Of course, everyone is free to believe whatever they want, but the Bible account itself is pretty explicit in its meaning. Believe it 100 percent or not at all, but don't tell me it means something other than what it says.
PrimateDave, you need to be a little more open minded and not so dogmatic. Maybe you are misunderstanding what the Bible is really saying. Consider the following:
"In view of the evidence now available, therefore, there is no substantial basis for doubt as to the authenticity of the approximate time of the Noachian flood as indicated in Scripture.
As to the second issue, that of the extent of the flood, we can recognize that nothing is beyond the power of the Creator of heaven and earth. But the real question is: What does the Biblical account actually say? Does it require a global deluge, affecting every part of the planet?
The Biblical and Mesopotamian Flood traditions correspond closely, although it cannot be shown that the Biblical account was derived from the others or vice versa. They give evidence of having a common origin and speak of the same event. For this reason it is possible, perhaps probable, that the Bible, too, like the Mesopotamian traditions, speaks of a regional catastrophe, using the Hebrew word erets in the sense of “land” or “area” rather than “earth”. That the Biblical account of the Flood in Genesis 6-8 may be understood in this way is demonstrated, for example, by Professor Franz Delitzsch, a leading conservative Bible scholar in the 19 th century, in his work, A New Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1, pp. 222-282. (This commentary was originally published in German in 1887).
It should be emphasized that the Bible most commonly uses the word erets in the sense of “land”, and more rarely in the sense of “earth” (= the globe). In the Theological Dictionay of the Old Testament, Vol. 1, p. 393, Dr. Magnus Ottosson explains: “It is not always easy to determine whether erets means ‘earth’ or ‘land’ in a given instance.”
It is interesting to observe that Jesus, in speaking of his second coming as an unexpected event, compared it not only with the coming of the Flood, but also, in the very same passage, with the destruction of Sodom. And just as he said that the Flood “destroyed them all,” he also said of Sodom that the fire and sulphur from heaven “destroyed them all.”
The crucial point of the Genesis account as well as the references by Christ and Peter, is that the human race was subjected to a watery catastrophe and that humanity survived only as a result of God’s provision through Noah. (Matthew 24:39) If, as seems evident, the human race in Noah’s day was confined to a relatively limited geographical area—and that must have been the case if all people were able to be aware of the preaching of Noah (2 Peter 2:5) and be cognizant of what he was doing in the construction of the ark—then the flooding of that entire area would constitute a flooding of the world (the human sphere and man-centered order) or kosmos of that time."
Bottom line is that the Bible was referring ONLY to the part of the earth inhabited by mankind.
Thank you.