2025129 Outer Banks Getaway W/ Seafood Festival

Day 1

Depart for the Outer Banks of North Carolina! A 200-mile stretch of barrier islands just off the coast of North Carolina, the Outer Banks is a different kind of place. Beautifully natural, formed by centuries of wind, water and sand blown from the Atlantic Ocean, and home to a rich history, it's a place that inspires a true sense of adventure. From Duck down to Hatteras, each town and island along the banks offers a unique experience not soon forgotten. Wright Brothers National Memorial, see where on a cold day in December, 1903 Wilbur and Orville Wright changed the world forever as their powered airplane, the Wright Flyer, skimmed over the sands of the Outer Banks for 12 seconds before returning to the ground. See the flight museum which still has exhibits from the First Flight Centennial Celebration.We will then check your oceanfront hotel. Welcome Dinner at your hotel or local area restaurant

Day 2

7-Hotel Breakfast at your leisure.
7:45am Meet in the hotel lobby to prepare for today’s journey exploring the Northern Outer Banks and Roanoke
Island.
8:15am Depart for Corolla and your Wild Horse Safari.
9:00-11am Your personal guide will take you into the habitat preserved as a sanctuary for the wild horses of Corolla and on to another private preserve. The horses roam freely and are also sighted running along the beach and playing in the surf. What a sight it is! The breathtaking scenery and ocean breezes, with eclectic history and folklore added to the mix, will create lasting memories for all. Along the way an ancient maritime forest at Wash Woods provokes much curiosity rising from the sand and extending out into the ocean as a testament to earlier environmental changes.
Each group is led by an experienced guide who is both knowledgeable and informative about the area and its history. Unscheduled appearances of wildlife and other photo opportunities can and do appear unexpectedly, creating lasting impressions and unforgettable memories.
This Outer Banks wild horse tour is 2 hours long and about 20 miles round trip. You will be guided and driven in a custom 10 passenger four-wheel drive vehicle. Your guide will take you into the Wild Horse Conservation Easement and other areas accessible only by us.
11-12pm After your adventure a chance to walk Currituck Beach Light, Corolla Heritage Park. Step back in time as you visit the majestic Currituck Beach Light, a historic landmark that has guided mariners since 1875. Explore the grounds and visit the lighthouse keeper's quarters, where you can discover fascinating exhibits and artifacts detailing the history of the lighthouse and its keepers.
Afterwards lunch on your own at Duck Scarborough Faire Shopping Center in Duck NC. that offers open air dining with some unique shops to explore till 2:45.
Our next adventure begins at 4:30 where you will enjoy Dolphin Watch Tour with the Outer Banks Dolphin Research Center offering an unique eco-tour to search for wild Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Also, view the wildlife of the Outer Banks! Biologists run these dolphin tours as part of their research on these beloved aquatic animals. So you know this will be an interesting trip. Passengers will be able to see how researchers with the Outer Banks Center for Dolphin Research, a nonprofit organization, conduct their research. And hear about some of the discoveries from more than a decade of studies and monitoring. Conducted on 40-foot covered pontoon boats in the Roanoke Sound, the trip takes around 2 hours. Along the way, researchers will talk about their work and share their discoveries from their ongoing study. While the boat is moving, dolphins will be playing in their natural habitat alongside the vessel. Passengers will also learn about the pelicans, osprey and other birds that congregate in the sounds, as well as the ecology and history of this dynamic area. The Outer Banks is an ideal place to take a dolphin boat trip to learn more about these miraculous creatures. These excursions will get you close enough to safely connect with these incredible animals and to experience them in the wild, in a world where humans are visitors and the bottlenose dolphin is happily at home.
Group Dinner at a locally owned area restaurants will follow
Return to the hotel after dinner.

Day 3

7-8 Breakfast at your leisure.
8:30 am Board Bus
9:00 Elizabethian Gardens in morning Afterward a visit to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site Stroll through the majestic Gardens, which were designed as a living memorial to Queen Elizabeth and the Lost Colony. The Gardens include a collection of Renaissance statues and Elizabethan style buildings that let you image you are back in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. The gardens has an ever changing
palette of year-round color from hydrangeas, native plants, perennials and camellias.
10:00am Next, walk over to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, see the site of the first English Colony, where Sir Walter Raleigh’s explorers and later colonists
established settlements in 1585 & 1587; would later become known as the The Lost Colony, after 116 settlers disappeared.
11:00am We will head over to the annual Outer Banks Seafood Festival, Soundside Event Site, Nags Head, NC Celebrating our local fisherman and seafood heritage and our fresh, local Outer Banks seafood! Try seafood dishes from over 15 locally owned restaurants. Activities, cooking demonstrations, live music all day, boat exhibits, storytelling, arts and crafts village.
3:30pm Our next stop is the Bodie Island Lighthouse. Open for public climbing, check out the most picturesque lighthouse in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Completed in 1872 on the north side of Oregon Inlet near the northern border of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the familiar black and white horizontal striped structure was partly built of materials leftover from the construction of the newest Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Standing 150 feet high and
equipped with a first-order Fresnel lens, it flashes its 160,000-candlepower beacon 19 miles over the ocean.
Back to the hotel to freshen up relax then enjoy a evening dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 4

Breakfast then depart the Outer Banks for home. You’ll leave with lasting memories and a yearning to come back.

B=Breakfast, D=Dinner