New Hilton construction

Went by and snapped this pic of the new Hilton construction site at the Kitty Hawk pier site yesterday. It's big!

Sunset at RV's gazebo

Snapped this while waiting for my oh-so-good $13.95 more-than-twenty-count shrimp dinner at RV's tonight.

Here's something new- Mileposts

There have appeared recently these new "half" mile posts, in between the old regular mileposts. First time I saw one, it took me a second to read it correctly!

Island Grill in Manteo review

Went and had lunch at the Island Central Grill just south of Manteo today. This is the first time we've tried them and it was great! We had the fried grouper sandwich which was HUGE! The fish was tasty and prepared just right. We chose to dine outside on one of their shaded picnic tables because there was a cool breeze today. They also have a number of tables on their screened porch for dining. Excellent lunch spot, goes on my A list.

Island Central Grill located at 928 S. Hwy 64, in front of the Dare County Justice Center and across from the Silver Bonsai gift shop.

Sea Oatel to come down

I rode over to Nags Head today to see what was left of the Sea Oatel, which is scheduled to meet with the bulldozer imminently. The windows were all out and a lot of the doors were standing open. I heard employees on the parking lot discussing that the demolition will start tomorrow. Recently purchased by new owners, it will now become new homes on individual lots. The west side units are to be kept as motel units. The old owners have recently purchased the Elizabethan Inn/ Nautics Hall complex in Manteo, and are busy running that.

Here's the way it looked today.


Meanwhile vacationers enjoyed the beaches today even though the red flags were flying to warn not to go into the ocean.

Saturday at the beach

Saturday after tending "cottages" we went to the beach for a little while. It is really rare that we go to the beach here in our home county. It just seems so different to be on a beach with people on it! This day in particular it was most pleasant to sit in the sand chair by the sea. There was a very light east wind which means the temperature was nice and not too hot, and the water was much clearer and more blue, much more to my liking. Here's a couple of shots for those of you inland stuck at your desks awaiting vacation!



And a seagull prances on the beach.

Ocracoke beach Number two on the list

I saw this on Radio Margaritaville. Ocracoke Island's beach is number two in the top ten US beaches as rated by Dr. Beach. Apparently he has also published a book with pix of the best beaches in America. I guess the secret is out!
http://www.drbeach.org/drbeach/best_beach_list.htm

It has been HOT, HOT, HOT!!

It has been about 90 plus degrees the last three days here. All those "early" renters sure got summer for their buck! Right now we are just over a small thunderstorm, but that is the only rain we have had all week. It has been very dry. Supposed to cool down the end of the week. The traffic is here! Summer is here! The heat is here! Bring it on!

No fish for supper....

My boat went out today ( I was not aboard), but it did not bring any Cobia home for supper. All reports said they were here, but not around my boat! Oh well, there's always tomorrow!
Saturday at work tending the "cottages" was where I was. They were a good group this past week (except for the battery/clock incident). Nothing major broke, no major clean up. I did go and leave a couple of batteries on the steps for the clock, and apparently they found them and actually got them installed, because the clock was working in fine order! I suppose that's good, because they knew what time it was to check out!
It was a bright sunny day today at the Outer Banks.

New Flood maps out for Dare County

The newly revised flood maps have been received by the town and county governments and are open for review by property owners. A startling statistic I learned when reading about these maps is that 82 percent of the land in Dare is in a flood zone of some type requiring flood insurance to build (or at least finance). The parcels I looked at of interest to me drew a mixed bag when compared to the last maps. One went lower, a couple of others drastically higher (meaning more expensive and restrictive on building) and another practically unchanged. The maps must be adopted and approved by each town or county (if unincorporated) before they become law. It is estimated this process could take 9 months to a year.

THIS is MY idea of beach nourishment!

While recently relaxing at On Da Beach bar in the beautiful Abacos, I was doing a bit of photogging and a tiny bit of reflecting on the problems back home. Making light of the situation seemed very appropo. So here's my version of beach renourishment!

What a beautiful weekend!

Well yesterday and Saturday turned out to be just beautiful days here on the Outer Banks. After all the rainy cool weather it was really nice to see some sunshine. Today has started out very foggy, but it will be clearing up.
Our group of tenants for the week are all nicely settled in. My very first maintenance call of the season was that the battery had died in the clock and they would like someone to come replace it! Go figure. Nothing better to do on vacation than watch the clock, I suppose.
Speaking of time, I am still on island time, having just returned from almost three wonderful weeks in the Bahamas. It's really hard to TRY to get back to work now. Just sorting through the three cartons of mail is a real chore. So I'll be a little slow to get back into the groove of blogging and posting pics, so bear with me.

Applebee's update

The new Applebee's at the Outer Banks Mall is progressing along. I was glad to see a bit more architectural appeal added to the building, which I thought at first glance was really going to be plain. Have not heard when they are to be open yet.

Milepost 5, a mile north of Avalon Pier

For the reader who was wondering about the beach conditions about a mile north of Avalon Pier, here are a couple of pix from that area. Once again, the beach does not look too bad, all things considered. It will get better and better as the summer time approaches and the sand bars move back in to the beach.


Looking south from the access near Milepost 5, in Kitty Hawk.


Looking north around MP 5.

Milepost 19 beach

For the reader who was interested in the beach area around Milepost 19 in S. Nags Head, here are a few beach pix from the beach access there. The beach actually looked pretty good considering the overall state of things down that way.


Looking north at Milepost 19.


Looking south at Milepost 19.

That weather last Friday

I have been hearing tales from others around the banks about that severe storm that we had blow through last Friday. I read in the Coastland Times that the Ocracoke ferry dock station reported a wind gust of 115 mph. Also a friend was returning home in the height of the storm from west of here, and experienced the NOAA reported gusts of 110 mph on the Wright Memorial bridge. He said it knocked the car down to 30 mph and they could drive no faster! I do hope that all the severe spring weather is behind us now, and let the summer begin!

Foggy out last night

Yesterday afternoon the cold sea air started rolling back onshore, and it got right down cool! The fog rolling in off the ocean was really surreal. I walked over to the beach to see if I could get some kind of pic which might show what it felt like. I don't think the pic does it justice, but it was really neat. These very large pelicans were just lazily riding the thermals just over the duneline along the beach. It was awesome seeing them just appear out of the fog and then fade away into it down the way.

New webpage with S. Nags Head pics

Here's the new page of pics taken May 7, 2005 in South Nags Head.


SOUTH NAGS HEAD PICS WEBPAGE

S. Nags Head today at Indigo

Someone asked about the Indigo Beach access in S. Nags Head and how the beaches fared during this latest battering. There was some loss of beach and the newly built and planted berms. The usual hotspots of Surfside and Seagull were the worst. A lot of water line and some electric cables were broken in those areas. These two pics were taken at the Indigo beach access for the requester. To answer your question, no, the access has not been repaired. The parking lot has been planted in beach grass so I assume that means no vehicles. The walkover still has no stairs and is marked closed. There is no beach there at high tide anyway.

I am working on a webpage with many more shots of this morning in S. Nags Head and will get that up sometime today. Not sure when as I have to go do another job in just a few minutes! Stay tuned.

A bit quieter this AM

Still blowing steady 15 from the NW, with gusts to about 30 mph, but it seems a lot quieter. Last night it was just a steady roar. We are finally clear of all the rain. Later this morning I'm going to try to get over to the beach to see what damage has been wrought, so be sure to check back later in the day for some pics.