The Outer Banks is known for the great variety of outdoor sports and activities. World renowned surfing, paddling, SUP paddling, yoga, hang gliding, birding, swimming, running, boating, skiing, wakeboarding, kiteboarding and fishing are among the top ranked reasons visitors and locals love the area. You can do all of this while you are on the beach, but you will need to stay longer than one week vacation.
Lighthouses to see and climb are Hatteras Lighthouse, Bodie Island Light and Corolla Lighthouse. These beacons of light where necessary for the mariners long ago when navigating towards safe harbor. The shallow shoals of the outer banks of North Carolina have claimed many ships, also know as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic"
The lighthouses have since been retired and are no longer the main source of navigation with the invent of modern technology (GPS, Loran, Radar, etc.) Rarely are ships stranded and wrecked on the shores now, but occasionally one will wash ashore and provide a rare view.
The Outer Banks is littered with historical sites such as lighthouses and life saving stations that draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to these beaches each year. Corolla and North to the Virginia border there are beautiful unspoiled beaches that are only accessible by four wheel drive vehicles. The homes and beach cottages are where many out of the way visitors like to completely get away from it all. These beaches are home to wild mustangs which are the descendants of equines brought here in the 1600's by Spanish Explorers nearly 500 years ago.
