Aerial Outer Banks photos

I have a new webpage up with a few new aerial photos taken yesterday over the Outer Banks.
A preview shot: This pic shows from the Kitty Hawk/Southern Shores border looking north to Duck, NC.



See the webpage at:

http://www.outerbanksvacationhomes.com/Outer_Banks_Aerials_112605.html

Christmas Shop closing forever Nov. 27

The Christmas Shop in Manteo will be closing forever on Sunday, November 27th. They apparently were more successful in selling out their inventory faster than anticipated, as the original date given was the end of the year. There will be a huge yard sale this weekend to clear out some of the store fixtures. The antiques in the shop were not included in the sale and will be auctioned off this coming spring. I snapped a few pix for the memorabilia fans out there. Also took a stroll thru the shop to see what was left. I was actually surprised there was as much left as there was, since they will be open only another couple of days. Lots of ornaments left, a few trees, many, many lighthouse trinkets.

NC Aquarium in Manteo

Went to visit the NC Aquarium at the airport in Manteo yesterday. Wow, what a display! Many many neat things to see. The live aquariums housing all kinds of tropical fish are just amazing. The last one you encounter is about 25-30 feet long and goes up over your head and houses sharks and many other ocean fish. It even has an old shipwreck replica on the bottom. It is really something to watch the sharks materialize out of the murky depths and swim right by your face!

Manteo's incumbants stay in power

The nastiest campaign I can remember in my little island's history is now over and the mayor and three commissioners retained their seats. The fight came down to basically developers vs. those opposing "urban sprawl" and the latter won. For now it would appear that the town's people wish to slow down the rapid pace of growth on this tiny island. John Wilson is still mayor, and commissioners Farrow and Etheridge will be returning to their seats. The top vote getter, Ms. Dell Collins' seat will be filled by appointment by the board, due to the untimely death of Ms. Collins just this past Thursday.

In other towns, major upsets occurred. Kitty Hawk now has a new mayor and new councilmen. Cliff Perry is the new mayor, and Richard Reid and Gary Perry are new councilmen.

Kill Devil Hills' incumbant mayor Sherry Rollason was ousted by newcomer Chuck Ball.

Nags Head will see Renee Cahoon return to the mayoral seat.

Southern Shores new mayor will be Don Smith and new councilman will be Brian McDonald.

Town of Manteo preserves another piece of history

On Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005, the Town of Manteo held a dedication ceremony for the Manteo Weather Tower. In 1904, the Weather Bureau established the original station with Mr. Alpheus Drinkwater in charge. The tower was used to fly signal flags to warn mariners of approaching bad weather. At night, tower's red and white signal lights flashed it's message. This original tower was first placed on top of the Dare County courthouse and later moved to the family land of John Booth. Recently the town acquired permission to restore the tower and move it to Town property. The Booth family graciously allowed the town to refurbish the tower and supplied the original signal lights to be affixed upon it. The Manteo tower is believed to be one of only five operational towers still in use, and may be the only one to have all its original signal lights intact.

The tower now stands on the Manteo waterfront near the Marshes Lighthouse replica.

Still a little chilly, windy, today

The day after a small nor'easter' passed by the ocean is still a bit rialled up. There is a steady breeze from the north putting a little nip in the air but not too much for a couple of hardy beachwalkers all bundled up.



Another of the ocean up close:

Windy and wet

The weather is surprising nasty already here today. It is raining, sometimes pretty hard and steady, and the winds are gusting to about 24 mph. The low pressure cell has already developed right off the Hatteras coast on the north end of the front which picked up Wilma. The outflow clouds from Wilma are linked up with this front all the way up past NC.

Cooler tonight and a little cloudy

We have had the far outer most cloud bands of Wilma actually reaching this far today. It is cooler today, but so far has been dry. There is a rainband from the storm showing up on the local radar just offshore of Cape Hatteras but that is not an unusual place. Hopefully it will stay offshore. Also hoping the storm center passes well east of here and does not stir up too much wave action!

Cooler today but still pretty clear

It was much cooler today (around 60 degrees) most of the day, but still not too bad on cloudiness yet. We are experiencing the further outlying bands of clouds being pulled north from Wilma already. There are rainbands offshore showing on the local radar. We just hope they stay offshore. It is deadly still as far as the wind. Tomorrow promises to be wetter and darker. Let's just hope this stays far enough offshore that the wave action is not too great.

Nags Head one step closer to beach nourishment

In its Oct. 5th meeting the Nags Head Board of Commissioners approved a proposal by an engineering firm to prepare the final design and permits for nourishing 10 of the 12 miles of its towns beaches. The nearly $27 million project will require a general obligation bond to finance it, which will have to be approved by voters in the town. The earliest construction could begin will be spring 2007.

Another beautiful day

It was another really beautiful day here on the Outer Banks. Nice and warm wonderful fall weather. There doesn't seem to be a lot going on lately that's news around here so I haven't been posting much. If any of you have any topics you would like to see covered please leave me a note in the comments. Always looking for new ideas.

Finally a beautiful sunny day!

It was a totally miserable week on the Outer Banks as far as the weather goes. Rainy, misty, cool, cloudy, some breeze, you name it. But today the cloud pack has finally moved offshore and we have gorgeous sunshine, and a little northwest breeze. It is 70 degrees currently and promised to be just a magnificent day.

Catching air on the Outer Banks

Kitesurfers found the conditions wonderful this weekend on the Outer Banks, as the northeast winds kicked up the surf and produced 15-20 winds. This surfer was enjoying the day at Pea Island.

Old Timers Stories

Now that the immediate threat of storms has died away, I wanted to share an experience with you. Last week, while we were under hurricane warning from Ophelia, we went to my in-laws to check on them in Kitty Hawk village. We spent the morning sitting around the kitchen table listening to the old folks tell stories of hurricanes past. I love hearing all these old stories, and wish I could record them all before they pass on. Their memories are valuable.

My mom in law related her memories of one of the hurricanes of 1933. She was ten years old at the time and the family was living in the residence located at the Kitty Hawk Coast Guard Station. Her father was a chief boatswain mate at the time in the Coast Guard. Being so isolated from the rest of the world out here on the Outer Banks at the time, they had no knowledge that a hurricane was even brewing, much less aimed directly at them. Usually the older members of the family "read" the sky, the water, and relied on the "glass" to tell them when the weather was declining. The "glass" was a barometer. On this day in the fall of 1933, the glass was dropping rapidly and the father began to prepare his family for storm conditions. It seemed to be a particularly bad storm headed toward them.

In reviewing the historical data available on the internet today, I see that two hurricanes made direct hits on the Outer Banks, both with 105-110 mph winds. My mom in law couldn't remember exactly if this was the August storm or the September storm, but it makes little difference. She said when the waves began to break on top of the dunes, then they departed for a safer location further west in Kitty Hawk Village. At the time this residence and station were quite a good ways back from the ocean, so the waves must have been very big. The workshop of this residence still stands today in its original location near the Kitty Hawk intersection. The year of 1933 was a very bad year for hurricane prone areas. I believe to date it is the only year which comes close in numbers of storms to the one we are currently experiencing.

By the year of 1936, the family had saved up their pennies and had invested in a new fangled RCA radio. They could receive a few AM stations. Everyday at noon, they gathered around the dinner table to listen to the weather broadcast. On this summer day in 1936, they learned that a hurricane of great proportions was headed toward them as reported by ships at sea. This time they had time to prepare and leave well before the storm.

My father in law asked me if we were on information overload. I thought about this a minute and agreed that yes, we sure do have the best and finest resources at our disposal today in this age of instant information. And maybe, sometimes we do receive TOO much information, but I believe everyone agreed their lives are much improved with advanced warnings. After all, they now call me to find out "What does the internet say about the storm now?"

Beautiful sunset

It was one of those really colorful hurricane skies tonight near sunset. I've always remarked about the sky turning yellow in a hurricane, and tonight it was spectacular. There has been no tide water in Manteo, thank goodness. The wind has died down so hopefully the water will just trickle back instead of rush back. It seems for the most part the Outer Banks dodged this one.

5pm Thursday update

So far this one has not been too bad at all. We have had Nor'easter's worse than this many, many times. I did find a few scenes out and about today.


The angry ocean at Jeanette's Pier in Nags Head, NC.


The sound is very dry as the east winds have pushed all the water onto the west shores away from the Outer Banks. These geese were standing in the mud of Sugar Creek at RV's in Nags Head, where they usually swim.


The HurricaneTrack.com hurricane intercept team was stationed in Kill Devil Hills, as were many news crews.


The Dominion Power company crew trucks were lined up at the Clarion hotel in Kill Devil Hills, NC.


The Avalon Pier in the angry ocean.


Darrell's Rest. in Manteo closed to patrons and sandbagged their parking lot to keep out the tide water.

Thursday morn update

While I can't say that it's beautiful day in the neighbor this morning, it really is not too bad. Some rain, but really not too heavy. Some wind, but the highest gust recorded at the Manteo airport overnight was about 33 knots. Power is still up, thank goodness. The brunt of the storm stayed offshore and south of us. The heaviest rain shield is still offshore and looks like it will remain there. Headed over to the beach in a little bit on errands, so I'll take a look around with my camera. More later.

A few more signs of preparation

Went on a quick reconnaisance run about 2pm today. Found a few signs of those who would rather be safe than scramble. The Manteo Furniture store was emptying its lower level of furniture and appliances and hauling it to higher safety. The Elizabeth Two ship had a few more storm lines attached.



And what do you do with your bulldozers that are clearing your new soundside site for new condos when a tide water storm is approaching? Well, you drive them on higher ground!



And we hope this is not too prophetic.....



All of the auto dealers in Manteo have moved their cars to higher locations. The Manteo Marine store has drug a Carolina skiff inside and is loading it with all the items normally stocked on its low lying shelves.

But other places it seemed very much business as usual. The Pirates Cove Marina was normal- it seems not many boats have vacated. Darrells Restaurant in Manteo was still open and serving and not out sandbagging their doors and parking lot yet. And of course the grocery stores and especially the liquor store were very busy.

Over on the beach, a couple of highway patrol cars are stationed at Whalebone junction presumably to stop anyone without credentials from heading down to Hatteras. The ocean is a bit more choppy today but not too churned up. The wind is persistant southeast.

This is just south of Whalebone junction in Nags Head.



And what flies as well as the red "no swimming" flags? An orange OBX flag!



A bit tattered, but fly on, baby!

Just beginning to cloud up

It is just beginning to cloud up and getting just a little breezy here on Roanoke Island. Still no rain here (well, except for maybe literally three drops). It seems to be pretty much business as usual here on the Island. I did see a couple more businesses boarding up. The hurricane warning has now been extended up to the Virginia line. Just still more wait and see. Like watching paint dry.

It's gonna fish!

It is still calm and dry here in Manteo and on the northern Outer Banks this evening. There is just a thin layer of high clouds moving in at present. The 5 pm track takes the storm still further to the right and curves it sooner than before. So it is my prediction that this one will fish-- go out to sea without touching land. That's a big ya-hoo from me!
The potential for sound side flooding could have been very great had the storm stayed on that track taking it slowly up the Pamlico sound. In history books, I had read about storms of the olden days which produced storm surges from the INSIDE of the banks, pushing water over the banks into the ocean as the eye passed.
I personally have survived one particular "storm surge" hurricane which put quite a few feet of water into the town of Manteo in a big hurry, actually washing cars off the highways!!!! I was not anxious to see that again.
But today, I saw only one store on the entire length of the beach boarded up. The locals, in my opinion, are not taking this one seriously at all, and by that I mean, most of us believe that we have seen far worse many times and this one is a wimp! I personally did a little prep but not much. Mainly just stuff I needed to do anyway before winter.
I like the excitement of storms. I have always been fascinated by the weather, and its power. But this one just didn't do it for me. I'm glad it is fishing!