Passenger ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke Village is a major step closer to reality this week. On Tuesday, the N.C. Department of Transportation awarded a $4.15 million contract to Armstrong Marine Inc. of Port Angeles, Washington, for construction of a 98-passenger catamaran-style ferry. The vessel will be built at Armstrong Marine’s eastern shipyard in […]
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House bill 56, which was originally filed in February and which is now in its fourth edition, was amended this week to include the repeal of the plastic bag ban on the Outer Banks that was initiated in 2009. The plastic bag ban was spearheaded by then Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight as a […]
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Mysterious garbage-filled plastic disks that washed up on northern Outer Banks beaches over the recent Mother’s Day weekend had been thrown overboard by sailors on a Navy ship, the U.S. Navy said in a statement issued Thursday. Ted Brown, installations and environmental public affairs officer at U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said in an interview that […]
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May was a difficult month to stargaze, with several high-wind thunderstorms and lots of rainy nights. I was able, however, to get a few shots on still, clear evenings. This is Messier 88, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. Coma Berenices means the hair of Berenice. Berenice was an Egyptian queen who had […]
Island Features | Full Article
June not only marks the beginning of summer, it also marks World Oceans Month. Our oceans, which make up approximately 70 percent of the earth, are natural treasures, a source of food and energy, and a foundation for the way of life. Cape Hatteras National Seashore is celebrating the oceans and its resources by hosting […]
Seashore News | Full Article
It all started with a single route linking Manns Harbor and Roanoke Island in 1947. Now, the North Carolina Ferry System will be filling the summer months with tours, contests and events celebrating 70 years of providing safe, affordable and reliable transportation across eastern N.C. “Ferry service didn’t start with us, but I do think […]
Island Features | Full Article
Lights out, darkness settling in, Robert Carmichael’s eyes adjusted to the site before him at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The German submarine U-576 was laying on its side about 700 feet below the water’s surface where it sank in 1942 after being pummeled by depth charges dropped by U.S. Navy air crews and […]
Island Features | Full Article
By JOY CRIST Chock it up to spending too much time at the office and not enough time on the beach, but it slipped my mind that it was the start of Memorial Day weekend until I ventured out onto N.C. Highway 12. The steady line of southbound cars is already pouring into the island, […]
Editor’s Blog | Full Article
OCRACOKE — Earl W. O’Neal, Jr., 87,passed away May 26, 2017. Born in Philadelphia in 1929, Earl led a longand impactful life. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserve for four years,retired from the U.S. Army, and is a Korean War Veteran. In between hisservice, he participated in nuclear power research, held a career inengineering, […]
Obituaries | Full Article
A warm autumn kept commercial fishermen catching and selling shrimp up to New Year’s Eve last year, boosting 2016 shrimp landings to the highest since the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Trip Ticket Program began in 1994. But overall, the 60 million pounds of finfish and shellfish commercial fishermen caught and sold at the docks […]
Fishing | Full Article
