Bogue Banks. To the southwest, Bear 

 Inlet separates the island from Brown's 

 Island, a practice target for military 

 jets. The sporadic bombing is easily 

 mistaken as thunder. 



It took two days in May to digest 

 it all. As Sea Grant's traveling marine 

 archive, Lundie Spence was the guide. 

 Scott Taylor of Beaufort took the 

 pictures. With the lightweight precision 

 of sea kayaks, the three of us followed 

 shallow tidal creeks through a maze of 

 salt marsh. We passed by hammocks of 

 red cedar surrounded by a low fortress 

 of groundsel bush. And we navigated 



mudflats tracked by knobbed whelks 

 and other colorful mollusks. In spite of 

 a strong headwind, an incoming tide 

 and several curiosity and rest stops, 

 we paddled to our destination in under 

 three hours. During the season, you 

 can make the trip by park ferry in 25 

 minutes. And a privately operated 

 boat licensed by the park is available 

 year-round. 



The forecast threatened rain but the 

 sky above the Atlantic proved other- 

 wise. By midday we rounded the 

 northeast end of the island. To the right, 

 an old, brick foundation was being 



swallowed by the shifting inlet. It's 

 probably what remains of a whaling 

 station and house owned by the Heady 

 family from the early 1800s through the 

 Civil War. To the left, sandbars 

 stretched thin like delicate pancakes on 

 a griddle of ocean. With a sharp turn to 

 the right, we entered a lagoon that led 

 us to "Campsite 14." Fortunately, the 

 spot transcended its austere name. 



Tents pitched and sea legs 

 stretched, we made a barefoot trek up 

 the side of a dune. A jagged tree 

 remnant flagged the peak, from which 

 we had a stunning panoramic view of 



4 JULY/AUGUST 1996 



