Outer Banks?

[person]

Oh my gosh! Please go visit Ocracoke! It is simply unbelieveable! I grew up spending my summers there - and when I tell you that there is not even a stop light on the island ... I mean, it is fantastic! no Mcdonalds on every corner, no 7-11's ... this is just pure natural beaches and good eats that are local and not "chain" places... fantastic shops, friendly people --- a gorgeous Lighthouse - fantastic historical graveyards (there used to be a Coast Guard there during the war) ... lots of history about Pirates and the ol Alfred Teach aka Blackbeard!

Hi; seems like island life is truly different; amazing what difference a stretch of water makes...

 

[marthachick]

I’m sitting here wondering if I should even make reservations for early October for Outer Banks. I’m wondering if we will have a shut down due to Covid restrictions. It’s quite a conundrum.

 

[sandam1]

I’m sitting here wondering if I should even make reservations for early October for Outer Banks. I’m wondering if we will have a shut down due to Covid restrictions. It’s quite a conundrum.

What do you want to do while you are there and where are you planning on staying? Is everyone in your party vaccinated?

We did a trip back in mid May and, honestly, we could have stayed at the house that we rented for the entire week, never left and been perfectly happy. We had a pool and easy access to the beach. I'm not sure I would have been as comfortable if we were staying in a hotel.

We also did a wild horse tour (open air truck) which was probably very low risk. However, if you want to do shopping or other indoor things, there was NO social distancing and intermittent mask requirements (we wore them whenever we went into a shop because most were tiny and cramped).

We did take out/delivery two nights and did a drive up grocery order from Walmart. But if you want to eat in restaurants, they were pretty packed.

Personally, I doubt that there will be another "shutdown" per se, but depending on where you are traveling from, I could see quarantine mandates upon return potentially come back. For instance, I'm from New York (a very COVID cautious state) and have a trip to Florida (a hot bed of COVID activity) planned at the beginning of September. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see NY requiring a quarantine or negative test upon my return even through I am vaccinated. I don't know what the numbers look like in NC so it might or might not classified as a "naughty state" if travel restrictions re-emerge.

 

[marthachick]

What do you want to do while you are there and where are you planning on staying? Is everyone in your party vaccinated?

We did a trip back in mid May and, honestly, we could have stayed at the house that we rented for the entire week, never left and been perfectly happy. We had a pool and easy access to the beach. I'm not sure I would have been as comfortable if we were staying in a hotel.

We also did a wild horse tour (open air truck) which was probably very low risk. However, if you want to do shopping or other indoor things, there was NO social distancing and intermittent mask requirements (we wore them whenever we went into a shop because most were tiny and cramped).

We did take out/delivery two nights and did a drive up grocery order from Walmart. But if you want to eat in restaurants, they were pretty packed.

Personally, I doubt that there will be another "shutdown" per se, but depending on where you are traveling from, I could see quarantine mandates upon return potentially come back. For instance, I'm from New York (a very COVID cautious state) and have a trip to Florida (a hot bed of COVID activity) planned at the beginning of September. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see NY requiring a quarantine or negative test upon my return even through I am vaccinated. I don't know what the numbers look like in NC so it might or might not classified as a "naughty state" if travel restrictions re-emerge.

We are actually from NC foothills, so not a hotbed yet. I don’t care a thing about shopping. Would like to eat out but we can do takeout if necessary. We will have an outdoor pool (supposed to stay open til 10/17) and indoor pool so hopefully they will both still be open then. I was kind of wondering “out loud” mostly.