Coastal Review Online is featuring the research, findings and commentary of author Kevin Duffus
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First of three parts
It was not Shakespeare but Pythagoras who likely first imagined the world as a stage “whereon many play their parts.”
No more often am I reminded of this proverb than when I am traveling across the inlet between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands — one of many grand stages of North Carolina’s maritime history.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation ferry Croatoan gets underway from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke. Photo: Mark Hibbs
The ferry I am on meanders its way along the narrow, serpentine channels, across boiling pools of wavelets and at times rolling on the incoming swells of the Atlantic as salt spray breaks over the bow. Before long, I spot the tell-tale behavior of excited tourists making the passage for their first time. They gingerly stagger about the pitching deck, taking selfies, feeding seagulls, or waving at passing fishing boats.