A while back, I found a nice waterproof film camera at a thrift store. I meant to test it before our trip, but I never did. It’s a Canon WP1 or something like that. Anyway, it worked well the first time I used it, at the beach. The waves were bigger that day due to distant Hurricane Igor, but some of us ventured out in the water to face the waves. We got knocked around pretty well, and my foot was sore until the next morning, but no permanent damage was done.

One of our friends is in this next shot, enveloped by the waves.

My friends were amused that I took the camera out in the waves. I’d dive toward a wave, holding the camera out, trying to get a good shot. I admit, I was pretty dedicated.

Later in the week, we did an amazing kayaking trip (more on this later), but sadly the film did not advance, so I have no kayaking photos. I have no idea if this camera will work the next time I try to use it, or not. I’m hoping that I can fix it, somehow.

Here are some photos from Cape Hatteras National Seashore, at the very southern tip of Hatteras Island. We didn’t do much here except walk around, though we did come back the next day to visit the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum.

The grassy vegetation here is typical for the Outer Banks.

In particular, Sea Oats were everywhere. Apparently some of these were planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps to prevent erosion. The island is basically a giant hunk of sand that’s constantly changing and eroding, due to the ocean waves and the constant winds.

Indian Blanket was also common.

A boardwalk takes you to the beach.

I am not sure, but I think this little guy who washed up on shore is a Blue Button.

So, this was a fun little excursion that didn’t take more than half an hour. It was well worth it! The fact that I didn’t have a bicycle allowed me to focus more on photography, which was a welcome change of pace.

We’ve been back from our vacation since Saturday, but I’ve done a horrible job of keeping up with writing about some of the things we did. I guess I took a bit of a break from blogging, too.

One day last week, we headed to Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head, NC, with our friends who we rented the beach house with. Our friends had been there before, and told us that the park was home to some incredible sand dunes. It didn’t take a lot of arm-twisting to convince us it would be worth the trip.

The trail is sand from the start, and goes through some trees/shrubs and up a hill.

When you crest the hill, the view is absolutely breathtaking, and the scene looks like some kind of crazy desert.

The scenery truly was beautiful, and surreal.

Things got more surreal when we came around a corner and saw water not too far away.

The trail followed the water for a bit …

… before heading back, across the sand dunes.

Animal tracks were all over the dunes … I think these are fox and hognose snake, but I’m not sure.

The trail was short, but beautiful. We did another, similar hike after this, though it was through some wooded areas and had less sand dune scenery.

Afterwards, we headed to Mama Kwan’s Tiki Bar for some great seafood, and drinks. This parrot was filled with a very refreshing tropical beverage. A great end to a beautiful hike.