Birding the Outer Banks of North Carolina - Pea Island NWR, Cape Haterras Natl. Seashore, and Bodie Isl. Lighthouse

The Outer Banks of North Carolina is a 80+ mile barrier island chain separating the Atlantic Ocean from Pamlico Sound. The Outer Banks lie across Palmico Sound, in some areas more than 20 miles from the mainland continental North America. They are relatively thin barrier island and is one of the most dynamic in the United States. Inlets connect the Atlantic More information on the Outer Banks and their natural history here and a nice 25 minute film on the region from PBS here - Ribbon of Sand. The Outer Banks range in the amount of development and ecological productivity along it's course. The site of the Wright Brother's inaugural flight , Kitty Hawk and nearby Kill Devil Hills are both examples of heavy coastal development. Chain stores, large resort hotels and condos, and at least a dozen putt-putt golf courses fill the northern portions of the islands. As you descend south the pattern of landuse becomes more sustainable and cognizant of the precarious nature of any structure built out here on the edge of the world. I've never seen a place that had such a dichotomy of development, from extremely ecological productive to resort development and thus the importance of our public land systems to wildlife habitat maintenance.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Sunset on Cape Hatteras National Seashore, looking east.

I camped out at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, at the Frisco Campground area. The campground was nice and fair price given how visited this area is. I was lucky enough to enjoy a sunset and a
 sunrise here at Frisco, the beach had an intersting orietation, it actually faced south-southeast. This gave an unusual (for me) beach sunset much closer to the tide-line than the nearly constant north-south orientation of the Padre Island chain in coastal Texas.

Boardwalk to the ocean through a hole in the coastal woodland. Frisco Campground - Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore.

The birding at Cape Haterras Natl. Seashore was very good (eBird checklist here), the campground at Frisco had a cool boardwalk through the sand and small maritime woodlands. Ubiquitous Northern Cardinals and Carolina Wrens called through the woodlands, while Eastern Meadowlarks and raptors patrolled the grasslands leeward of the dunes. I had my first eastern warbler of the trip here, a calling American Redstart. Brown Pelicans patrolled the innter-coastal waters, and a large group of Double-crested Cormorants formation flew from the ocean to the bay above the campground. 

Hatteras Lighthouse, and birder.

I grabbed some southern style biscuit sandwhiches after birding Frisco CG and headed to Hatteras Lighthouse and the Bruxton Woods Trail. The Lighthouse was built in the 18__, originally a few miles up the coast, but was moved to it's present, more stable location a number of years ago. Does this still make it historic? Old Building, New spot? Lighthouse gentrification? I must say, the last time I saw a lighthouse was in Hawaii at Kiluea Point NWR, 500 ft above the crashing breakers of the Pacific, and engulfed by the wings of thousands of Boobies and Frigatebirds. While this lighthouse didn't have the Frigatebirds and Tropicbirds of the pacific, it did host the world's largest gull, Great Black-Backed Gull which I saw a few times while in the area.

The Buxton Woods are just west of the lighthouse, a well developed patch of maritime woodland, or coastal woodlands with Pines, Oaks, and a lively understory of Dwarf Palmetto and brambley shrubs. The woodland has been protected from housing development through a diverse shield of ownership which includes the National Seashore (administered under National Parks, DOI) and the Nature Conservancy, which owns a large parcel of the woodland to the south of the lighthouse.
This is one of these types of places so common along coastlines, where more than 280 species of birds have been reported - mega hotspot. The woodlands act as large stopovers during spring fall migration, but also host some colorful resident birds as I was to find. See the eBird checklist for this visit here.

Just into the trail I stopped for a familiar warbler chip - note and quickly found a nice looking female American Redstart. She was flitting through the Live Oaks foraging in her very redstart pattern, by flicking out her bright yellow outer tail feathers and fanning the bark. This behavior probably helps scare out insects hiding in the many crooks and nannies to be found in a dense coastal woodland canopy.

Female American Redstart, Bruxton Woods, Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore

Not far from the redstart was a much more retiring songbird, less active but no less colorful. In a brief moment I saw eye-ring and yellow below, gray above pattern distinctive of a group of superficially similar eastern warblers, then the bird disappeared into the foliage. Some waiting and pishing brought it out again, this time showing yellow lores and reddish streaking on the breast. The bird disappeared quickly but not before a quick photo of my first Canada Warbler. This was to be one of the highlights of the trip, not only for it's beauty, with very distinctive yellow lores and overall slim body structure, but this bird was also fairly uncommon on the Outerbanks outside of spring migration. Canada warbler breed in more northern latitudes on the atlantic seabord and winter in Central America. This bird was in transit south, headed for a world more like a Jimmy Buffet song than the high arctic woodlands.

Canada Warbler, Bruxton Woods, Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore

Also within the Bruxton woods was my first Great-crested Flycatcher, very simlar to the other large Myiarchus flycatcher in the southwest (Brown-Crested Flycatcher), these were a fun, loud and conspicuous flycatcher. Blue Jays were also common in these woods, both adults and juvenile birds. Carolina Wrens and Northern Cardinals rounded out this woodland community. These lush east-coast woodlands contain a multitude of spiders, much more than back in the Western United States. This beautiful species had a nest 3m up in the canopy spanning several meters in width. Impressive seamstress.

Spider. Big Spider. Bruxton Woods, Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore

Large showy Common Wood-nymph (more about them here at Butterfliesandmoths.org) were everywhere in the trees, but I also found American Ladies, Common Buckeyes, and more Swallowtails (probably Eastern Tiger Swallowtails). 

Common Wood-Nymph, Bruxton Woods, Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore

The Outer Banks, like nearly all barrier islands, are a Dragonfly's dream world, plenty of still water on the islands and no shortage of other insects for dinner provides the perfect environment. This beautiful unknown female was busy munching a horse-fly ad so gave me a nice view of her jeweled eyes.

Female Dragonfly, Bruxton Woods, Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore

I left the lighthouse area and drove down a few residential roads with woodland patches and small marshes breaking up the gridded residential development. A baby Snapping Turtle, already with a nice coat of algae on it's shell and a mean temperament - it tried to snap me when I picked it up to move it. I'd expected nothing less from these fearsome prehistoric amphibian predators. I quickly moved him off the roadway and went on my own way towards the Outer Banks' only National Wildlife Refuge, Pea Island NWR.

Baby Alligator Snapping Turtle, still vicious! Bruxton Woods, Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge

Pea Island NWR

Never have I visited a more important refuge for maintaining suitable wildlife habitat than at Pea Island NWR, I've been to urban refuges, urban green spaces, and reclaimed landfills, but Pea Island is different from those. Were it not for public lands like Pea Island NWR and Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore I fear the entirity of the Outer Banks would resemble the uninhibited urban sprawl that is Kitty Hawk. So with that mindset, I pulled into the visitor center parking area for the refuge, went in side and was pleased to see a wonderful, just the right sized refuge visitor center. Displays of Peregrine Falcons, Oystercatchers and Black Skimmers were spread around the front of the center, with nice bay windows framing the North Pond, a large shallow body of water crawling with birds. After getting some info and chatting with the friendly volunteers/friends members and getting some sweet birding shirts, I headed out to see the refuge.

Mixed company mudflat hangout, Pea Island NWR

The North Pond trail (eBird checklist here!) made it's way west along the edge of the pond, while the birding was good, birds were distant and not great for photography. In a short hour here at the pond I managed to see Bald Eagle, Osprey, Tricolored Heron, Great Egret, and Great Blue Heron, along with Black-necked Stilts and quite a few of my first ever American Black Ducks. The tern-birding was great, with Black Skimmer, Sandwhich Tern, Royal Tern, Caspian Tern, Least Tern, and Common Tern - impressive diversity of this fun to watch group. Always my coastal favorite, the Black Skimmers were very active, with what appeared to be groups of young birds roaming the water and chasing eachother.

Adult Black Skimmer, Pea Island NWR

 I had my only Whimbrel flyover here at the pond, as well as several Black-bellied Plovers, both quick flybys headed north to a mudflat nearby. While the terns and herons were great here, I didn't see as many shorebirds as I'd hoped, so getting back in the car, I was delighted to find just a couple of miles up the road was a small place to pulloff the very busy NC 12 highway for a cornucopia of shorebirds!

White Ibis, Black Skimmers, Pea Island NWR

A lone White Ibis was hanging out with the full host of terns on nearby mud-flat. The Ibis' long pink bill was a stark contrast with the Skimmer's elongated candy-corn bill. Least Terns were present in good numbers, some where already molting into post-breeding plummage, this was the best look I've ever had at these diminutive terns, the smallest tern in North America. All of the birds I found were juveniles with black bills.

Least Tern with a bottle for scale, Pea Island NWR

 Least Terns are threatened in portion of the range, these birds, probably of the subspecies antillarium are not at present listed as threatened although proposals have been made. High-trafficed Atlantic coast beaches has contributed to a loss in suitable breeding habitat for these birds.

Non-breeding plumage Least Tern, Pea Island NWR

 In contrast to the stationary terns, Semipalmated Plovers were scurring about the mudflats, allowing me get very close to them for some fun flight shots! Not everyday a western birder gets this close to these active little shorebirds.

Semipalmated Plover takes flight, Pea Island NWR

Semipalmated Plover, Pea Island NWR

A medium sized shorebird with an extra-long bill, this Short-billed Dowitcher was in fantastic immature plumage with it's gold-lined feathers and dripping bill. I'd never been able to see the details of this plumage form before. When I see these birds on the Gulf of Mexico in winter they are drabby gray overall, not ornate like this fresh immature.

Immature Short-billed Dowitcher, Pea Island NWR

Perhaps the cutest of all shorebirds was this Piping Plover, there were only a handful present on the flats, and this one that was associating with the SEPL was the most photogenic. I love their orange legs and little nub of a bill. Watching these run about the mudflats is truly a pleasure, their legs move so quickly sometimes they appear like a little fluff ball hovering, stopping, hovering, stopping.

Piping Plover, Pea Island NWR

Pint-sized Piping Plover, Pea Island NWR

The second semipalmated bird of the day (what the hell does semipalmated even mean??) was  Semipalmated Sandpiper. Birds like this are great to get familiar with whenever I'm in the Atlantic coastal areas, they appear in the southwest only infrequently, vastly outnumbered by the stockier billed Baird's and Western Sandpipers.

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Pea Island NWR

This bird's fairly distinct white eyebrow and relatively thin bill may not look like the most obvious field marks, but in this large group of similiar appearing species a dingy white eyebrow is enough to tease out species. This peep was also not shy at all and let me get a wonderful flight shot, a rare thing for these pint-sized shorebirds.

Semipalmated Sandpiper takes to the air on it's proportionately large wingspan, Pea Island NWR

 The only good flight shot of a Peep (Calidris genus) that I've ever been proud of. These shorebirds have impressive wingspans for their size, helping them in their continent-wide migrations each year (Breeding range in the arctic lattitudes, winters on the northern beaches of South America - View range map here).

Sandwhich terns were roosting on the mudflats along with the other gulls and terns. While Sandwhich terns aren't as big as their cousins the Royal Terns, their odd orange-tipped bill is unique, giving them a fun, butter-dipped bill.

Butter-tipped billed Sandwhich Tern, Pea Island NWR

Royal Tern, a sleek graceful flyer, Pea Island NWR

The birding at the north pond was great not only for its abundant wildlife in these brakish inner-island bodies of water, but it's proximity to ocean-side beach birding. All of Pea Island is like this, the island is extremely narrow, only half a mile wide in some areas, so a quick walk from the same parking spot got me onto the Atlantic's beach.

Observation deck above a portion of Pea Island NWR, the Atlantic is on the horizon.

Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings domainted these beaches. Ruddy Turnstones, with their classic algael-mat patterned plumage are a lot of fun to watch forage and scurry about.

Ruddy Turnstone, Pea Island NWR

Ruddy Turnstones are found on beaches across the continent, they winter relatively far north in some locations but the bulk winter in Central America and the Carribean islands. They get their name from their habit of turning over stones 'turn-stone' in rocky shorelines and on their breeding grounds. In my experience both here on the Atlantic and in the highly eroded sandy beaches of the Gulf, they probe into the sand or pick through beach debris in a fashion more typical to other sandpipers.

Ruddy Turnstone lunch, Pea Island NWR

 Ever-present Sanderlins are a lot of fun to watch as they chase and are chased by the ebbs and flows of the ocean surf. These are perhaps the most frequently asked about birds here on the ocean where many tourists and beach-goers see these up close. I think kids are especially drawn in by these birds as they mimic the actions of most children when playig at the surf - who hasn't chased the tide out and ran along side the oncoming surf? Humans and Sanderlins appear to be quite experienced with this.

Beach-scurrier, Sanderling, Pea Island NWR

Gulls were patrolling these nearly empty beaches of Pea Island NWR. As I scanned north and south from around me I could only see a few other beachgoers, mostly at considerable distance. The lack of boardwalks into the beach and bathroom and water facilities, in addition to a full restriction on beach driving keeps many other-wise visitors away. This truly is great for wildlife and the beach conditions themselves.

Herring Gull, Pea Island NWR

 Large Herring Gulls with their huge yellow bills patrolled the beachhead with heavy languid wing-strokes. These huge gulls are not the adept flyers of their couasins, the Laughing Gulls who preform some impressive aerial acrobatics anytime there are humans around with food to fight over.

Laughing Gull, Pea Island NWR

One of the larger shorebirds on both sides of the continent are Willets. They are also perhaps one of the most numerous, these Tringa shorebirds (same genus as the Yellowlegs and Tattlers) are well adapted to variable beach conditions and are not afraid to get into the surf a little. Their adaptability in foraging in at least some ocean surf give them much more available habitat to occupy than the other members of their genus. Learn more about Willets here at allaboutbirds.org. This Willet had gotten drenched by a few crashing waves, letting the salt breeze dry it out closer to shore.

Wet Willet, Pea Island NWR

Beach-grape had taken over portions of the boardwalks and observation decks in this moist environment. This was probably just a few months worth of growth, if it weren't for people maintaining these structures the ocean-side conditions would take it back into the sands.

Observation deck covered in beach grape, Pea Island NWR

Feeding on the insects attracted to the beach grape, this gorgeous female Seaside Dragonlet (More about them here at NJodes.com) was busily preying on fruit flies and horse flies. The bicolored eye pattern and orange banded abdomen are diagnostic for this widespread species. Seaside Dragonlets are unique among the Odonates (dragonflies & damselflies) for being able to breed in salt water, typically in salt marshes like the ones surrounding Pea Island NWR. They are a member of a largely tropical genus of Dragonflies, but their use of saltwater habitats in temperate climates has allowed their range to expand all the way to Nova Scotia. This same species occurs in alkaline bodies of water in New Mexico and West Texas, usually in waters more salty than actual oceanic salt water (I'd recommend Dennis Paulson's Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East/West (2009) as a great Odonata resource).

Seaside Dragonlet, Pea Island NWR

 My last stop in the Outer Banks was to the Bodie Island Lighthouse and boardwalk nature trail. Bodie Island is just south of the bridge between the Outer Banks islands and the famous Roanoke Island, sight of the early English Colonies. The Lighthouse on Bodie Island is set within a beautiful grassy lawn surrounded by marsh. Built in 1872, it sits substantially more inland than other lighthouses in the Outer Banks, and like the other lighthouses has a unique painting pattern, helping ships at sea know exactly which island they were off-shore of. The Bodie Island Lighthouse Visitor Center is nice and well kept, managed by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

The 140+ year old Bodie Island Lighthouse, Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore.

The birding at Bodie Island was great (Link to eBird Checklist), the nearby marsh had a short board walk extending into it where nearly one hundred crabs fought in the shallow marsh waters, with great views of these gladiators from the observation deck. Hundreds of American Black Ducks lounged in the waters with impressive numbers of White Ibis and Tricolored Herons actively foraging in the area. Semipalmated Plovers and both Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs picked and probed around the marsh. Nearby, a plantation of Loblolly pine had grown tall and provided a nice change of habitat. Here I found Eastern Towhees, Brown-headed Nuthatches, and even a Pine Warbler. 
 
 Lighthouses like Bodie Island's and Hatteras served a great purpose here on the Outer Banks, but did not keep all ships from running aground and sinking off the Outer Banks' coastlines. In fact, the Outer Banks are considered the 'Graveyard of the Atlantic' - more about it here on wikipedia, because of their high rate of shipwrecks. This is mostly due to the influence of the Gulf Stream, the combination of warm waters flowing north mixing with colder waters coming south from the arctic can create turbulent waters. The Gulf Stream itself, with its strong northerly current, forced many ships to the inland side of the gulf stream so they could navigate south, this put ships into danger in the shallow near-shore waters.

I managed to not get sunk of the Outer Banks, in a short 36 hour period I was able to experience the off-shore waters, and all of the major birding hotspots on the island itself. I ended up seeing 76 species on or off the Outer Banks in this time period, a full 66 species while making my way from Frisco Campground to Bodie Island, impressive for a limited set of habitat variability. I was able to leave the Outer Banks feeling great about our the National Wildlife Refuge System and the importance they have in conserving these fragile marine ecosystems. With a few hours of daylight left I jetted for Alligator River NWR (next blog) and my last stop in North Carolina before a late-night drive to Raleigh, NC and my flight home.

The Outer Banks of North Carolina; 48 hours of Cape Hatteras - part 1 - Pelagic Birding!

 Following a great week at the USFWS Friends Academy in West Virginia, I bed farewell to new found friends, picked up a sweet Kia rental car and pointed it's wheels south towards North Carolina. I crossed the bridges and tunnels that cross the James River from Newport News to Norfolk a little after sunset, catching some lasting orange impressions of Virginia. I had a great time on the Outer Banks, and off the Outer Banks with my first time ever birding the open ocean. This experience included 5 new lifer birds, me getting nauseous, my first visit to the open ocean (>2 mi from shoreline), 25 miles off the coastline, off the continental shelf at a depth of 2000+ feet. The birding was incredible on the ocean and on land, as I also got to know two new Wildlife Refuges; Alligator River NWR and Pea Island NWR, as well as two national seashores, and a state park.

 

I arrived in Haterras, NC at far too late in the evening to care where my bed was going to be. I ended up sleeping at the end of a dock near the Pelagic Trip's boat, the Stormy Petrel II was docked. 

This trip was aboard the Stormy Petrel II with lead guide Kate Sutherland. We left around 5:30am into windy conditions for a long round-about trip to get beyond shallow shoals and through the Hatteras inlet, a break in the barrier island connecting the Atlantic with Pamlico Sound. 

The trip out of the sound was a fun, easy water trip through classic inland bay habitat. Shorebirds occupying small islands, Great Laridae diversity; Common Tern, Royal Tern, Black Terns, and Caspian terns, in addition to Herring Gulls, Great Black-Backed Gull, and Laughing Gulls coursed overhead. Squadrons of Brown Pelicans patrolled the coastlines. 

 After approximately an hour beyond the last view of the continent on the eastern horizonwe had made it to at least 10 miles off-shore. Along the way we ran into several small groups of Black Terns and a handful of Phalaropes.  At about this distance from shore we began to encounter our first true seabirds of the day. A small black and white bird seemingly appeared out of no where, streamlined against the direction of the boat, wheeled right and was gone. In a total of 2 seconds I had seen a bird that was white below, black above, with a high aspect ratio (long but thin wingspan) appear out of nowhere and disappear again. I had just seen my first true seabird - Audubon's Shearwater! We would end up seeing two more shearwaters this trip, Cory's Shearwater, and Great Shearwater, both much larger than Audubon's. Their quick wheeling flight and use of updrafts from the waves was impressive and characteristic of this family of birds.

 After becoming familiar with at the three Shearwaters, a much much smaller bird began appearing out of the blue. Wilson's Storm-petrels, with their fast wheeling flight like a swallow, and the behavior of skimming the surface of the ocean in our wake, were impressive, if dainty seabirds.

Wilson's Storm Petrel in it's gulf stream waters. WISP were only about the size of a small dove, with a flight like a swallow. It was impressive such a dainty bird lived amongst these turbulent waters.

The Wilson's Storm Petrels continued to follow our ship (and it's fish oil trail) for the next few hours, with as many as a dozen at their most. Besides the ones following the ship, we'd encounter occasional flybys. Searching for these birds, no bigger than an Inca Dove in the wide open ocean was a thrilling reason to keep an eye out on the horizons.

Pair of Wilson's Storm-Petrels skirting the waves, they never flew more than 10 feet above the surface, and on a day with 15ft swells this was all the more impressive.

Wilson's Storm Petrel

These Storm-petrels are widespread around the world's oceans, but are most common near the Gulf Stream off the Atlantic coastline of North America. They breed in coastal cliff habitats in Antartica and southern South America but may wander as far north as the Arctic when not in breeding season. These incredible birds spend more than 10 months on the open ocean, only coming to land during the nesting season, a behavior typical of nearly all seabirds. More about Wilson's Storm Petrels here on wikipedia.

Wilson's Storm Petrels spend a lot of time 'touch and going', flitting about on the surface of the water, picking through algae clumps for invertebrate food and all other manner of wee-beasties. 

The oddly-shaped large fore-head look of Wilson's Storm Petrels is distinctive of all the Storm-petrels.

After a couple of hours of good, albeit brief looks at shearwaters, we finally got sight of a larger, much more angled-wing flyer - Black-capped Petrels. These were larger than the shearwaters, and much more acrobatic flyers, swooping high, then low into the waves, and up again. They're black-white pattern distinctive, and their flight pattern unlike the shearwaters. As we birded more and more it became apparent how much flight pattern aids in ID of at least the commonly encountered birds in the pelagic zone off North Carolina.

Black-capped Petrel, with it's namesake black cap, accentuated by the white nape.

 The bird activity was like this, many birds at once, up to 5 species, then nothing for 30 minutes, then another group. The birds of the ocean, like land, are not distributed evenly across the map.

A couple of Black-capped Petrels mixed in with Wilson's Storm-Petrels in the Gulf Stream, Outer Banks, NC.

The Black-capped Petrels, which are found throughout the Atlantic Ocean, breed in Cuba and islands of the Dominican Republic. Like other Petrels, they nest in burrows dug into the sides of steep cliffs or rugged hills inaccessible from land-based predators. They are considered threatened under the IUCN due to loss of breeding sites and predation by humans and introduced species. More on Black-capped Petrels here.

Black-capped Petrel wheeling toward the boat. I loved this black cap-white nape look this bird was sporting!

This image of the side of the Black-capped Petrel shows it's famed tube-nose, present in all Procellariiformes (Tubenoses).

After I took the above photo my time enjoying the open seas was about at an end. As the day wore on, the northern breeze that had been blowing all day began to pick up. This had the affect of churning up the very warm (89F) northerly flowing gulfstream waters into a frenzy. What began with 3-5 ft swells (total elevation between wave crests and troughs) had become 15 feet and very choppy. Around noon I began periodically laying down in the boats cabin, where 4 or 5 others also laid down and tried to sleep. I'd never felt that level of nausea before, like a strong fever and a cold sweet on a warm >90F day. I drifted in and out of sleep, occasionally waking and getting out on deck if a bird was being called out in close range. I roused from my sea-sick nap to get a nice look at a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, similar in all respects to the Wilson's, but at least 40% larger, with a much quicker flight.

We were not alone out on the ocean, we saw one cargo ship, several miles away but lurking like a gigantic city out on the waves. The size of this boat as seen from afar was truly amazing, and to think about the same type of vessel dealing with these waves that we were cresting and plunging with much action was an interesting notion. Surely this ship must have hardly felt the types of waves we were experiencing.

Cruising back to shore, this land-loving Llanero was happy to be back to shore!

On the way back we 'steamed' at a quick pace, it was a wet ride, lots of spray over the sides of the boat. I began to feel better as we motored back home, and made my way to the front of the boat, a narrow diving board with railing jutting out before the ship. From this vantage point, our guide Kate pointed out more Shearwaters, Black Terns, and a multitude of Flying Fish (more on these amazing creatures here). We had multiple species of these icthyological wonders being driven before the ship, they would streamline out of a wave, glide above the water's surface for 30m or more, occasionally slapping their tails into the water to achieve more propulsion, before slipping back into the blue. I had seen these sparingly off the Texas Coast, but nothing like this, sometimes groups of 10 or 15 would arise together, seemingly defying gravity and their own Kingdom of Animalia.

We arrived back to the marina in Haterras by 5:30pm after a total of 12 hours out on the water. After a quick bathroom stop I headed out for Cape Haterras National Seashore's Frisco Campground a few miles north and a (I felt) well deserved cold beer.