One couple’s first week-long visit to Ocracoke cut short by Isabel

By CHARLIE MARKLE
Brownsville, Md.

After many years of staying on Hatteras and in Nags Head, my wife and I finally decided to stay on Ocracoke since we always made one or two day trips there. It was September of 2003 and our cottage was a Sunday to Sunday rental.

We were really looking forward to spending a whole week on Ocracoke since it was apparently our favorite place to visit on the Outer Banks, although we were slow to realize it.

Even though it was only 10 ago, the storm tracking technology available to the average person was not as accessible as it is today. We went there naively with the hope that it would not impact our stay.

Were we ever wrong!

We were on the beach Monday morning when the park ranger came by and announced that all non-residents needed to leave immediately. So we packed up our things and headed back to cottage to get ready to leave.

Meanwhile, the rental agency called us several times and told us we had to be out right away and they were going to cut off our electricity. We were only back at the cottage for an hour or so, and we had to repack everything, so it was going to take awhile.

After we were done packing, we got to thinking why wait in line at the ferry when the storm was still four days away? We stopped at Howard’s Pub on our way out, since it was always a “must do” when on Ocracoke.

That is our memory of Isabel and our first “week” stay on Ocracoke.

But not to be dismayed by that event, we have stayed on Ocracoke just about every year since then for a week in September. It always seems like something is missing if I don’t get my Ocracoke fix every year.

We definitely keep a close look at the National Hurricane Center and Weather Underground sites when vacation time rolls around.