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| The Outer
Banks stretch over 180 miles from Currituck southward to
Cape Lookout. It is a fragile string of barrier islands whose
very
existence rests completely at the mercy of nature. In simplest
terms it is sand and surf, marsh, dunes and sea oats, birds,
wind and sky; where one can still stand on the beach and
have nothing
man-made intrude for as far as the eye can see; a place where
one can still be utterly alone with nature. |
Click image
for larger view.
Photo by Fred Hurteau |
It
is also a place where the cold Labrador Current and the warm
waters of the Gulf Stream clash over the "Graveyard of the Atlantic".
It is a place battered frequently by "Nor'easters" and by hurricanes
of immense destructive power. It is constantly
shifted and altered by relentless ocean waves and wind. And
yet it has remained here for millennia. The geology and weather
of this place are fascinating and complex topics in their own
right.
But the mystique of the Outer Banks is far more complex than that.
It is rich in history and tradition, and smothered in folklore
and legend, dating from the first English settlement in the New
World, to Blackbeard the pirate, to the historic heroism of the
lifesaving service, to man's first powered heavier-than-air flight.
It is a busy tourist destination for fishing, hang gliding, sandboarding, bird
watching,
beach bathing, boating and sightseeing. It has state and national
parks, ferry rides, and the most famous lighthouse in the world.
It is North Carolina's Outer Banks. |
An Overhead
View |
Click on image
above for
larger view. CLICK
HERE
for NASA image source & info. |
The photo at
left shows the precarious nature of the narrow strip of barrier
islands which make up the Outer
Banks of North Carolina.
The black and white aerial
photo at right looks from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at Buxton
northward toward Avon. For an indication of the barrier islands
true scale, look at the thin strip of sand running north compared
to the height of the Hatteras Lighthouse in the center of the photo. |
Click on image
above for
larger view. CLICK
HERE
for NASA link to image
source & info. |
 |
Left
is my photo taken atop Cape Hatteras Lighthouse looking
north. At right is an enlargement of
the top center area of the left photo, which more plainly shows
2-lane Highway 12, and gives some indication of the width of
the land here.
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| Cape
Hatteras point, the eastern-most projection of the banks is shown
here on the right in my photo of the view
south from atop Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The sun glistens
off the ocean, and just right of center can be seen the faint
gray vertical line where a tall communications tower stands.
(Click any of these photos for a larger view.) |
 |
Another
really cool view from atop the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in
it's new location
is this interactive 360 degree photo available at Cramer
Gallimore Photography Studio web site VRGallery. Watch for the
same radio tower as noted above when you view the 360 degree photo.
(Requires Quicktime, available at the same site.)
You can also see real-time images from two web cams (one atop
Hatteras Lighthouse, and one looking at the lighthouse). This
link takes
you to the WITN
TV "lightcam" site.
 This "N.C.
Outer Banks Location Map" was created on a photo taken from
the International Space Station. In most such high angle photos,
you see right into the water, which makes it difficult to distinguish
where the "land" ends in the shallow waters around the barrier
islands. But the sun's glare in this photo lets you easily distinguish
the water from dry land because the glare is overexposed and the
land is underexposed. It's almost like a silhouette drawing, and
works very well in this case as a map.
Towns and villages on the barrier islands, and towns that are access
points to the Outer Banks are marked, as well as the lighthouses
and ferry routes. The Cape Lookout area south of Ocracoke is
detailed on the "Cape
Lookout Area Locations Map".
Access to the Outer Banks by boat gives you the greatest freedom
to see areas not readily accessible any other way. There are a
few small airports, airfields and landing strips in the vicinity
which provide access by small aircraft as well. However, the vast
majority of visitors come by car via bridge and ferry. [bridges
on this map are drawn in to make them visible and are not to scale]
Viewing the map you can note that bridge access is available only
at the northern end of the Outer Banks. From Manns Harbor you can
cross to Roanoke Island at Manteo and then to Whalebone on the
banks. Just north of Kitty Hawk you can cross Currituck Sound to
Point Harbor. Oregon Inlet Bridge connects Pea Island with Hatteras
Island. Reaching Ocracoke by car requires a ferry ride.
Ferries from Hatteras Island provide vehicle access at the north
end of Ocracoke. The Swan Quarter and Oak Island ferries handle
vehicle access at the south end of Ocracoke. This ferry
service is run by the N.C. Dept. of Transportation, and is
reliable and inexpensive. It is important to plan any visit to
Ocracoke with the ferry schedule in mind.
South of Ocracoke there is no bridge access to the Core Banks,
Cape Lookout or Shackleford Banks, which make up the Cape Lookout
National Seashore. Unless you have your own boat, these areas are
accessible only through private ferries leaving from Harkers Island,
Davis, Atlantic, Beaufort, Morehead City and Ocracoke. Some of
these private ferry companies provide pedestrian transport only,
while others are able to take both pedestrians and 4-wheel drives
(where permitted). There are also guided tours available, and primitive
camping is allowed in these areas. Other than limited facilities
for day visitors to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse keepers quarters
and museum, there are absolutely no other facilities or utilities
of any kind.
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