Avon, North Carolina Offers Undeveloped Beauty for Families

After several hours of driving, we were looking for a place to have lunch. We went to the local Dairy Queen first, but they only had hot dogs, the second restaurant had stopped serving lunch a half hour earlier.

I walked into the third restaurant and said hello to the hostess. They were serving lunch and I let her know that six of us would be in shortly. Finally, we found a diner off of route 12 South.

As I walked out to the car, an older man in khaki shorts and a white t-shirt walked past me and said "Make sure that you try the oysters."

At our table and I could see in my daughter's smile that her week in Avon North Carolina would be the treat of her young life.

The quiet community is located on the Outer Banks on Hatteras Island and was known as Kinnakeet until 1883. According to the Hatteras website, (www.hatteras-nc.com), most villages on Hatteras Island were assigned their current names by the US Postal Service because Indian names were considered difficult to pronounce and spell.

This was our second family trip to North Carolina. While resorts have something to offer, we like the idea of just getting a house and spending our time on the beach and near the pool. A person who works with my wife recommended Avon back in February and after some research, we liked the quiet community on the Outer Banks.

According to Anthony Fletcher, General Manager of Midgett Realty on Hatteras Island, "The Outer Banks competes with a lot of vacation destinations such as Virginia Beach, Disney and cruises." For Fletcher, what makes the Outer Banks special is that the area is not as commercial as other areas.

"Eighty-five percent of the island is undeveloped and never will be," Fletcher said.

Fletcher said that the area has always had an unspoiled quality of the Outer Banks and grew up two hours from the beach. He said that remembered the first time that he visited with his family and being able to camp on the beach.

I had planned for a week of sea kayaking, ocean fishing and snorkeling, but my wife reminded me that this was a family vacation and that my two young children would not be able to join me.

Shortly after arriving in Avon, I got a call from Outer Banks Diving (www.outerbanksdiving.com). My dive was scheduled for Wednesday morning; however, there was a chance of thundershowers and it was possible that the dive would be cancelled.

"We are giving everyone for Wednesday the opportunity to dive on Monday," said Outer Banks Diving owner Amy Pieno. I let her know that if Wednesday was cancelled, I would prefer to go on Thursday or Friday.

Our rental located near the sound and was a four bedroom home with a distant ocean view, first and second floor decks and a pool. Fletcher explained that he has seen a shift to families renting larger homes that have access to the beach and amenities such as a game room, a pool and wireless Internet access.

"Like it or not, people work on vacation and the wireless Internet allows them to stay connected," Fisher said.

The pool turned out to be important because it where we spent most of our time together. When visiting the beach, one hopes to spend time lying out near the ocean. My daughter enjoyed playing in the sand and filling her bucket; however the waves crashing into the shore and pushing up the beach was too overwhelming for my daughter.

Everyday, we would hear my two year old girl say "We go back to house," after only fifteen minutes near the ocean.

We spent most of Tuesday morning watching the clouds roll in and obscure the sun. While there was hope to spend Tuesday afternoon fishing, it would be about an hour before my son and dad wanted to call it quits.

The Avon Fishing pier is one of twelve fishing piers in the Outer Banks. Although the six hundred foot pier does have a small bait and souvenir store, it is distinctly less commercial when compared to fishing piers in places like Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach.

Despite the rough surf and threatening conditions, several people had decided to enjoy the afternoon fishing. We found a position at the end of the pier and my dad unfolded his chair as I positioned a blood worm on the hook of my son's Spiderman fishing pole.

We dropped our lines into the ocean. It was surprising that my son's toy fishing rod had enough line to drift a few yards away from the pier. As I complained that nothing was biting, a ten year old boy to my left said, "That's why it is called fishing and not catching."

After a couple of hours, we brought our lines in walked back to the pier house. As we were headed to the car, the dive shop called. Wednesday's dive had been cancelled.

I had called the dive charter late afternoon on Wednesday. It had been a nice afternoon despite the chance of storms that was reported online. A few hours later, my phone rang as I was standing over burgers on the grill. The number on my phone's caller ID let me know that it was the dive shop.

"Bill, it looks like tomorrow is out." Despite the weather forecast, it had been a nice day out and I figured that there might be a chance to do a dive the next day.

Thursday afternoon and into the evening, I held my cell phone close, and hoped that it would not ring. My wife had already made it clear that Friday would be my last chance to dive because she did not want me to leave her alone with the kids on our last day in Avon.

Luckily, the phone did not ring and my dive was on for the next morning.

Captain John stood on the dock and I overheard him say that we would be headed to British Splendour that morning. The 456 foot tanker is upside down at in the Atlantic Ocean near Ocracoke, North Carolina.

The Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Company in England built the British Splendour in 1931. The 7,138 ton tanker was ported in London England and sunk by the German U-boat U552 on April 7 1942.

The website www.NC-Wreckdiving.com cites books by Gary Gentile, Homer Hickman and Kenneth Wynn to tell the story of how the British Splendour left Houston, TX carrying 10,000 gallons of gasoline. The ship was to rendezvous with a convoy off Nova Scotia and continue to England.

The tanker's captain, J. Hall, was aware of the danger and the British Splendour was outfitted with four inch and twelve pound gun, two machine guns and a .40mm Bofors gun. For additional protection, the vessel was escorted the HMS ST Zeno and HMS Hertfordshire.

Captain Hall's strategy was to run as close to shore as possible; however, the U-552, which was commanded by, Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp, had disguised itself as a buoy and targeted the British Splendour.

The U-boat's torpedo struck the tanker's port side near the engine and killed twelve crewmembers. The explosion quickly ignited the cargo and the ship was abandoned as the crew took to three lifeboats and a life raft.

The forty-one survivors in were recovered by the St. Zeno and taken to Norfolk.

Today, the tanker lay capsized in 100 feet of water in slight to moderate current. Visibility around the wreck is forty to sixty feet; however at the dive site, we were able to watch the dive master fix the anchor to the bow of the wreck on the bottom of the ocean.

The Flying Fish left Hatteras and began the almost two hour cruise to the dive site. The waves moved the boat up and down. I started feeling nauseous so I laid on a bean bag chair and focused on the horizon which kept my sea sickness from getting any worse. The eight other divers, including a married couple, a commercial diver and a schoolteacher, rested in other beanbags in the cool ocean air.

Three of us were partnered together and entered the water within minutes of our arrival at the wreck site. I dropped steadily and a large school of soapfish that I saw at eighty feet obscured my first look at the wreck.

At the end of the decent line, I stood and signaled an 'OK' to my partner and unhooked my camera. After reading one hundred feet on my gauge, I looked down to see a pair of sharks swim slowly in front of me.

We floated to the stern of the British Splendour; I collected the shells, and took several pictures before we returned to the line and ascended to the boat.

I changed tanks and downed three bottles of water and lay and some hot dogs. After a couple of hours lying on beanbag chairs, we again entered the water. I stood at the entry point and waited for the dive assistant to secure my flippers and then timed my entry into the water.

I hit the water and felt my mask dislodge from its secure position around my mouth and nose. On instinct, I adjusted my mask before reaching for the descent line and letting the air out of my buoyancy compensator.

There were no problems gliding along the travel line and at twenty feet, I began the controlled descent to the wreck. As I approached seventy feet, I pinched my nose and blew out to equalize the pressure in my ears but something was not working and I felt a sharp pain in my right ear. I got my dive buddy's attention and pointed to my ear to signal that I was having trouble equalizing and ascended to fifty feet to regroup

During my pause, I noticed a trio of sand tiger sharks swimming about ten meters from the decent line.

I briefly considered returning to the boat before continuing my descent and then moved deeper a couple of feet at a time. As approached the end of the line, I paused for a few seconds and allowed my ears to clear out.

After several minutes, I reached the British Splendour floated for a moment and reached to unclip my camera from the carabineer. My attention was divided between taking mental notes of the wreck site and reaching for the gear that was attached to the buoyancy compensator. My legs were treading beneath me in a strong, effortless scissor kick.

Then, my flipper bumped against something and my attention focused on what had happened. I looked down and saw a four foot grey, sand tiger shark turn around and swim away.

I looked at my dive buddy and he shrugged his shoulders and we began to move towards the stern.

The charter returned to Hatteras a few hours later and after getting back to the house and cleaning my equipment, I played in the pool with my son and daughter. After a quick shower and dinner, I fell asleep on the couch and started resting up for the return trip home.