First off, thank you for this wonderful message board. I find it much more informative and friendly than a lot of the others. We have been coming down for several years, and we cherish the time that we spend at OBX. We try to be polite, respectful tourists. Our favorite times have been spent hiking the dunes at Jockey's Ridge, driving down to the Hatteras Lighthouse,bike riding up to the Whalehead and Lighthouse chowing down at Awful Arthur's and getting beat by my son on the go-carts at Timbuk II.

We are scheduled to come down again on October 4, staying in a soundfront home in Corolla Light. From what I have read, the beaches are still inaccessible? I haven't been able to get through to our realty company yet (Resort Quest) to check on the status of the house.

It seems that Steve B, Cos and Kimco have been great resources during this awful time. What do you all think? Is it true that the northern part received minimal damage?

Thanks so much.

It's amazing how quickly things are being cleaned up and repaired so you should be fine by then. Keep trying the realty office their all pretty swamped.

Try calling your specific check-in office directly, or one of the other Resort Quest numbers on the back of your confirmation sheet. We are coming in this weekend, staying on Pine Island. We also rent from Resort Quest and had trouble getting through on the generic 1-800 number. When we called the direct number we got through immediately to a real person and they have been enormously helpful.

Thank you both very much for your quick replies! I was able to get hold of someone and was told that if I hadn't been contacted already, that I should consider our vacation still on.

Thank you again.

We are going to Pine Island 09/26/03, resort quest was hard to reach but this number worked best 1-800-334-6315. They said our house was fine.

Mike in Ohio

We just returned yesterday from Duck. We rented for the wk of 9/20-27. We were able to get into the house last Sunday. I was amazed that Duck fared so well. They lost some trees, some damage to homes but mostly the stairs to the beach seemed to take the worst hit. However in that area by Tuesday they had rebuilt our walkway (on duck landing) and almost all the stores were open for business. We went to Corolla to walk the lighthouse on Friday and all seemed well up there. They reopened the road to Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills on Thursday but we felt that we would stay away from the area to allow people to get their lives back in order. We had very mixed emotions about going on Sunday however we would have lost the entire amt paid for the trip since our home was ok and we could not afford to do that. Our house luckily was in great shape except for the pool and hot tub which needed to be cleaned etc. We had a wonderful time (it was our first trip) and plan on returning next year. But I think your trip will be fine to that area as everything was up and running from Southern Shores up to Corolla. Amazingly resilient folks!

Thank you very much for the info. We have decided to go ahead with the trip. We also will stay to the northern section. It is good to know that the Currituck Lighthouse is ok. Maybe this time my daughter will be brave enough to climb to the top!! :-)

How were the mosquitos? I had read that they were pretty nasty and that some spraying was going to take place?

I just adore the Outer Banks, it is such a relaxing and enjoyable family vacation. Thank you to all the "locals" for all that you do!!!

Six days and counting!!!

We did not experience any mosquitos. Alas there was always a breeze at night as well. There were not even sand fleas on the beach. Perhaps because there was not alot of standing water in duck for them to breed in. It was very relaxing for us as well considering what was happening around us.... Have a great trip. Last week was very warm every day, this week they said it will feel like fall down there! By next week should be warm again but watch the forecast so you know what to bring to wear....