Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Carrot Island Ponies



Ponies on the shore near our anchorage

Beaufort, North Carolina, is a terrific jumping off spot for heading south if you’re sick of running the ICW. One particularly convenient anchorage is in Taylor Creek, just down from the Beaufort waterfront. It’s narrow, but since you lay to the current, you’re not usually in the way (except during the tide shift). A great thing about this anchorage is Carrot Island, where feral ponies roam. It’s cool waking up to see the ponies feeding along the shore, not 100’ from the boat. We’ve seen fox scurrying along here, too. The ponies are pretty calm about visitors ashore, staring at you, then just going about their business. Actually, you’ve got to keep an eye out to make sure you don’t step in any of that business. Unlike ponies on some of the Outer Banks islands, whose occupation dates from the 1400s, these ponies were put here in the 1940s-50s by a resident, but are now owned/managed by the State of North Carolina. The island is part of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserved (Rachel Carson Reserve), and there’s a nice boardwalk at one site with info on the different habitats.

On the boardwalk


They're close!
 

1 comment:

  1. will definitely have to put this on our list when we are back on the coast of the US - thanks for letting us know of this great spot! Where are you planning on going this season? You may have said before but couldn't remember. We are looking forward to getting back to Tsamaya next spring!

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