Vacationing in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

If you are looking for a great place to vacation with your family, let me let you in on a little secret...Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Cape Hatteras is part of a string of barrier islands off the North Carolina coast, known as the Outer Banks. They are the source of all those "OBX" stickers that you have seen on vehicles and didn't know what it meant. My family goes there for a week every summer and it's a great time every year. We get together with my parents and usually my family from Pittsburgh, rent a beach house or two and spend seven days in sandy Heaven. Let me tell you straight up...if you are looking for the party atmosphere that one may see on MTV's Spring Break, then the Cape isn't for you. It's small and most shops and businesses close by 9pm. But if you are looking for a nice place to vacation and spend time with your family, then I highly recommend checking out what Cape Hatteras has to offer. The main attraction is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It is the tallest lighthouse in the country and made headlines in 1999 when it was moved from its original spot further inland to avoid collapse into the ocean as an inevitable result of beach erosion. Since our family has been going to the same place for so long, we pretty much do the same things every year. Namely, shopping, chartering a fishing boat, eating out, the occasional trip back to the lighthouse, and lots of lying around on the beach.

As I mentioned, my family visits the Cape every year, and summer 2007 will be our fourteenth year going. Not much changes on the Cape, so we have some favorite places and activities that I would like to pass along. First is the renting of the vacation home. You can get anything from a campsite to a mansion in Cape Hatteras depending on your budget. We have camped in the Outer Banks, and I do not really recommend it, unless it is before the mosquitoes declare the entire island their personal buffet. There are several rental agencies that each has magazines detailing all of their properties. We have used Midgett Realty for as long as I can remember and they have always been more than fair. There was even one year when we "big kids" broke a neighbor's window with a water balloon launcher and they didn't even charge us. But no matter what agency you use, you can find a house with your desired amenities, location and price. After you lock in the house you are going to rent, check out Ocean Atlantic Rentals for all of the things that you would really rather not drag from home. They have baby supplies like cribs and gates, cabanas for shade on the beach and every type of sports gear that you can think of...and the prices are really reasonable. I rented a large cabana and a portable crib for a week for less than $50. They will also deliver the items to your rental house if you choose.

While in Cape Hatteras, there is usually one day when it rains, so the girls use this day to do some shopping. Some of our favorite stores include The Old Grey House, The Fisherman's Daughter, Dillon's Corner, and the Scotch Bonnet Marina gift shops. In these shops you can find the typical souvenir items and often some higher-end gifts. Since we are well past the "Cape Hatteras T-shirt" phase of shopping down there, we like to frequent the shops above to find that truly unique gift for one another to get a head start on Christmas.

Another tradition is for me and my dad to go out on a chartered fishing trip to the Gulf Stream. There are several marinas that offer "make-up" charters where you do not need to have the total number of people in your party to rent out a boat. If you call a marina on one of the first days that you are in town, they can usually get you onto a boat by the end of the week. Dad and I have gone out on charters most frequently from Teach's Lair Marina and Oden's Dock. It usually costs about $100-$200 per person and you are required to tip the First Mate 20%. The boat will take your party out to the Gulf Stream where you catch dolphin fish (not Flipper!!), yellow fin tuna, marlin, or anything else that thinks your bait looks particularly tasty that day. It's an all-day affair, so be sure to bring a cooler with plenty of drinks and food, lots of sun block...and my personal tip is to wear clothes that you don't care about because when the fish start flopping around in the boat, there will be blood flying everywhere. At the end of the afternoon when you return to the marina, the mate will throw your boats' catch onto the dock for pictures, and then nice men with big garbage cans come and take the fish to the cleaning station. They will clean, fillet, and even vacuum pack the fish for you right there-for a price. We always have them clean and bag the fish, but the vacuum packing is a little pricey. If you can afford the splurge, this is where I would recommend it. As long as you are not prone to seasickness it will be well worth the money...and you will have a lot of fish dinners for your efforts! If you are more of a land-lubber, there are plenty of piers that offer good fishing, with your feet planted (somewhat) firmly on the ground. We spend half of our week at Cape Hatteras Fishing Pier (a.k.a. Frisco Pier) because its one of the things that is open past midnight, the staff is friendly, and you can sight-see for just $1/day.

Despite the loads of fish that we catch every year, we still like to go out and have someone else to the cooking most nights...it is vacation after all. One night every year, the whole family goes to the Mad Crabber. This is a very family-friendly restaurant, right down to the paper-covered tables and baskets of crayons. They have awesome food, pool tables, and a bar. The only thing with the Cape is that it is in a "dry" county, so you have to bring your own hard liquor. Just order the mixer and you are good to go. Another place that we go every year is the Quarterdeck Restaurant. They have a wonderful she-crab soup that is good enough to make your entire meal. When you are sick of seafood (or if you don't feel like going anywhere) and you just want some pizza, you HAVE to try the Gingerbread House. The pizza there is phenomenal and they have some of the best cakes and desserts on the island. The last thing that you absolutely have to try is an "apple ugly" from the Orange Blossom Bakery. These are fried pastries that you literally have to be the early bird to get because they sell out within hours of the bakery opening. Luckily, my uncle David and my husband Terry are both early birds, so we usually get uglies a few times a week. If you want to cook for yourself, the two best places for fresh seafood that we have found are Risky Business and Buxton Seafood, but to be honest, all we get anymore is the steamed and seasoned shrimp from Risky Business. We buy a couple of pounds of shrimp, throw it in the middle of the table and have at it.

After all of that eating, all we really want to do is lie around and get a tan. Most of the houses on Cape Hatteras are within walking distance of the ocean or the Pamlico Sound (the description in your vacation home guide will let you know the proximity to ocean or sound). If this is the case for your house all you need to do is put on your suit and some flip-flops, grab a towel and enjoy. The beaches are clean, quiet, and if you get there early enough, full of seashells. Our family prefers to go down to the end of the island and drive out onto the beach in between Hatteras and Okracoke Island. This way, we have access to all of our stuff in the back of the truck, the fishing is usually better, and we can just take a short walk down the beach and be at the sound side, which is more calm and better for small children to play. Just remember to deflate your tires down to about 20psi so that your 4X4 doesn't dig in to the sand. It's no fun to be stuck and have to wait for someone to pass by with a tow-rope. Trust me.

These are just the things that my family likes to do. There are many, many activities that we have done throughout the years that I didn't even get to, but all you have to do is drive up and down Highway 12, and check out all there is to do. You can parasail, kayak, take a flight tour of shipwrecks, kite board, go horseback riding...the list goes on and on. No matter what you choose to do to fill your week in Cape Hatteras, I can make you three promises: it will go by too fast, you will have a great time, and you will want to book your trip for next year before you leave. It truly is a great place to vacation.