North Carolina : Outer Banks
USA >> North Carolina >> Outer Banks
by Karen Zabawa, Travel Writer in Canada, April 2002
Basically just a giant sand bar, the Outer Banks are a 160-km long chain of barrier islands lying off the North Carolina coast. The easiest way to get around is by car. The main highway runs south from Kitty Hawk to Hatteras, with its famous lighthouse, where you can take the 45-minute free ferry ride to Ocracoke Island, the long-ago haunt of Blackbeard and his pirates. Canadian Hole near Avon is one of the continent's top windsurfing spots. Here, as in a number of places on the Outer Banks, a few minutes' walk takes you from the Atlantic rollers across the road to the shallower Sound side with its magnificent sunsets.
March to June, and late August to December are the best times to visit, when the accommodation rates drop dramatically and the summer crowds are gone. Outer Banks style is laid-back, casual and very friendly. In Duck, when I stopped at the posh Sanderling Inn and Spa to ask for directions to the nearby Audubon trail, the staff never batted an eye at my decidedly unlovely wet and windblown backpacking self, but cheerfully gave me a cup of coffee and pointed the way.
Fast food chains are few and far between, and no boardwalk will ever blot its shores. Look for local specialties like crab cakes (ask for grilled), grits (sort of like hot Cream of Wheat cereal, quite tasty dotted with butter, and salt and pepper) and hushpuppies (sweet and cinnamon-y deep fried fritters) at family-owned restaurants like these:
Sam and Omie's where once the fishermen stopped for breakfast before heading out to sea for the day, is a great place for breakfast, complete with grits.
Basnight's Lone Cedar Cafe overlooks the water just off the Manteo Causeway -- lots of fresh fish, jumbo shrimp, crab cakes, and hot crab dip, washed down with locally-made Weeping Radish beer.
Owen's Restaurant in Nags Head is more fine dining but still homey and friendly. The duck confit and the bouillabaisse are excellent.
What to See
Though you can easily drive through the Outer Banks in a day, it takes at least a week to see and do everything -- surfing, parasailing, exploring shops and attractions, like the granite monument atop Kill Devil Hill in Kitty Hawk that marks the spot where the Wright brothers first took flight; a celebration to mark the centennial is planned for December, 2003. At Jockeys Ridge State Park, you can climb a 400m-high sand dune that's right out of Lawrence of Arabia, or learn to hang glide.
Check these two sites for great links to everything in the Outer Banks:
Dare County Visitors Bureau http://www.outerbanks.org - (USA) 800-446-6262
Insiders Guide North Carolina's Outer Banks
http://www.insiders.com/outerbanks/index.htm
Karen Zabawa sites:
SnapshotJourneys.com
SnapshotDiaries.com
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