This is a twofer review. We went on 2 tours with the Austins while on Ocracoke for a weeklong…read morevacation recently. This is our second time to go on the ATV Tour and jthe first time for a new tour they are offering, the Sand Bar Cruise. Both are fantastic! We have such a great time with these down to earth folks.
First on the ATV Tour...you show up at their office/umbrella stand that is adjacent to the Jolly Roger Marina on the main drag in Ocracoke on Siler Lake Harbor. Bring these thing with you for certain: SUNSCREEN, GOOD BUG SPRAY. Other items you will need: Water, a few snacks if you are bringing kids and maybe some beach towels. Wear your bathing suit under your clothes. You jump in the boat with Wade (a native Ocracoker...very nice) and a guide and off you go (at a great clip) to Portsmouth Island. It is about a 15 minute boat ride. When you get there Wade will beach the boat and help you off and then he leaves you on the island with your super nice quide. You then hop on some ATV Mules (some with windshields, some without-try to get one with!) and away you go. She will take you to the edge of the Historic Portsmouth Village. Before you get there she stops and lets you DRENCH yourself with bug spray. Because this is a deserted island and a National Park, they don't do commercial mass spraying which is a must on the Outer Banks. THE BUGS ARE TERRIBLE!!! It is almost not worth going to the village because of this, but it is a really neat place. The place is like it was left when the last permanent resident left (back in the late 60's I believe). There is a life saving station with all kinds of informative displays including a replica boat. There is the post office, a really nbeat church that really shows the damage of Hurricane Emily and about 6 other houses. It is a walking tour and it is quite a hike and very buggy, but I swear it is worth it if you have any interest in this sort of thing. When you are done looking over the village, you will dash back out to your ATV (they aren't aloud in the village and you have to park where the bugs are the worst..so run!) and then you go back out the the beach where there are practically NO BUGS. There is great shelling here as hardly anyone takes te private ferry (that costs about $200@ car) so you have the beach all to yourself and for the remander of the tour (which is 4 hours total) you go check out the beach and look for shells (we always find big conch/welks!) You ,may even see some fishermen on the beach. While we were there one pulled in a STINGRAY! They let it go while we were there, thank goodness. Then back down the beach to meet Wade and he takes you back to Ocracoke.
This tour is expensive (hence the deduction of 1 star) it is $85 per person. But I really think it is worth the money.
NOW for the Sand Bar tour. This is the BANG-FOR-YOUR-BUCK experience on Ocracoke Island. It was WONDERFUL! You get on The Native Son, the Austins' new Pontoon Cruiser. It is very nice.
THINGS TO TAKE: sunscreen, towels, chairs, a filled cooler, your beach book-basically whatever you would normally take to the beach with you. They have plenty of room on the boat.
When we went , Wade and his wife and kids went with us alond with about 15 other people. The boat holds about 30 or so people and so you are very comfortable on the ride out to the Sand Bar. You go about 2/3 of the way to Portsmouth Island and Wade very smoothly and professionally steers you to the barely visable patch of sand and you disembark. You are on the tour for about 3 hours, and in that time, the Sand Bar keeps getting bigger a the tide is falling the entire time. The area you can explore is almost unlimited. The water on the sandbar varies in depth, from about 6" deep to over your head swimming holes. And all this is about 2 miles off shore! It is SO NEAT. While we were there my nephews (the buddied up with Wade's kids, Hayden and Colby) caught about 20 crabs and we found about 40 sand dollars!! It was so nice. Before we left the sandbar was about as big as half a football field exposed. We just turned our kids loose (ages 13 and 10). They had the most fun we had on the whole trip.
This is the best deal on the island. $40 for the adults and $20 for the kids! You can't beat that with a stick! And there was even a coupon in the 'Sunny Deals' guide that is in every store for $5 off the adults! Fantastic. We will DEF be going back for more sand bar tours with the Wade Family.
BOIL IT DOWN-If you have the cash go on...BOTH! If you are having to choose between the two, We like the Sand Bar Tour...no bugs and tons of laid back fun. If you need to be a little more entertained, the guided tour of Portsmouth Island is for you. Both are fun...its all about your prefrence.
