• Spotted recently Brad Paisley recording music video with Andy Griffith in Nags Head and Pea Island. Brad will be performing in Raleigh on July 19 and in Virginia Beach on August 31.
• Soft shells are here – try them at Blue Point in Duck or Lone Cedar on the Causeway to Manteo. Mmmm!
• Carolina blue skies and the Beach Music Festival made a recent Sunday afternoon very special at the Roanoke Island Festival Park – boaters were also able to enjoy the music from Shallowbag Bay.
• Babies have hatched – the little finch who built the nest in our grapevine above the front door of the model home on Fernando Street has had her babies.
• Speaking of Fernando Street, it was repaved yesterday, thanks to Kitty Hawk Land Company.



• The Coast Guard Auxiliary held a Blessing of the Fleet Ceremony a few weeks ago, lots of people and boaters and the Auxiliary was on hand to promotesafe boating practices.
• The Roanoke Island Home and Garden Tour last week was a big success, ticket sales proceeds benefitted the Elizabethan Gardens.
• If you haven’t been to the Gardens recently, you owe it to yourself to visit soon. I made a brief visit yesterday and can’t wait to get back and purchase some plants. Bettie and I were very impressed with the different container plants around, combining iron plant, bright white impatience and ferns = really pretty and creative, perfect for a covered porch or a shady spot.

Come visit us soon at Marshes Light!

Hi Everyone,

Nancy and I recently bought an investment/cum retirement potential, newbuild condo in Manteo, NC which is on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks. Manteo is 1 mile from the Nags Head beaches, 1 mile from the Elizabethan Gardens, 1 mile from the North Carolina State Aquarium, 1 mile from the Lost Colony, and 1 mile from Wanchese at the southern tip of the island which is a commercially unspoiled, charming fishing village.

It is 9 hours from Binghamton and 2 hours from the Norfolk airport. And for you, John Travolta, there is a private jet compatible airport 1 mile away.

The condo is a five minute walk to downtown Manteo on a boardwalk connected to the town’s boardwalk system and a ten minute walk to a park complex that includes an outdoor auditorium hosting daily concerts, a maritime museum, and a replica of Sir Walter Raleigh’s brigantine that brought 110 British colonists to the Outer Banks before Plymouth, only to promptly lose them. (If you happen to find them, please contact me or the Queen on our BlackBerrys for further instruction.)

You can go to www.marsheslight.com to check out the complex, named after a very unusual lighthouse known as Marshes Light which is visible from our porch.

The condo is the 2 BR BR model depicted on the website. With a pull out couch and chair in the LR, it sleeps 7 and rents for $1295 per week in season. But we also purchased a J/24 sailboat which us sort of a cult boat racing machine. It has a very wide beam and sleeps 4. So that increases the sleeping accommodations (the boat slip is a short wedge from the condo’s front door) to a total of 11. If you want to rent the boat just to sleep up to 4 more, its $900 per week in season. If you want to sail the boat (and there is additional paperwork necessary to sail) its another $900.

We chose the J/24 because it is a user friendly, practically indestructible boat that is easy for just one person to sail. Details about the boat are available at www.jboats.com/J24/
If you don’t sail, on a per capita basis it works out to about $200 a person per week. And the kids can sleep on the boat. (Let that one sink in for a while . . .)

If after, checking out the websites, you have further interest, please send me your fax number and I will fax you the detail info.

Thanks, and have a nice weekend.

Donald S. Bernardo

If anyone is interested in renting Don’s villa, give me a call at 888-319-3557

Marshes Light Marina is gearing up for operation this summer. We will not have fueling operation initially, but our future plans for the marina will include an attractive dock office and bathroom facilities. We will be participating in the Blessing of the Fleet and Safe Boating Day on Saturday, May 17 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

I noticed a thicket of daffodils on the property the other day. The grass is greener and there is new growth budding on the live oaks along the boulevard. The osprey are back, livening things up a bit on the Sound.

We have grapevine draped around the front door of the model home on Fernando Street. It has little white lights laced through it and it really frames the entrance in a sweet old-fashioned way. For the past week I’ve notice a small bird fluttering just outside the door, not sure what kind of bird, she is smaller than a cardinal. I watched her fly off to a nearby tree and greet her mate, who is a mottled shade of red, so maybe they are very young cardinals. She came back a few minutes later up near the front door under the porch roof. The next day she’s back again. And I realized that she is taking the grapevine to build her nest.

If she keeps it up, I’ll have to do something about the white lights, they won’t look as romantic without the grapevine.

Sunny skies welcome our first annual Wine and Yoga event this Saturday at Marshes Light. Join Heather at 11 at the Azalea Marina Residences at #100C (second floor, green building) for a relaxing gentle stretch yoga class. At 4 o’clock, Kenny from Native Vine will host a wine & chocolate tasting – at the Coors model home. We are completely booked for this event but will be hosting other events throughout the spring and summer – check back often for more news. As always, please visit our website at www.marsheslight.com for information on our properties, the community and the beautiful Outer Banks.

Thanks – look forward to seeing you around town! Lee