By: Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee
When we arrived at our cherished Outer Banks oceanfront hotel located in the heart of Kill Devil Hills (just minutes from the Wright Memorial Bridge) at MP7, it was a sunny noon. We couldn’t wait a minute as the mighty Atlantic was calling us with its strong waves behind the hotel. Sea Ranch Resort, our chosen accommodation, provided the perfect Outer Banks beach getaway. Its prime location also served as an ideal home base for guests who wanted to explore the many local Outer Banks activities and attractions that stretched along the shoreline. The hotel offered a range of amenities, including a year-round covered pool, an on-site restaurant called Beachside Bistro with indoor and outdoor seating, and banquet & meeting space. We opted for one of their non-oceanfront traditional rooms.
Being a family-friendly hotel and a place where traditions often begin, Sea Ranch Resort offered warm hospitality and convenience. We believed that sand, sun, and the ocean were great remedies for many things in life, as Kahlil Gibran said, “In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the Oceans.” As eternity begins and ends with the ocean tides, we planned our trip to the Hatteras Island Villages on the first weekend in Virginia. The Outer Banks of North Carolina is one of the most special places in America, with just dunes, sea grasses, wildlife, ferry crossings, and fascinating long drives for miles on end. My daughter had made a fantastic plan for the tour after we had reached Virginia, where I was invited to join as an Affiliate Faculty in English at Virginia Commonwealth University for a short tenure.
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When we arrived at Washington Dulles Airport from New Delhi on an Indian Airlines flight, it was very hot, and the sun was shining brightly. However, when we reached our residence in Richmond, the clouds dampened the firmament above, and the drizzling started in the afternoon. We experienced jetlag and felt sleepy during the daytime because it was nighttime in India. We visited the local library, museum, pool, and other shopping malls, including Walmart. In the meantime, I went to Virginia Commonwealth University to get my ID card and start all my assignments.
Our weekend plan was to go a little more rustic or get even closer to nature, so the best trip was to Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks beach in North Carolina, which would be a four-hour journey by our car. These three places, collectively known as the Tri-Villages due to their proximity to one another, were Avon, Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras. At first glance, the place could be compared to an extended Digha or Puri, but it extended much further along the highway with dunes or placid ocean on both sides. The beaches in the Outer Banks offered unspoiled beauty, wide-open spaces, and no shortage of exciting watersports and activities. We could fish, surf, paddleboard, kayak, or simply relax on the shores, soaking in the sun and building sandcastles with the kids.
The greenery was so deep and dense that you might feel far from the madding crowd of city life. If you wanted all the sun and fun of the Atlantic Ocean beaches without the big waves, you could look into visiting one of the numerous sound-front water accesses on the western side of the islands instead. The water tended to be a little calmer and, in many places, a lot shallower. But in the Outer Banks, the sea waves were quite strong, and you could feel the might of the Atlantic with the high waves crashing behind you when you stood near the water on the sandy shore where we collected lots of oysters and shells. White jellyfish stuck to the sand, and seagulls flocked together. Jet planes flew in rounds with advertising placards for hotels or malls.
Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills were known for great surfing and skimboarding, usually having the biggest waves on the Northern Beaches. There were 14 towns and villages to explore with lots of pristine national parks and refuges in between. With an average width of about a mile, there was a good chance that a dip in the ocean or sound was just a few steps away from our hotel, Sea Ranch, which charged over 86 thousand Indian rupees per night. There were over 600 rental homestays available there, accessible only by 4-wheel drive vehicles. The Outer Banks was the capital for big fish, and we heard it was the likeliest place to catch a 1000-pound Atlantic Blue Marlin. OBX, which was the graveyard for wrecked ships, was called an angler’s paradise, and there were a variety of fishing opportunities year-round.
Following correspondence with the limited residents of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright were persuaded that this was the best location for their flight experiments, thanks to the presence of several large dunes known in the area as Kill Devil Hills. After the brothers’ first successful powered flights on December 17, 1903, they returned to their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, to continue their flying experiments in 1904 and 1905. In 1911, Orville returned to Kitty Hawk (without Wilbur) for a short period for further gliding experiments. Hatteras offered great local shopping and dining, as well as big stretches of beach for casual beach-goers and 4×4 driving south of the village limits. We enjoyed some delicious Chinese dishes at Xhun Xhing.
Clicking pictures and videos during the long trip through the tunnel and zigzag highways provided us with real pleasure. The children had a lot of fun, and we were simply mesmerized by the ambience. Even from the car, we saw dunes on both sides of our road, and we stopped at ice cream shops again and again. Renee was excited about ice cream, but the shops were closed until 11:30. So, we stopped in various other shops for some time. Finally, we found strawberries and other varieties at Hershey’s Ice Cream shop. What a good quality ice cream this shop was selling!
The Cape Hatteras Light Station protects one of the most hazardous sections of the Atlantic Coast, offshore of Cape Hatteras, where the Gulf Stream collides with the Virginia Drift, a branch of the Labrador Current from Canada. This current forces southbound ships into a dangerous twelve-mile-long sandbar called Diamond Shoals. Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of shipwrecks in this region have given it the reputation as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Climbing the stairs in the lighthouse is not allowed currently due to restoration efforts, but the outdoor areas were open, and we took lots of pictures. Construction of a lighthouse at Cape Hatteras was first authorized in 1794, and the tower is 150 feet tall. The newly extended tower was then painted red on top of white, making the lighthouse more recognizable during the day. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse received the famous black and white stripe daymark pattern in 1873. The Lighthouse Board assigned each lighthouse a distinctive paint pattern (daymark) and light sequence (nightmark) to allow mariners to recognize it from all others during the day and night as they sailed along the coast.
Our exotic trip came to an end after two unforgettable days of enjoyment, thrill, and fun on the seashore of the mighty Atlantic. (The author is at present Affliate Faculty of English in the Virginia Commonwealth University USA and a trilingual columnist and can be reached at profratanbhattacharjee@gmail.com)
