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Shackleford Banks: Sailing to the Island of the Wild Horses

Published February 22, 2026

I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.

As promised last week in my get-the-boat-ready-to-float list, here’s a hand-drawn (as opposed to AI-drawn) map of where Julia and I are heading for our mid-March trip. We’re sailing to Shackleford Banks with our sailboat Grit to observe the wild horses that live there.

Hand-drawn color pencil map of Shackleford Banks by Bernie Harberts — Shackleford Banks (Color pencil on printer paper / by Bernie Harberts)

About the Map

Are you sick of looking at AI-generated art? Tired of seeing AI-generated videos of AI-people chipping AI-horses and baby AI-generated eagles out of AI-generated blocks of ice? Yeah, me too.

If this sounds like a mini-rant, it is. When I see the AI flooding the world — art, articles, you name it — I want to turn off the screen, grab a piece of paper, sketch a boat with a blue pen, cut down a tree with a saw, and sit in front of the beehive watching the workers come and go, noting what color pollen they’ve got on their legs.

That stuff feels real to me. Because it is. When I see it, my mind settles, like I’ve had a genuine experience. It scratches that longing to be in the natural world. AI-generated stuff leaves me feeling the opposite: impatient, doubtful, and somehow cheated.

Okay, back to the map. I sketched it a few nights ago while the wood stove was blazing and Julia was curled up on the couch with a book on wild horses. I hope it gives you a feel for where Shackleford Banks is and what Julia and I might expect to find there.

Julia’s side of the voyage at Saddle Under the Stars:

More about:

stories from Julia's and my trips aboard Grit.
Julia's and my time with the wild ponies of Shackleford Banks.

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