Outer Banks, Round Two

August 19 

It's been super convenient to live fifteen minutes from the McAllen Airport, and being a small one, there's no need to arrive more than an hour in advance. We have six gates! I  had been scheduled for boat trips on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but was already notified that the Saturday boat trip would be cancelled due to weather. 

I flew McAllen to Dallas to Norfolk, sitting next to a pregnant Honduran woman seeking asylum who the US Government separated from her husband at the border. I may share more of that absolutely heartbreaking story in a later post. 

I was meeting a friend from college, Justin, in Norfolk, who would join me for a beach weekend, and his flight was delayed. There was no food available after exiting security, so I Ubered to a nearby Mexican restaurant (the exact opposite of the gym), had an early dinner and hung out and waited. We drove the three hours to Frisco Campground, set up our tents, and slept - or tried to sleep. It was still 82 degrees, "feels like" 90. 

I woke up at 4:45, throwing on some clothes (I slept in my swimsuit atop a yoga mat), stashed a few more things in my backpack, and Justin took me to the marina. Tropical Storm Henri was offshore, poised to become a hurricane, and I was concerned that we might possibly not get offshore any of the three days, and my trip would have been a waste. Arriving at the landing, people were waiting in line; it was clear the trip was happening! I was overjoyed! 

I was surprised to finally run into big year birder Jason on the boat, bringing all three big year birders together for the first time this year. Jason and I had missed each other by one or two days criss crossing the country multiple times, and even barely missed one another by a few hours once or twice. 

New for the year was Great Shearwater and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel. Just around the time we started heading inshore, a White-tailed Tropicbird appeared from out of nowhere over the boat. It circled a few times, giving some great looks. Energy around the boat was renewed as the sleepiness of the lull in birding was shaken off. 

We returned to the dock, Justin picked me up, and we went to catch dinner with Matt, a North Carolina big year birder, who had also been on the boat. By the time we finished dinner, it was raining. Arriving back to the campsite, a whole corner of my tent was sitting under water, despite camping in the high-drainage sand. I feared what I might find when I got inside, but to my surprise it was incredibly dry! I highly recommend Stoic tents - I got mine for $100 on Steep and Cheap and despite costing much less than many quality brands, it hasn't let me down all year. Matt would camp with us all well the next few nights, and he set up his tent while it was still raining.The rain cleared, we crawled into our tents, and slept, much cooler than the night before, thanks to the rains. 

August 20 

It was a beach day - the three of us went to breakfast, Matt went off and did some birding, and Justin and I hung out on the beach, swam, drank a bit, and got dinner. There was a double rainbow during dinner! 

It was an 8 pm bedtime once again - the 4:45 alarm would be for the both of us tomorrow, as non-birder Justin was about to experience his first ever pelagic trip. 

August 21

Meeting at the dock, boat captain Brian was more humorous than I’d experienced before. He made a joke about there being 14 life jackets, first-come, first-served, in the event of an emergency. Everyone must have been sleepy, because nobody laughed. 

There were so many women on the boat - and I was especially shocked at the number of younger women! It was fun to meet teen birder Tatum from New York, who I’d connected with earlier in the year. I gifted them all Birdie personal safety alarms (see the Birdie Alarms tab of my website for the link if you’d like to purchase your own at 10% off- plus 10% of purchases go back into funding my project!). 

No new year birds today, meaning I  would probably have to count Trindade Petrel as a miss for the year, unfortunately. But it's all part of the game - you can't win them all! Several water spouts, and dolphins running with the boat kept us entertained throughout the day. 

After an early dinner and one more evening in Hatteras, we our way back to the Norfolk Airport. 

Year List: 666