When you think of a holiday, sunbathing under the palm trees on the beach, walking on the hot sand and having a romantic dinner at sunset in the evening may come to mind, but we are sure that you would not dream of staying and having a holiday in a huge metal structure surrounded by sharks among the raging waves of the ocean.
One of the strangest hotels in the world, the Frying Pan Hotel which consists of a huge metal structure mounted in shallow water about 50 km off the east coast of North Carolina and suspended on four legs connected by metal struts about 41 metres above sea level, was built in 1964 to prevent ships from running aground in shallow waters.
The rocks on which the hotel is built are a lucrative place for fishermen, but also extremely dangerous, with more than 130 new shipwrecks in 14 years. Since the shallows can be very dangerous for ships passing through the area, the tower-shaped building is also a lighthouse built to warn them to stay away.
As for the story of the tower becoming a hotel, after it became dysfunctional with the development of modern and advanced GPS systems, it was started to be used as an observation platform to study wildlife in the sea, and in 2010, Richard Neil, an entrepreneur from Oklahoma, bought the platform and turned it into a unique accommodation facility where people can stay.
The Frying Pan Hotel which has a helipad on it and can also be reached by sea for those who are flight phobic also has the opportunity to scuba dive on the reef under the hotel. The accommodation inside is quite comfortable, if not luxurious. However, it is also possible to watch spectacular sea and sunrise views.
