection to survive." From www.shacklefordhorses.org.

On Veteran's Day weekend I met a new kayaking friend, Dee, for a kayak trip to see the wild horses of Shackleford Banks. Dee and I had been emailing for over a month about my Purple Mirage. Dee was looking for another kayak and the Mirage kept coming up as the best kayak for the type of kayaking she does. I had read a few of her trip reports where she wrote about doing solo kayak trips out along the Outer Banks in NC, paddling in heavy surf and dealing with water streaming in the cockpit during difficult surf launchings. This is what the Mirage was designed for down in Australia. She was pretty sure she wanted a Mirage but she wanted to paddle one first. And I'm always looking for an opportunity to paddle some place new.

With a forecast of high's in the 70's and water temps in the 60's it looked like a perfect weekend for kayaking so Dee and I made plans for a kayak/camping trip out to Shackleford Banks. The original plan was to paddle around the sound side of Shackleford Banks and camp on the coastal side of the island, then paddle back to the put-in at Beaufort Sunday morning. But it seems like every time I plan a kayak outing it rains or storms or heavy clouds follow me around and this weekend was no exception. Although we had near perfect weather on Saturday the forecast for Saturday night was increasing clouds and wind. And the forecast for Sunday was even worse ... wind and thunderstorms. So the camping part of our trip never materialized but we had a great day of kayaking.

Friday afternoon I drove from Takoma Park to Dee's house in Durham, NC. Normally I would be a little hesistant about embarking on a long kayak/camping weekend with someone I had never met, but we had exchanged so many emails and it seemed we had so many common interests I had no doubts about the weekend. When I got to Dee's house we quickly transferred the kayaking gear from my car to hers and loaded up the Mirage on the roof rack next to her Explorer. And within minutes of settling into the car I felt like I was sitting next to an old friend. Although Dee is originally from NY she went to college in NC and has lived there most of her adult life. I grew up in Cary, NC not far from Durham. And we're about the same age so we grew up listening to the same southern rock bands.

It was a about a four hour drive down to Beaufort, NC. The time passed quickly as we shared stories about kayaking, traveling and life in the south. One of the best parts about traveling with someone new is that they haven't heard all your stories and you haven't heard all of theirs. We got to the historic town of Beaufort around 8 and found a nice seafood restaurant for dinner. According to Dee and what I've read on the internet Beaufort is a quaint little seaside town with houses dating back to the 1700's. It was known as "Fish Town" in the early 1700's when Blackbeard frequented the coast. We took a walk along the boardwalk after dinner and looked at the huge sailing ships and other vessels in the harbor. But since it was dark I didn't get to see as much of Beaufort as I would have liked. It's definitely on my list of places to see during daylight on my next visit.

Dee had made reservations for us at a small motel a few blocks from the put-in on Harker's Island. We both woke early. And my only request was that we find someplace for a real breakfast. We found a diner not far from the motel and had a real southern breakfast complete with grits!

We obsessed about what clothing to wear kayaking. After all it was November. But the air was already warm and muggy. I brought all my cold weather clothes except for the dreaded drysuit. I ended up paddling in neoprene tights and a tank top. We also obsessed about the camping part of the trip. We both wanted to camp on Shackelford. And even though the forecast was for heavy wind and rain by Sunday the sky was so clear and blue and the air so warm we decided to pack the tent and sleeping bags ... just in case. We figured we could paddle out to the island and keep checking the forecast ... just in case it changed.



Unfortunately the forecast never changed. We never camped. But we did take a break on the island and see a whole herd of the ponies. We also saw one of the giant sea turtles washed up in the surf. Unfortunately it was dead and decaying just a little. We saw lots of the regular birds like seagulls and pelicans but we also a flock of interesting birds with brilliant red beaks that Dee later told me were called Skimmers. And before heading back to the put-in we paddled over to Cape Lookout and toured the famous Lighthouse.



That evening we drove to Cedar Island and stayed in a small motel near the beach with the idea of launching Sunday morning for a short paddle in more protected waters. We were still obsessing about the decision not to camp on Shackleford. I rarely wish for wind and rain but since we made the decision not to camp that evening we were desperately hoping for confirmation Sunday morning that we had made the right decision. As I opened to door of our room to the parking lot Sunday morning I felt my heart sink a little. The sky was overcast but the wind was dead calm. Dead calm. Dee made the observation that it was often calm before a storm. We had a light breakfast at the motel and headed across the street to the beach area. Shortly after we had started our walk along the beach the wind started to pick up. Then the sky turned dark. By the time we had turned around and started walking back to the parking lot we had our confirmation. We could have camped and I'm sure we would have made it back safely. But with gusts up to 38 mph it would have been a struggle.

After driving back to Durham I headed to High Point, NC for a short visit with my parents before returning home. Too see the complete photo album go to the photo page and click on the photo of the pony. There is also a short slideshow/movie on the movie page with clips of the ponies.

-Susanita