The Alger G. WMisTishing Camps M Core Banks 

 are within walking distance of the Atlantic Ocean. 



A 



h a bluish-black storm cloud 

 moves over the sky, Capt. Ronnie Willis 

 steers a small white ferry toward "God's 

 country." 



"You can't find any prettier place than 

 Core Banks," says Willis, co-owner of Alger 

 G. Willis Fishing Camps. "The ocean is the 

 best part." 



Willis is the third generation of his 

 family to take fishers and nature lovers on a 

 ferry from Davis across Core Sound to the 

 pristine and remote beaches along the 

 southern shore of Core Banks or Cape 



Lookout National Seashore. 



Protected and maintained by the 

 National Park Service, Core Banks is 

 uninhabited except for "people who mostly 

 come to the Banks to fish and get away from 

 the rat race of the city," Willis explains. 



As soon as the ferry reaches the dock, 

 visitors begin unloading their trucks and sport 

 utility vehicles. First, a red 4x4, loaded with 

 more than a dozen coolers on the back and 

 fishing rods across the front, heads down the 

 plank. An old white pickup truck and red and 

 black sport utility vehicles follow. 



The vehicles head down a sandy road 

 toward the beaches of the southern end of 

 Core Banks. They will find almost complete 

 silence except for the crashing of waves and 

 the zing of fishing rods. 



A few yards away from the beach, a 

 bobwhite whistles above a rustic wooden 

 cabin that is part of the Willis fish camps, the 

 only accommodations on the island's 

 southern end. On northern Core Banks or 

 Portsmouth Island, people also can stay at 

 Morris Marine Kabin Kamps. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 7 



