SW AS-063 AW-072 The Outer Banks, North Carolina

The Outer Banks is a 200-mile (320-km) long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina and a small portion of Virginia, beginning in the south-eastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States. They cover most of the North Carolina coastline, separating mainland North Carolina from the Atlantic Ocean. From north to south, the largest of the islands include: Bodie Island (which used to be an island but is now a peninsula due to tropical storms and hurricanes), Hatteras Island, and Ocracoke Island.

The Outer Banks is a major tourist destination especially in summer as this area is known for its temperate climate and wide expanse of open beachfront.

The Outer Banks is not anchored to offshore coral reefs like some other barrier islands and as a consequence often suffers significant beach erosion during major storms. In fact, its location jutting out into the Atlantic makes it the most hurricane-prone area north of Florida, for both land falling storms and brushing storms offshore. Hatteras Island was cut in half on September 18, 2003, when Hurricane Isabel washed a 2,000 foot (600 m) wide and 15 foot (5 m) deep channel called Isabel Inlet through the community of Hatteras Village on the southern end of the island. The tear was subsequently repaired and restored by sand dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was cut off once again in 2011 by Hurricane Irene. Access to the island was largely limited to boat access until another temporary bridge could be built.

The Outer Banks of North Carolina is one of very few places in America where wild mustangs still roam free, stubbornly surviving in this once remote coastal environment.

The belief is that these horses are descended from spanish mustangs which arrived close to 500 years ago discarded by the earliest explorers.  Another belief is that these hardy, tenacious wild horses came from shipwrecks.

 
In previous centuries there were thousands of these wild mustangs roaming the full length of the Outer Banks, from Shackleford Banks, all along Core Banks, Ocracoke, Hatteras, and on northward beyond Corolla on Currituck Banks. With the protected status now afforded to them, they should remain free to live as their ancestors have for centuries. They continue to capture the imagination of many people, especially horse-lovers. 

The Outer Banks is famous as the place where "...the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard" was flown by the Wright brothers. They flew it four times on December 17, 1903, near Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

These three postcards of the Outer Banks were received on 16 April 2014 (map) from Dragonfly, 2 May 2014 (crab) from Teacupmarsupial and 27 Aug 2014 (wild ponies) from Shirley K.