I'm tan!

Sprite,thanks for the info.I`m just not sure what we got ourselves into on this trip.I`m also meeting my East coast relatives for the first time in my life.Should be interesting to say the least.
"Just south of the Virginia border, this fourteen-mile stretch of beach is collectively known as, "The 4 x 4 Beaches." There are no paved roads, no shops and no restaurants. A four-wheel-drive vehicle is required, as you must actually drive on the beach to access vacation homes. This uncomplicated area is made up of dense maritime forests, marshy sounside coves and protected nature preserves. Home to the wild horses of Currituck County, the extraordinary possibility of catching a glimpse of these unique creatures is practically commonplace".

Yarrrrrr-

Ocracoke Island was the site of the last stand between Blackbeard and Lt. Robert Maynard of His Majesty's Royal Navy.

Maynard duped Blackbeard into thinking the crew was mostly dead or injured, and then killed Blackbeard.

He then sailed back to Virginia with Blackbeard's severed head hanging from his bowspright.

Just in case you missed this info on your vacation.


I have been reading a lot about pirates lately, you'll have to excuse me.

Twins - you'll love it. Carova (the area you speak of) is kick ass - that's where we usually get a house. The traffic on the beach needs getting used to, however. At least it's plenty wide enough (especially at low tide) that your kids aren't playing chicken with a Suburban. The trick is to leave all your crap (umbrellas, chairs, etc.) in the vehicle and drive down to the water line. Set up next to your car - this will block any idiots from trying to drive through that part of the surf to kick up spray n'shit - and you don't have to haul your gear to the water (sometimes a couple hundred yards, depending on where your house is.)

http://www.ohiomurals.com/jeepin/smile.jpg

Tanline pix pls..

http://www.hoflink.com/~dbaer/coppertone.jpg

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Originally Posted by Tippster

Twins - you'll love it. Carova (the area you speak of) is kick ass - that's where we usually get a house. The traffic on the beach needs getting used to, however. At least it's plenty wide enough (especially at low tide) that your kids aren't playing chicken with a Suburban. The trick is to leave all your crap (umbrellas, chairs, etc.) in the vehicle and drive down to the water line. Set up next to your car - this will block any idiots from trying to drive through that part of the surf to kick up spray n'shit - and you don't have to haul your gear to the water (sometimes a couple hundred yards, depending on where your house is.)
http://www.ohiomurals.com/jeepin/smile.jpg

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Heres the house.http://www.twiddy.com/homes/4x4/swan...alty-dawg.aspx Thanks for posting the pic of the soft sand highway.For sure getting a 4 wheel drive rental now.

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Originally Posted by Tippster

Carova (the area you speak of) is kick ass - that's where we usually get a house. The traffic on the beach needs getting used to, however. At least it's plenty wide enough (especially at low tide) that your kids aren't playing chicken with a Suburban.

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I guess it all comes down to what you're used to, but I can't imagine sharing a beach with car traffic. If cops are running over sunbathers, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/ve...itions-ventura
I can't imagine relaxing on a beach where the average yahoo is allowed to drive. (Maybe all of the yahoos on the outer banks are above average?)

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Originally Posted by mday

I guess it all comes down to what you're used to, but I can't imagine sharing a beach with car traffic. If cops are running over sunbathers, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/ve...itions-ventura
I can't imagine relaxing on a beach where the average yahoo is allowed to drive. (Maybe all of the yahoos on the outer banks are above average?)

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Dude, you live in Kalifornia. You're all yahoos. :nonono2:;)

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Originally Posted by P_McPoser

Dude, you live in Kalifornia. You're all yahoos. :nonono2:;)

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Hey!! was that really nessesary?

You fuckin Poser

EDIT: P when drunk in the big W. Stay away from the keyboard

Sprite, where did you camp at OBX. And where dod you kayak, was it in the creeks or did you go into the ocean. I have been thinking of taking a trip there since it is fairly close to my house (within 8 hours). I wanted to do some fishing but would not mind taking my kayak. Sounds like ya'll had a big time. There is some very good seafood up and down the NC/SC coast and parasailing is a blast.

Nice TR.

We camped on Ocracoke Island in the Cape Hatteras seashore national park. It has limited shade, and cool water showers...which believe me in the summer are a good thing. :) You can walk from your tent over the dunes and to the beach in 2 minutes. It was quite nice!

Try to see if you can get one of the camp sites furthest from the beach though...ask for the more private ones with more plant growth. The other ones are a bit too out in the open for me, but on the other hand who cares...you won't be sitting by your tent much anyway.

A nice kayak launch point and one that is off the beaten path (a local told us how to find it) is right at the end of Sarah Ellen Dr. Do not block anyone's driveway and they are cool w/ you parking on the side there. Drive into town on highway 12. Turn right on Old Beach Rd and then right on Middle Road. Then a left on Trent Drive and Right on Sarah Ellen Dr. That launch goes out to Palmico Sound where you can paddle around in some semi-rough water and get some amazing views. If you bear right and go into the little channels there you can see many bird nesting areas. If you go out on the sound and paddle left instead, and are ultra-ambitious, you can wrap around a good portion of the island and pass by "the Ditch" (entry to Silver Lake) and then continue on to Treach's Hole where Blackbeard was captured and killed. We wanted to do that but it would have been really long and with our kid in tow we knew it would be too much. You should do it though!

Here is a Village Map so you can see the water areas I'm talking about. You will find good fishing out in Palmico Sound, I saw some kayakers fishing...and lots of paddlers overall out enjoying the views and wrestling a bit w/ the wind and currents.

Let me know if you go how you liked it! And do go to Howard's Pub. They had so many different types of good beer to choose from and a good menu. I really liked the conch fritters!

Sprite

Edit: Try the parasailing too...the views there are awesome! We went with the Islander boat. You'll like that one. The cute guide girl, Desiree, does up your harness and gets up close & personal. My husband was wearing sunglasses but I know what he was checkin' out. ;-) They were very nice, and do a heck of a lot of crazy ocean-dunking if you want them to. They will also take you up to 1000 feet, but that's extra.

Sweet. Thanks for the info and the map. I don't know if I will make it this year or not. I have a few trips already planned and then I am going to Aspen in January (another place I have never been) So I may do OBX n the spring of 07.

When you say they were very nice, do you mean the people or the guides boobs?

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Originally Posted by flykdog

OBX sux! Especially Ocracoke Island. The Ferry takes forever, the traffic on the one street is hell, rednecks rule and the heat/humidity is unbearable. There are much better places to spend your hard-earned vaca. Get with the program Sprite!

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Yeah, right, where's the winkie, man? Once you get away from Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills, the Outer Banks is one of the best parts of the planet, you're just trying to keep it to yourself!

Sprite, I wish I had known you were going to Ocracoke, one of my best friend's uncles owns Howard's Pub, I could've hooked you up, he's a great guy.

In the absence of any Snowsprite tan photos, here's a picture of a 1973 Morris Marina. In tan.

http://content.answers.com/main/cont...arp.750pix.jpg

I miss the OBX. Great place to waste a summer away.

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Originally Posted by iceman

Sprite, I wish I had known you were going to Ocracoke, one of my best friend's uncles owns Howard's Pub, I could've hooked you up, he's a great guy.

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Bummer, but tell him I really loved the place. And you should have seen my mom & dad's faces when I showed them the empty Hatuay beer bottle. They have not seen one of those since they left Havana in '61. It was good brewski!

Sprite

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Originally Posted by snowsprite

Bummer, but tell him I really loved the place. And you should have seen my mom & dad's faces when I showed them the empty Hatuay beer bottle. They have not seen one of those since they left Havana in '61. It was good brewski!

Sprite

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Sprite,if they like Hatuay take them on a road trip to South Beach. That beer and Mojitos are all I drink with my Cuban meals.Black Beans and rice,fried plantains,yummy.

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Originally Posted by snowsprite

I really liked the conch fritters!

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HAHA! How little do you know we only invented those things to see if tourist would actually eat them:D

Do you know if any of the boat rental places rented Jetskis?

Yeah Stroup, there were jet-ski rentals right in the village in front of Silver Lake. My relatives all went and had a blast!

Sprite

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Originally Posted by TWINS

Sprite,if they like Hatuay take them on a road trip to South Beach. That beer and Mojitos are all I drink with my Cuban meals.Black Beans and rice,fried plantains,yummy.

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Yeah! Actually half my family lives in Miami. I was raised on that food you speak of. :cool:

Sprite

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Originally Posted by warthog

Yarrrrrr-

I have been reading a lot about pirates lately, you'll have to excuse me.

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Not to hijack a thread, but have any recommended readings? I recently finished a bunch on Trafalgar and Nelson and since I won't make it to a beach this summer pirate reading would help me get my fix.

And BTW, glad you had a blast Sprite

By the way...anyone watch "True Carribean Pirates" on A&E Sunday night? There was a dude interviewed on it who runs a harbor tour on Ocracoke. That's how my husband found out about it and since we were all stoked up on pirates we made sure to watch it.

One thing for sure, they did not sugar-coat the piracy thing. For instance, pirates liked to conquer forts and then invade the towns these were guarding looking for rich citizens and their associated 'booty.' Knowing full well that the filthy rich liked to hide their treasures, the pirates would torture that info out of folks who were uncooperative about disclosing the location of these. One of their favorite techniques was to literally string a guy up by his junk until gravity triggered a "breaking point." (CRINGE!) I did not know that!

It was a very intersesting program, and after learning about some of their more unsavory antics the fact is that I like the "pirate image" in concept but in reality they were pretty horrible! Tons of amazing history associated with piracy, and I did pick up a few books in the OBX about folk tales of the area, many pirate-associated. Ones by Charles Harry Whedbee are really fun to read.

Sprite

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Originally Posted by snowsprite

Yeah! Actually half my family lives in Miami. I was raised on that food you speak of. :cool:

Sprite

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We purchased 4 dinners last year on the last night and kept the spares in a cooler for the flight home.Nothing better than good Cuban leftovers.:)

I did the Ocracoke visit two years ago in September - - vacationing to the beach post-Labor Day is the way to go! I did love the kayaking around the marshes in the shadow of of the lighthouse and chilling at the dockside restaurants / bars almost (ALMOST) made you think you were in the Carribean!

Looking forward to going back... and if I remember correctly, Howards Pub is the only place to go to. Good contact to have there, Iceman!

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Originally Posted by Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo

Not to hijack a thread, but have any recommended readings? I recently finished a bunch on Trafalgar and Nelson and since I won't make it to a beach this summer pirate reading would help me get my fix.

And BTW, glad you had a blast Sprite

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The Pirate Hunter- The true story of Capt. Kidd

Under The Black Flag- The Romance and Reality of Pirates.
This is the one I am reading now. It is a very thorough history of Pirates.


Sprite- I watched that True Carribean Pirates show- it was pretty good. The above book that I am reading does go into a lot more detail, though. They took a lot of shortcuts in that program. They especially fucked up the Henry Morgan bit. He failed to capture any loot the first two times he tried to take Panama, and was shot in the first attempt. Third time was the charm. I was a bit surprised that they got it so wrong.