As many of you know, lighthouses are a passion for me, and my November 1997 visit to the Outer Banks lighthouses was one of the most memorable trips of my life. There are five lighthouses on the Outer Banks, and each one is a gem.

The Outer Banks begin in Virginia just south of Virginia Beach at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. I was tempted to visit the Great Dismal Swamp on my way to the Outer Banks, but that will have to wait for another visit. The islands of the Outer Banks are connected by bridges, so one can drive a long way without having to take a ferryboat. The islands are long and narrow, and one can often see water on both sides of the highway. The ocean is rough and treacherous to the east, and the sound to the west is often smooth as glass. It's a great place for watching waterfowl. The Outer Banks are the closest that World War II got to the east coast of the U.S. German submarines found U.S. merchant ships to be easy prey off the outer banks, and residents often saw burning ships off shore during the first two years of the war. The proximity to the shore helped save the lives of many merchant mariners. There are still a few shipwrecks to be seen along the shore, but the ones I saw were so deteriorated or so completely buried in sand, that they weren't very impressive to see.

Currituck Beach Light, the northernmost, is made of unpainted red brick, with an attached keeper's house. There's a lot of stuff growing around the lighthouse - it would be a jungle if it weren't cut back occasionally. There are sand dunes to the east of the light. To the west, there's a footbridge over to a marshy island; and then there's Currituck Sound to the west, with the mainland beyond. At the entrance to the footbridge, there's a sign that says something like, "DANGER! Beware of poisonous snakes." I did walk across that bridge and along the marsh trail for a bit, but I watched every step very carefully.

From Currituck, it's a 45-minute drive southeast along the island shore to the Wright Brothers Memorial at Kitty Hawk - interesting, but not enthralling. Another 30 minutes southeast is Bodie Island Lighthouse, a beautiful lighthouse with horizontal black-and-white stripes, in a particularly isolated and beautiful setting. It's one of the most perfectly beautiful lighthouses I have ever seen.

It takes another hour of driving, still going southeast, to get to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in the U.S. When I saw Hatteras in 1997, it was in its original location, and its foundation was threatened by eroding seashore. There was a pond near the lighthouse, and I got a great photo of the tower reflected in the pond. The lighthouse was moved half a mile to a new location in 1999.

I didn't have much time at Hatteras because I had to race to get the ferry to Ocracoke Island. My plan was to take a quick photo of the Ocracoke Lighthouse and catch the last ferry to the mainland. Alas, I missed the ferry and was stuck on this little island 70 miles from the mainland. There was one old hotel on the island, and I booked a beautifully-furnished, antique room. Then I went off to find the lighthouse. It was short, squat, and cute, unlike the four other Outer Banks lights that are tall and stately. I learned that Ocracoke was the favorite anchorage of Edward Teach, the infamous pirate known as Blackbeard. Oh, and I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen - there's not many places in the U.S. where you can see a good sunset over the Atlantic Ocean, but you can do it from Ocracoke. I got one of the best photographs I've ever taken - (click).

I had a wonderful dinner and a good sleep, and then took the ferry to the mainland. I was surprised at the size of the ferryboat. It really was a substantial craft. It was a long way to the mainland, and the sea was fairly rough. I was glad to be in a big boat.