| Outer Banks Vacation Trip Reports: CROATAN SURF CLUB -
Kill Devil Hills 9/23/2011
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September 2011 Getaway to the Croatan Surf Club In Kill Devil Hills
Posted By: Will Dwyer - 9/26/2011
It was Monday morning and I had a potential crisis on my hands. Jill’s birthday was coming up quickly and, as usual, I had waited until the last minute to begin thinking about a suitable present. My long-term planning skills leave something to be desired, so this was not an unusual situation in which to find myself. After wracking my brain for the better part of an hour, I came up with a great idea… a weekend trip to the beach! With only five days left, I put in a desperate call to Village Realty to see if they had a vacation rental available anywhere on the Outer Banks. Needless to say, they came through with flying colors and I booked a beautiful oceanfront rental at the Croatan Surf Club in Kill Devil Hills with time to spare. Crisis averted.
Jill was so excited about the trip to the beach, she didn’t even flinch when I broke the news that we would also be taking our three wonderful children along on our romantic weekend getaway. (As it turned out, the grandparents also had plans for the weekend.) Jill and I discussed our itinerary and waited impatiently for Friday to arrive. When it finally did, we all hopped in the car and left Richmond for Kill Devil Hills. We were in such good moods that even pouring rain and an hour and a half delay at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel didn’t dampen our spirits.
We arrived at Kill Devil Hills around 7:00 PM Friday afternoon and went directly to our rental, CSC3Q. One nice feature of the Croatan Surf Club development is that each unit uses a key code, so we didn’t even need to check in at the Village Realty rental office. We unloaded the car and took the elevator to our 3rd floor rental. It was beautiful inside and the ocean views were amazing! Our trip was off to a great start despite the rain and the soggy forecast for the weekend.
Saturday morning started off with light rain, but it soon cleared and the whole family went for a walk on the beach. The kids were amazed to see the wooden ribs of a large shipwreck just offshore in the breaking waves. We later learned that these were the remains of the Irma, a schooner that ran aground on April 29th, 1925. We continued our walk along the shore, looking for sea glass, collecting shells and enjoying the rare solitude that only exists after the summer crowds have left for the season. We made a mad dash for our rental once the rain started up once again. We grabbed our towels and took the kids to the indoor pool at the Croatan Surf Club. We had the entire place to ourselves and the kids swam and splashed each other for a couple of hours until lunch time.
Our next stop was the NC Aquarium in Manteo, located on historic Roanoke Island. We were there for hours and had the good luck to see them feeding the fish, including the sharks, in the big aquarium. The aquarium is set up to keep both adults and kids entertained and is a great destination regardless of the weather. After our second trip to the touch tank to pet the sting rays, we braved the pouring rain and headed back to Kill Devil Hills. We had fresh tuna and shrimp for dinner before enjoying a relaxing dip in the huge outdoor hot tub near the ocean. It was a fun day and everyone slept well Saturday night!
The rain continued Sunday, so we had a lazy morning sitting around drinking coffee and playing several rounds of Uno. The drizzle let up long enough for a long walk on the beach before check out time at 10:00 AM. We loaded up the car and bid farewell to the Croatan Surf Club as we drove South along the beach road toward Jennette’s Pier. We stopped by the Yellowhouse Gallery to say hello to Eve, but arrived an hour too early so we continued on to Jennette’s. The Easterns Surf Competition had been going on all week and we were lucky to catch some excellent surfing in Sunday’s contest put on by Hurley. There was a decent crowd at the pier, but I suspect the rain kept many people away. Too bad for them! They missed hours of incredible rides as the pro surfers tackled huge sets of waves rolling into the beach near Jenette’s. It was a lot of fun and the pier afforded us a unique perspective on the surfing.
We ended our trip to the Outer Banks with Jill’s mandatory shopping expedition to the Tanger Outlet Mall. The kids and I normally hate shopping, but Michael’s Gems & Glass is a fun store for the kids to explore. All things considered, we had a great weekend on the Outer Banks, despite the rainy weather. This just goes to prove that a rainy weekend at the beach is WAY better than a rainy weekend at home!
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