Need Advice on Palms for the Outer Banks, Crape Myrtles Too!

Would like to know what success people have had with the various hardy palms for the Outer Banks of North Carolina (Duck - zone9a). One of my locations is semi-oceanfront so salt can be an issue.

Also, my crape myrtles, which do so well in piedmont Virgnia are not thriving on the Outer Banks. Any help that can be provided is most appreciated.

Check out this website. Hope it will be of some help to you.
I'm in zone 8b and crape myrtles do fine here. We are 12 miles from the coast, but crape myrtles are planted on all of our beaches. You can also check them out at this same site.

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1019.htm

The big thing with crepe myrtles is sun light. They need a lot of sun. Next down would be lack of water which my crepe myrtles didn't look very good this from the lack of rain. If you have them in a really a sandy spot in full sun I would bet water is the problem.

Palmettos would be you best bet with the palms. They grow here right on the beach, cold hardy and once growing in a spot they seem very hard to kill.

windmill (trachycarpus) possibly washingtonia or a date (phoenix), maybe brahea or a butia or chamaerops. of course you could go native with the needle palm (rhapidophyllum) or a saw palmetto (serenoa) or one of the sabals, like the palmetto like core suggested.