Co-O'Neal of the Week: Chad and Erin!

Chad and Erin welcomed me into the comfortable sitting area of The Cove B & B, which they have managed since 2007.  Erin's parents are from Hatteras and Avon, and she grew up in Buxton.  Chad is an Ocracoker through and through.  Their son, Carter, recently turned five.

Erin has a degree in hospitality from East Carolina University, and the easygoing couple excels at welcoming visitors to Ocracoke.  Great people return to stay with them year after year, and they also see lots of new people, said Erin.

Ocracoke Current:  All the other men in your family worked on the water, either fishing or with the ferry division.  How did you end up here?

Chad:  The ferries are too boring for me.  I can't sit on that all day.  I love to fish, but I got talked out of that growing up.

Erin:  Now you just can't make it. 

Ocracoke Current:  What's the craziest thing a guest has ever done?

Chad:  The guy that . . . (he pauses, deciding how to put it)

Erin: walked up the side of the building.  He dropped his cigarettes from the third floor.

Chad:  Before I could get a ladder he was climbing up the outdoor shower.  I guess he really wanted a cigaratte.

Ocracoke Current:  What do you do for a date night?

Chad and Erin look at each other and smile.

Erin:  That depends on how much time we have.  We'll usually go out to dinner.

Ocracoke Current:  Where was your last vacation?

Erin:  Anna Maria Island, Florida.  It's south of Tampa, on the Gulf.  We rented a golf cart for three days.  The golf carts there go 35 miles an hour and they call them 'low speed vehicles.'

Ocracoke Current:  Weren't you part of that really big class at Ocracoke School?

Chad:  We started with 16, and I graduated with 7 guys.  I'm still friends with pretty much all of them.  Only me, Jeffrey Walters, and Justin Boor still live on the island.

Erin:  That's how big Carter's class is.  It makes you wonder how many will still be around.

Ocracoke Current:  You both grew up on the Outer Banks in the 1980s and 1990s.  How is it different for Carter?

Chad:  Do I have to answer that?!

Erin:  There's more opportunity.

Ocracoke Current:  Ball field.  Yes or no?

Chad:  Definitely.

Erin:  That's an easy one.

Ocracoke Current:  What's your favorite time of year?

Erin:  I like it all but summer is too crazy.

Chad:  Definitely the off season.

Ocracoke Current:  When you go to dinner at your grandmother's house, what do you want her to fix you?

Chad:  I have to say fried shrimp.

Erin:  Stewed chicken in pie bread.  That's Kinnakeet style.