Enjoying the South and Our Beaches
Jul/28/09 09:37 PM
Most people are warm all over. Our low temperature at night for the last three evenings has been staying above eighty degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature there is little cooling at night.
The only choice is to abandon any fear of the warmth and the South. You have to embrace the heat. If you boldly go outside and do not worry about the heat, you will be fine as long as you drink lots of fluids.
With the breeze and the ocean waters, even this heat will be a pleasant memory when January rolls around. Then you can remember how warm the sand was and the shock when you first walk from your air conditioned home into our humid blanket of warmth. Your body adjusts pretty quickly especially if you are wearing the minimum amount of clothing.
Once you have embraced the heat, you might as well explore Southern life a little. The best way to do that is with some Southern food.
My wife and I were both born in North Carolina so we are well versed in North Carolina's culinary arts. One of the things that helps us survive the heat, is the food we eat.
Once summer begins and the tomatoes are ripe the first week in June, we quickly start eating tomato sandwiches. While there are lots of people who will argue that you cannot have a good tomato sandwich on anything other than white bread, I am very partial to using Pepperidge Farm soft oatmeal bread. I have learned to live with Kraft light mayonnaise. I even skip the salt on my sandwich and make do with lots of pepper, but you have to find some homegrown tomatoes to enjoy a real tomato sandwich at its finest. On a hot evening a tomato sandwich both feeds you and keeps the kitchen cool.
Our mothers were fond of abandoning meat on hot evenings. You might have green beans, corn on the cob, cornbread, sliced tomatoes, perhaps fried squash and cantaloupe or watermelon.
While turning out perfect cornbread involves significant expertise, a well seasoned cast iron pan, and a good recipe, hush puppies are easier but do make something of a mess. Our family recipe for hush puppies gives you a real taste of the South.
if you want something really easy, try fried yellow summer squash. It is so simple that I am usually in charge of it. Find the nicest, small, blemish free yellow summer squash that you can. Slice it into rounds about one quarter of an inch thick. Heat about one quarter of inch of vegetable oil in a large frying pan. My wife claims the oil wiggles when it is hot enough. While the oil is getting hot, dip your squash in some Egg Beaters or beaten egg on a small plate and then coat them on another plate that has cornmeal on it. When you put one of the coated squash rounds into the frying pan, it should sound like frying. If not, the oil is not hot enough. Once you have filled the pan, salt and pepper them, then go back and see if the first ones are brown on the bottom. When they are brown, flip them over. When they are brown on both sides remove to a plate covered with paper towels. Eat while hot.
Another favorite hot weather food happens to be pimento cheese sandwiches. My pimento cheese recipe is easy to fix and has won a number of accolades on the web.
There are some coastal things that we eat in hot weather which are not a lot of trouble. One of my favorites is simple grilled scallops. I use cooking spray on our fish cooking grill tray. I buy scallops that are in their own juice either in a bag or container with a top. As soon the grilling sheet is warm, I place the scallops on the sheet so they are not touching. I close the grill for two or three minutes, and then flip each scallop and close the grill for another two or three minutes. You do not have to let the scallops start flaking to know that they are done. The best way is to cut one and see if it is cooked through. As soon as they are done, we remove them from the grill to a platter and then people fight over them.
Some other favorites to fix on the coast in the summer are chilled cocktail shrimp, and if you love fish, classic pan fried flounder. Another favorite of ours happens to be crab cakes. Our "secret recipe" is the one on the Old Bay seasoning can. We usually use lump crab meat and pack it in ice even when it is stored in the fridge before cooking.. Just make sure you use fresh, local NC seafood.
With these Southern dishes and your new found love of the heat and humidity, you will not only enjoy the beach, but you might go back home with some new recipes.
Blue Skies That Delight
Jul/26/09 09:15 PM
While there are a lot of treats on the coast like fresh seafood, when we have the blue skies they are free. In the winter we often have weeks of clear blue skies, but in the summer we are more likely to have blue skies early in the morning and then a tug of war between the blue skies and the clouds.
That was the case when I snapped this picture near Clyde Phillips Seafood between the bridges in Swansboro. The picture was taken just after noon a few days ago. That morning I had gotten up to beautiful blue skies over the White Oak River.
By the time I took the picture along Route 24, the river had a pretty solid cloud cover. The only completely blue skies seemed to be down the Intracoastal towards Hammocks Beach. Finding blue sky is always a guessing game.
Visitors to the coast know all about the blue sky guessing game. Usually weeks before you are set to enjoy your home along the shore, you bet on a certain week and hope that the weather will be great.
So far this year, I cannot think of a week that has been a washout. While we have had six inches of rain at Bluewater Cove this July, it has come in short intense storms. I can only think of one day which qualified as a rainy day.
As residents, we play a different kind of blue skies game. While we all have access to more weather reports than we can read, the only one that makes any sense is the one that is going to be right. The problem is that you never know which one that is.
There are many days when we plan to go out with our boats and have to play it by ear. You look at the weather reports, check the sky and wind, and then make an educated guess which you cover by staying close enough to home to make a run for if need be.
We have done that several times. We will even gamble that we can fish for a few hours before a front comes through by fishing five minutes from home. So far with a weather report in hand and watchful eyes, we have been able to be back at the dock before any serious rain.
Our closest call came a few weeks ago. We were fishing near the Point and hoping to leave around 3 PM so the twenty minute trip to our dock would put us home well ahead of the predicted 4 PM front. We pulled anchor just before 3 PM and headed home, but we had not counted on a Coast Guard safety check. We still made it home in time, but we only touched the tops of the waves, and the pouring rains came within five minutes of the last of our gear being stowed.
Many times we leave home to find the weather better over on the beaches than it is on the mainland. It seems to run in spells. Often the storms build over interior North Carolina and then roll towards the coast. The trick is to leave home early and try to be back at the dock before the afternoon storms.
Weather is never really predictable because just when you start counting on the storms coming from the land, they will trick you and start coming up the coast.
Last night as we were driving back to the coast from the Virginia mountains, we seemed to be shadowing a huge thunderstorm. As we settled into the hour drive from Interstate 40 to Cape Carteret, I wondered if the storm would catch us, but it seemed to disappear.
It was with great surprise that I got up this morning to find a steady breeze of 25 miles per hour. When I checked my rain gauge, I saw that we had two inches of rain while we were away. Apparently the two inches of rain never made it to the area not far from here in the Croatan National Forest where eight hundred acres of forest have already burned.
This morning with clouds over the river early, we headed east along Route 58 up the Emerald Isle Beach. By the time we reached 14th Street, the skies were completely blue and the winds were still blowing.
My guess is that this was a good beach day. The winds likely made it a challenging day for fighting a fire. Perhaps the winds will drop as we pick up some addtional rain tomorrow.
Back on the Bridge
Jul/19/09 09:19 PM
We showed property all day and headed over to Emerald Isle to drop a package off at another real estate office. It was just before five PM, and I could see the traffic as we were turning from McLean Blvd. onto the bridge approach.
I was a little worried, it seemed to be moving a little fast. Luck was with me, and just after we got past the highest point of the Cameron-Langston Bridge, the traffic slowed to a stop. I was ready with a camera and over the next two or three minutes managed to snap a number of shots. My wife prefers this method of bridge photography to my other method which is asking her to act as a traffic lookout and warn me of approaching traffic.
I am just like many people I absolutely love the view from the bridge. It is both a soothing and inspiring view. As I look across the water from the heights of the bridge, I do let my mind soar over Bogue Sound and examine the limitless possibilities of life.
There is something special about crossing the bridge from the mainland to the island. Without being told everyone knows that they are entering a special world. For most of us it is a place were the amount of time we spend is limited but very special.
While most people get to cross the bridge only a few times, there are those of us who cross it at least a couple of times each day. We get to see it in changing seasons, with lots of traffic and with almost no traffic.
One cold winter day I slowed to snap a picture of a beautiful sunset. When I got home, I found that I had captured not only the sunset but also two deer standing in the water's edge on the Intracoastal Waterway.
Then there was our snow storm when bridge traffic was almost non existent. The last few weekends bridge traffic has been anything but non-existent.
I have yet to spend more than ten minutes getting across the bridge. I have heard of it taking people one half hour, but those are unconfirmed reports. My way of looking at the bridge is that it suspends you in mid-air over one of the most beautiful scenes along the North Carolina coast. Why would you want to speed through such beautiful scenery?
It is far better to be caught in traffic and to get to savor the fantastic view.
I suspect none of these arguments carry much weight with either tourists or locals. Many visitors have been in their cars for hours and the last thing that they need is to sit in traffic. On the other hand, often locals are just trying to accomplish some normal tasks when they get stuck on the bridge. If you are just running over for a quick errand, taking twenty five minutes for a bridge trip can be very frustrating.
I am not going to try to convert everyone to my view of bridge traffic, but I would ask you to pay careful attention if you visit in the winter months. If there is a car stopped at the top taking pictures, it just might be me, so slow down and be patient.
For another perspective on the meaning of crossing the bridge check out my Sea Salt Blog where I argue that the bridge is a metaphor for a move.
Speaking of moving, we have a new home under construction in Bluewater Cove. It is actually exciting to see some new homes being built.
It just reaffirms my belief that the Crystal Coast is a great place to visit and to live.
Remember this as a Perfect Beach Day
Jul/15/09 09:22 PM
Once in a while the waves are so rough that even the bravest swimmers stay on shore. Today was not a day that had a defect.
The air was warm, but not too warm. There was a slight breeze, but the surf was very calm. It was just a great beach day.
From my informal survey of the parking lots at the regional access points, there were plenty of people enjoying the beach. It is nice to have a day like today to make up for the rain on Monday.
Those of us who live here needed the rain for our yards, flowers, and vegetables. While visitors might like all sunshine during the day and rain only at night, the weather is going to do what it wants.
From the looks of the long range forecast, next week might return to a more normal summer weather pattern with afternoon storms. This weekend might even be rainy. As usual we probably will not know until it happens.
With some rain in the forecast, we have to make the most of days like today. The challenge is always managing to get your work done and have some fun on the great days. I worked this morning, and just before lunch we headed up the beach.
We wanted to visit Crunch the Alligator Snapping Turtle who is on display at the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium. I like to think Crunch has just come north from the steamy south for a nice vacation.
Since we were running up the beach at lunch time, we decided to stop by the Crab Shack in Salter Path. We were there around 12:30 PM, and we were surprised at how many people were having lunch. It might have had something to do with the delicious baby flounder special which my wife and I both ordered.
We were back on our way shortly after one, and it did not take us long to get to the Aquarium. We have an annual membership so going just to see Crunch was only another excuse to enjoy the Aquarium. It turned out that Crunch was housed just across from the gift shop so we got to walk through the whole Aquarium anyway.
At 150 years old and 165 pounds, Crunch is an impressive turtle. We were lucky to get to see him move since he does appear to know how to stay motionless in the water. I have posted a few pictures that I took of Crunch.
After heading back down the beach, we stopped at Third Street Beach which was uncrowded compared to the regional access parking areas. There were a few people on the beach enjoying themselves, and the sea oats seemed to be at their peak. It was a little warm sitting up on the picnic table by the beach. Since we had not thought to wear bathing suits, we headed on home.
We had only been on the road for a couple of minutes when we noticed a huge amount of smoke coming from the Newport area. I am guessing that the smoke was coming from a controlled burn in the Croatan National Forest.
After taking a picture, we headed on back to Bluewater Cove. I managed to get a little more work done at home and to sneak in a quick nap before dinner. Since lunch was more than normal, we had tomato sandwiches for dinner. It is one of our regular summer meals since I grow our own tomatoes.
Having a quick dinner with no cooking allowed us to go for a ride on the White Oak. I had gone out last night hoping to catch the sunset. I ended up being about six minutes late last night. Tonight I made sure that I was plenty early. My wife agreed to ride with me so we rode most of the way to Swansboro before coming back to wait for the sunset.
It was extremely pleasant on the river with a light breeze and quickly cooling temperatures. I snapped a few pictures and a sunset. It was not exactly the one I wanted, but there is always tomorrow night. We have already invited friends to ride with us.
These are the pictures that I snapped on the White Oak this evening.
A Day in Bogue Inlet
Jul/08/09 09:24 PM
One of the reasons that I enjoy getting out before the winds pick up is the smooth ride down the White Oak River. This morning there was not even a ripple on the White Oak. We did around 32 mph all the way to bridge at Swansboro where we slowed to go through the harbor.
I stopped long enough in the harbor to cast at a bluefish chasing fish on the surface, but my lure was ignored so we made our way through the harbor and swung east into the Intracoastal and got back up on plane until we got to the no wake zone at the Wildlife Resources Ramp. After passing through that zone, we resumed speed and passed a catamaran under power also headed east.
It was not long before we were making a sweeping turn into the channel to the Inlet. There was still really no traffic or waves so we made great time. We were turning to look for the fishing hole I found last week just after 10 AM.
It took just a few more minutes for my fishing buddy Dean to throw the anchor out. We had lines in the water shortly after that. I am actually amazed that it is so easy to get to a great fishing spot.
A fair amount of planning goes into our fishing trips, but a lot of the preparation has been reduced to a routine. Most of the long range planning involves schedules. Then I watch the weather and tides. When things seem to be coming together, I call Dean the night before. He can usually get a day off as long as he calls in the night before.
The next morning, I make a run to Clyde Phillips for some shrimp. I usually buy nice shrimp for bait since we cook up whatever is left over after fishing. I will often stop at Dudley's Marina for some hooks and my favorite Gulps, which are white plastic mullets that the flounder seem to favor. Then I stop by the automated ice machine on Highway 58 and get three bags of ice.
After I get home, I start loading the boat. I usually put the ice and the shrimp cooler on first. Next I will get my two tackle buckets and my one tackle bag. Then I have two floating bags that I bring on board. One has a waterproof box with all my boat papers including the report from my latest Coast Guard check about a week ago. The other floating bag has a waterproof pouch with my fishing license, driver's license, credit card, and $20. I usually bring the GPS and emergency radio on board in that bag. I have a plastic container that protects the connectors for the GPS. When I put the GPS in place, I stow the container in the floating bag.
Next I bring on board, a two compartment bucket that has our throw pillow and with an attached line. If we are not trolling, I have just three rods that I use. Then I load some beverages and towels. I take the lines off the dock. If it has been a while since I have had the boat out, I usually have the anchor on the dock so it has to also be loaded.
Finally after counting life vests and making sure all the other safety equipment is on board, I put the plug in the boat. Dean usually gets to the dock early enough to help with the loading.
The secret to getting away easily is to leave the boat in good shape after your most recent trip. That usually means washing things down, fueling, and checking all the equipment before you call it a night.
Boating is a lot of fun, but it is also more work than you might imagine. As far as I am concerned the fun far out weighs the work.
Today was one of those great days. As I switched from driving hat to my full brimmed fishing hat, it crossed my mind that most people never get to enjoy the water like we do here on the Crystal Coast. Certainly even if they get out on the water their surroundings cannot match the beauty of Bogue Sound and Bogue Inlet and their warm waters. These are special places, and I feel blessed each time I scan the blue horizon here.
Today after we had fished a few minutes I realized that I had put us in the wrong place. We moved a little further towards Hammocks Beach and found the structure that I had located last week. We did not catch anything to write home about, but we did land a flounder, a couple of sharks, two lizardfish, some pin fish, and some croakers.
I did have the special pleasure of catching my fish with an Abu Garcia 5000 reel that I have used since I was six or seven years old. Having an an old reel like that made the fishing especially fun.
We had enough bites to keep things interesting. Three bottle nosed dolphins swam through the Inlet. The catamaran that we had passed came out the Inlet and headed out into the ocean. We caught fish, watched people play on the nearby low water beach, and enjoyed the warm breeze.
We even got to see someone power his vee bottomed boat up onto the beach. They then managed to nap in the sun for an hour or so. Of course putting your boat on a beach when the tide is going out is not a particularly good idea. As we were motoring away, we saw them gather up a dozen people to try to push their boat back in the water. The boat looked to be pretty high and dry to me. I suspect the 9 PM high tide would be the best hope for getting the boat off the beach.
If you get a chance to boat in Bogue Sound or Inlet, do not pass up the opportunity. It is truly a lot of fun. It will create some memories that you will never forget.
As pulled back up to dock around 3 PM, the only question was when can we do it again?
Southern Delights
Jul/06/09 09:26 PM
We actually really needed the rain. It came at a critical time for the corn and soybean crops. It also refreshed all of our vegetable crops which are just now hitting their peak. Those vegetables and also the area fruits are the southern delights that are the subject of this post.
My wife and I both grew up in the Piedmont area of North Carolina not far from the Virginia border. Gardening and fresh vegetables were as much a part of summer as going to the beach or the summer sun. That tradition of enjoying fresh vegetables lives on here along the Carteret coast.
I used to think that my mother could live on green beans and cornbread. Of course the green beans had to be white half runner beans and the cornbread had to be cooked in a special cast iron black frying pan. Besides the green beans, there were two other summer treats that played a special part in summer, corn and tomatoes.
Both corn and beans take a serious amount of ground to grow. We did not have room for those on our small plot of land, but there were tomatoes in every empty spot in the beds beside our home. Our many relatives who lived in the very rural Yadkin County provided us with more beans and corn than we could handle. From an early age I can remember my mother canning beans and freezing corn. It was just what people living close to the land did in North Carolina in the fifties and sixties. You put up food in the summer for the winter.
My mother canned and preserved vegetables and fruits well into her eighties. Even when she was over ninety, I can remember her helping my wife make blackberry jelly from berries that we had picked. While we have given up canning the quarts and quarts of green beans, we still put away a few things. We are already enjoying the strawberry freezer jam that we made from local berries earlier in the spring.
Tonight for dinner we had fresh local sweet corn, home grown tomatoes, homemade potato salad and our first Bogue Sound watermelon of the year. I also grilled a slice of ham, but the vegetables were the star of the meal.
Those vegetables are just a few of the southern delights that we are fortunate to have here in Carteret County. One of the really special things about the Southern Outer Banks area is that we have a very early growing season. Our strawberries are ripe in mid-April. I got my first ripe tomato this year on June 5. From collards and lettuce to sweet potatoes, the rock free soils along Bogue Sound produce bountiful crops.
As I talked to my relatives in central NC this evening, I found out that their tomatoes are just starting to ripen, and they are still waiting for the first ears of corn. Last weekend we carried home grown tomatoes to friends in Roanoke, Va. They will probably not see local tomatoes until the second or third week of July. Our plants will be getting their second wind about then. In 2007 we picked our last ripe tomato on December 19.
So while the rain kept everyone off the beaches this afternoon, it provided crops with a much need drink of water. I would have rather that it rained during the night, but you have to take the rain when you can get it. The folks in the Piedmont are very dry and got less than one tenth of an inch. I suspect they are very jealous of the timely rain that we got today.
If you are looking for local produce, there are a number of places to find it. Guthries, Winberry's, Buck's Corner, and Garner's all come to mind. We are partial to Winberry's in Cedar Point, but other folks have their own favorites. You are likely to find great produce at any of the area farms. We buy from them all.
If you are looking for some of those vegetables at a restaurant, one of the surprising spots to find them is the Bogue House in Cedar Point. I will have to give them credit along the ladies of our church for turning me into a fan of collards. I also enjoy their field peas and sweet potatoes.
One of the great treats of the area is the Bogue Sound watermelon. With just two of us, it is hard to eat one of the larger ones, but today we found a small seedless one at a reasonable price today at Guthries just east of Cape Carteret along Highway 24.
Now that we have enough rain to last us a while, we will be rooting for all sunshine for the rest of the week. The forecast looks pretty close to that. Just do not forget to eat your vegetables after you come in from the beach.
I will be busy tomorrow morning mowing my grass, I am pretty sure that I can hear the grass growing even now. The way I look at it, the rain saved me from having to run my irrigation system so forgive me for being happy with today's downpour.
Thank Goodness for the Green
Jul/05/09 09:31 PM
As you move down the coast, Nova Scotia has mostly rocky beaches like Maine. New Jersey has sandy beaches with a backdrop of pine barrens. Along the eastern shore of Virginia, farmland runs to the beach in places.
Along North Carolina's northern Outer Banks, the thin strand of sand is often barely held in place by vegetation. Then midway down the southern Outer Banks, out of the water springs this green strand of sand anchored by vegetation that looks to be impenetrable.
Of course it is Emerald Isle.
Often as we are driving down the beach from Atlantic Beach through Pine Knoll Shores and on to the town of Emerald Isle, I like to imagine the beach before it became developed. My wife will often convince me to drive to Fort Macon State Park just to look at the dense vegetation that anchors the sand and which probably looks very much like it did before development came to the island.
While I may have come to the beach for the blue water and blue skies, I think it is the strong green vegetation that makes me feel at home here on the Crystal Coast. I have seen how the ocean can cut through whatever it wants. I was over on Hatteras Island just after a storm created a new inlet. I have seen the sands shift down on the Point at Emerald Isle, yet somehow all the tough, lush, green vegetation makes me believe that Emerald Isle is as well anchored as a sandy beach can be.
I am always amazed at how many homes are tucked into the dense vegetation along our beaches. There are places where the vegetation is mostly gone, but considering the amount of development along the shore, there is an amazing of amount of dense vegetation still here.
You can wander parts of Emerald Isle and easily think you are in a maritime forest. When you combine the beach vegetation with the pine forests of Croatan National Forest's 158,000 acres, you end up in a green oasis that thankfully we still have a chance to protect and preserve.
One of the things that attracted us to Carteret County was the low density of development. There is plenty of green space to go along with the blue waters of the county. To someone who lives in a metro area like Washington, DC, we look positively rural. The first time my Northern Virginia son came to visit, I gave him directions which brought him the most direct way. That meant two lane roads and plenty of corn fields.
When he headed back to his traffic jams, he asked for a route which had four lanes all the way and which also avoided corn fields. Living in a city, he felt somewhat threatened by the sea of green which happens to be most of Carteret County.
We have no huge cities, but that is the beauty of living in this area. We have small towns and almost all of the modern conveniences. I was talking to a friend in Canada who was visiting the area where we used to live along Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy. He complained that the only computer connection was still a 2400 Baud modem.
Carteret County does not have that problem. Our sea of green and blue also manages to be nicely tied into the modern world. We just end up sharing our paradise with visitors for a couple of months out of the year.
Much of the time the green vegetation of our beach strand swallows up our visitors. Tonight we drove from Fort Macon down to the Cameron Langston Bridge which crosses from Emerald Isle to Cape Carteret and Cedar Point. You could hardly tell the island was packed with visiting families unless you glanced at the Food Lion parking lot at Emerald Plantation.
Yesterday the streets were packed, today the green forests, sandy beaches, and blue waters have swallowed up our guests. It is almost as if the greenness of the island invites people to stay out of sight.
It is a great pleasure to live in a place that can accommodate so many visitors without seeming overcrowded. While I know the restaurants and grocery stores may well show signs of lots of people, it still feels like that we live in a place which has a very good balance between homes for people and an environment that is protected from over development.
I am glad there is a Myrtle Beach in the world, but I am even more pleased that it is three hours south of here and that I do not have to drive through it.
Our world of greens and blues is a pretty amazing spot. One of my favorite places to reinforce that thought is the Emerald Woods Trail. In just a short space you go from dense forest to the wide open Bogue Sound.
It is a good hike to take. It always convinces me that we made the right decision when we moved to the green world of the Crystal Coast.
Enjoying Yourself on the Water
Jun/30/09 09:33 PM
She likes to joke that our skiff has two names, one for each side of the boat. One is "Living the Dream," and the other is "Glenda's Nightmare." She would prefer to not get her feet wet at the beach so her efforts to stay off the boat should come as no surprise.
Perhaps having an astrological sign of Pisces has something to do with my love of the water. I cannot ever remember being afraid of the water, but over the years I have learned to be very respectful of the water. If you are a first time boater in Bogue Sound, you might find some of my tips and reminders useful.
First off, Bogue Sound, the areas around Bogue Inlet, and the White Oak River are very safe places to boat. The waters are rarely crowded except during a few holidays. Even then places like the White Oak River remain uncrowded.
One of the biggest challenges that lake boaters find when coming to the area is that there are places here which are not deep enough for every boat. We also have bodies of water like the White Oak River which have a number of oyster rocks. Having oyster rocks in the river means that the safest way of moving around the river at high speed is to stay in the marked channel. That is true when you are in the lower reaches of the river. The upper part of the river is safe if you avoid the spots with PVC pipes marking shallow areas. If you are heading south on the White Oak towards Swansboro, keep the green buoys to your right and the red ones to your left. If you are headed up river towards Stella, keep the red buoys on your right and the green on your left.
It is important to remember that there is plenty of water outside of marked channels in Bogue Sound and the White Oak where it is safe to explore at lower speeds. While it helps to have a depth finder, you can quickly tell the depth of the water by its color. Shallow water has a tan cast or lighter color to it compared to the deep blue or darker colors of the deeper waters. If you are moving slowly and paying attention, it is unlikely you will become very stuck. Flat bottomed skiffs get around better in really shallow water. If you do decide to visit one the tidal islands in Bogue Inlet, you can often guarantee an easier exit by nosing your boat ashore to drop off passengers and your anchor, and then backing back into deeper water once the anchor is secured. You can then pull yourself in, hop off the boat, and let the boat drift back into the deeper water. By doing that you are at less risk when the tide starts going out. Sometimes we will take a folding step stool in the boat if someone who might have trouble getting back on the boat is with us.
Speaking of tides, make sure you know when high and low tides are set to occur. You should also check the weather before you leave and make sure someone knows where you are headed and when you plan to be back. In the summertime, we try to be on our way back towards our dock by three PM since many days we see thunderstorms after that time.
Your boating will be a lot more fun if you keep well maintained equipment on board. While most boaters know you need a life preserver for each person, you should also be aware that they need to be in good shape with readable labels and no tears. You should have a floating throw cushion that is not stowed or tied to the boat. We also have a paddle and a long pole for pushing the boat around in shallow water. Of course an anchor with chain and fifty to one hundred feet of line is also a must. We have all our safety gear, including flares and lights, stowed in a waterproof bag. A Sea Tow membership card is also there.
We always carry an emergency radio, first aid kit, spare prop, some tools, bucket, towel, boat hook, and at least one cell phone.
If you get stopped for a safety check by the Coast Guard, it helps to have a picture id, your boat's registration, and your fishing license. I keep all those items in a water proof pouch.
While we have a GPS on board, I also carry charts of the area. Since the weather is often hot, we manage to always have a cooler filled with ice cold beverages. I stick with non-alcoholic beverages when I am boating. I have seen too many situations where unimpaired reflexes were required while boating.
I cannot think of a more enjoyable activity than going boating in Bogue Sound or Inlet. A little planning, plenty of sunscreen, and remembering to put the plug in the boat will ensure a happy trip.
If you have never had any boating training, I can highly recommend the Coast Guard Auxiliary courses. They are held regularly in Emerald Isle and Morehead City.
The Six Shrimp Road to Enlightenment
Jun/28/09 09:36 PM
Here on the Crystal Coast things are different, but we still have our challenges. Recently I have been too busy to fish as much as I would like.
I knew it was time to focus on the important things and get some balance back in my life. Too much work and not enough fishing can lead to serious problems. After a particularly hard day of working outside and taking care of real estate clients, I came upon the idea of "The Six Shrimp Road to Enlightenment."
First I headed to Clyde Phillips Seafood between the bridges on Highway 24 in Swansboro. I bought one and one half pounds of shrimp and had it packed in ice for the trip home. When I got home to Blueweater Cove, I carefully divided the shrimp into plastic sandwich bags containing six or eight shrimp. I then placed the bags in our freezer.
Next I explained to my normally very supportive wife that I needed more beach time and more surf fishing time. I asked for patience while I embarked on "The Six Shrimp Road to Enlightenment." All my wife said was "Can I take a beach chair so I be comfortable while watching you reach enlightenment."
The next night after I had mowed the yard and finished the trimming, we headed off to the beach with my surf rod, surf tackle bucket, rod sand spike, and one of the sandwich bags of shrimp.
The shrimp was almost thawed by the time we reached Third Street beach. As soon as we were in the parking lot I bolted to the beach and finished rigging my rod. Then I carefully took one shrimp out, cut it in half and baited the hooks. Finally I waded into the surf up past my knees and cast my bait into the foamy waters.
I did remember to check to see what my wife was doing. She had headed down the beach for a walk. Her chair was directly behind me on the beach. I fished for several minutes without getting a bite and then finally I caught a spot. I was down to my last shrimp when I caught the spot. I quickly returned it to the surf. My trip had been a success.
Recently we went back to repeat the experience. Luck was not with the next time. After much effort, I assumed that the fish were not biting. It was something that I just had to accept since I was out of shrimp. We headed on back home. Though it was after 9 PM, I walked across the cul de sac to the neighborhood pool.
The water was warm, the breeze only a touch cooler. As I floated on my back in the pool and watched the palm trees blowing in the breeze, I felt all the tension drain away from me. Tonight was a night that my fate was not to catch a fish.
I know with this regular focus on a simple evening of surf fishing, I will reach enlightenment.
On top of that I might catch the Red Drum that I have had in my sights for a while.
While this program has not been tested on ladies, I am sure it will work well on any ladies who enjoy fishing. My wife, however, is more likely to reach enlightenment in TJ Maxx.
The important thing is to fish regularly and with focus. I have a tee shirt which has the following saying which it attributes to Thoreau. "Everyone should believe in something...I believe I will go fishing."
While I have not verified that Thoreau said this, it certainly shows a great deal of wisdom. With six shrimp in a sandwich bag, I am on the road to enlightenment.
Falling in Love with the Crystal Coast
Jun/27/09 09:41 PM
I guess that everyone has their favorite spot here on the Crystal Coast. A lot of folks love Shackleford Banks. I know that I have one or two places near the top of my list.
I actually cannot remember when I mentally picked my top places, but this week I got to watch my youngest daughter, Katie, who is in her twenties fall in love with a couple of spots here on the Crystal Coast.
While she and her significant other, Alex, have visited here a few times, they always seemed rushed. This visit was different. First it was spontaneous. Second it was a vacation that they really needed. Last August Katie gave birth to our first granddaughter. Having a baby changed their lives just as it does everyone's.
The last almost eleven months have been an intense introduction to being parents. So when they got to the beach this time and found an adoring grandmother willing to take care of their baby, they really appreciated their free time. They also fell in love with the area.
This visit almost seemed like the first time that they had really seen the Crystal Coast. Katie worked to get as much into a day as possible. It was like every minute was precious. Number one on her list was to find a beach where she could collect some shells. Number two was to get her tan back in shape.
The first choice for finding a beach was to head to Bogue Inlet in our skiff. Unfortunately I could not make the first trip, but they had little trouble finding a place to anchor and hunt for shells. Katie was really pleased with the shells she found while Alex fished from the boat.
The next day I joined the party. Katie was determined to go back to the same spot. We headed out Bogue Inlet and anchored in sight of the Point in something less that two feet of water with the stern of the boat in casting distance of some deeper water. I was pretty happy minding the boat since the tide was going out. Alex fished for a few minutes, and then volunteered to carry Katie's shell collection basket.
As they headed off in the distance I reminded them that we were in a spot that would certainly not have enough water to float the skiff in an hour. As they disappeared, I knew in my heart that they would not be back before I had to move the boat.
I had just enough luck fishing to keep my interest up. I caught a couple of small sharks and a couple of flounders. One of my flounders measured 14.5 inches which as any fishermen will know is just one half inch short of legal. The other flounder was closer to 13 inches.
I kept checking on Katie and Alex, but they finally were so far away from the boat that I could not see them. At the same time, the tide was going out a little faster than I calculated. As the water got to 1.5 feet I decided to move the skiff. I pulled the anchor and made it into some deeper water. I thought about anchoring, but I knew they would be back soon so I just circled around in the Inlet looking for good spots to mark for fishing. It was not long before I saw them coming. I nosed the skiff up into shallow water and picked up my passengers.
My daughter seemed like she was in heaven. She had found lots of shells in their walk of about one mile. She was so excited to have been in such a special place. We headed back to home while making plans for our next trip.
The next day they spent most of their time at the Bluewater Cove pool while I did some boat maintenance with the help of a friend who replaced my seized up bilge pump. Having to miss a day on the water seemed to make Friday, the last day of their visit, even more special.
I could not believe it when she wanted to take her dogs for a run Friday morning at the long Cedar Point Croatan Trail. Even early that morning you could cut the humidity with a knife. She came back refreshed, but the dogs were exhausted.
After a quick dip in the pool, Katie and Alex were again ready to head out to the Inlet. I suggested that we go out the Inlet and cut back towards Swansboro and anchor just off the popular stretch of beach there. Katie decided she wanted her own beach so we went a little farther towards Swansboro and found some sand emerging from the water as the tide went out.
We managed to anchor the skiff at a cut with a nice current so I could fish while Katie and Alex wandered the newly emerged beach. I think it was love at first sight. It is pretty hard to resist a place as magical as Bogue Inlet. When you can be there on a sunny warm day, it is easy to think that you have found the most magical place on earth.
Fishing was about the same as the day before. I caught a couple of small flounders and a small shark. There was more entertainment since there was a dog having fun on the almost adjoining beach. We had paid attention to the weather and wanted to be back at our dock well before the predicted four PM line of storms. We headed home at about 3:30 for the 15 minute ride back to Bluewater Cove.
As we helped my daughter pack for the trip home Friday evening, she was already planning her next trip to visit her special places. I doubt that I can guess which one is at the top of her list, but they are all pretty special in my book. She was also talking about a visit to the Aquarium and Beaufort. She has a serious case of Crystal Coast love.
Another Type of Walk on the Beach
Jun/18/09 09:44 PM
That was the case this evening. We waited until 7:30 PM before we even left home. In just a few minutes we had parked at the empty parking lot of Mike's Restaurant and were marveling at the crowds at the Island's three ice cream shops.
Dairy Queen, Sweet Spot, and Ben & Jerry's were all packed. As we walked east along Emerald Drive, we noticed Jordan's Seafood also had a very good crowd. Walking the streets of Emerald Isle brought back memories of beach trips many years ago.
It was always in the evening when things really sprang to life. While much has changed since the days of Pavilions and teenagers dancing late into the night, a beach town like Emerald Isle is still magical in the evening.
It is hard to say what sets the mood, the warm breezes, laughter in the air, or the colorful neon lights. There are a lot of things that combine to make a beach evening magical. Weather is a big part of it. There is nothing more fun than cruising the main drag in a convertible on a warm summer evening with sea breezes to keep you cool.
We had only been walking five minutes when we saw our first convertible. It was a red one, with a young couple up front, and three younger teenage girls riding in the back seat. My wife immediately wondered how long it had taken the three teenagers to get ready for their ride.My guess was that the back seat of the convertible represented at least a full day's work on hair and makeup. Based on the looks on their faces, they were definitely having fun.
On our walk I think we saw about every mode of land transportation that you could see but roller blades. We saw street legal golf carts, bikes, skate boards, strollers, and plenty of people just walking.
As we made our way east, we saw that Kathyrn's Martini Bar and Bistro had a big crowd. We also noticed that Circle Pizza would soon be in town. One of the new shops, in a strip of shops on the south side of Emerald Drive just before the town complex, will be their home.
We took some time to look at the plants down by the Emerald Isle government buildings. In doing that we managed to get out of the breeze, and the still warm eighty degrees was beginning to feel very warm.
We turned and headed west back towards town and the ocean breezes. We got to meet a dog on the way back. When we got to our car, we noticed the ice cream shops were still busy thirty five minutes after we had started.
Fortunately we had replenished our Jelly Belly supply the other day so we did not have to challenge the crowds at Sweet Spot. We needed to stop by Food Lion for some cream cheese to go with our bagels that we had gotten early in the day on our trip to Wilmington. Food Lion was hoping, but we sneaked in and managed to grab one of the automatic checkout machines for a quick getaway.
We then headed to the BP gas station just before the bridge. As I was fueling our vehicle, I could hear the go carts zooming around the track across the road. The sound was mixed with laughter. We had driven past a miniature golf course on our way to the gas station. It was also a beehive of activity.
It was great to see all of the activity in Emerald Isle. Out in the country over by the White Oak where we live, there are no neon lights to add color to the nights.
We are supposed to see lots of heat this weekend. I am glad we got our stroll on the pavement done before the heat. Very warm temperatures are supposed to blanket the area this weekend. That will require some beach walks with a bathing suit.
It will good be be wading along the shore this weekend. Lots of places in the US are wondering when they are going to see summer weather. Finding summer, warm water and warm temperatures has not been a problem along the Crystal Coast this summer.
Even the areas vegetables are at their summer peak. About the only things not in the stands would be Bogue Sound watermelons and new crop sweet potatoes. If you are over on the beach this weekend, do not forget that Winberry's has a fine vegetable stand in Cedar Point. If you are headed west, it is just after Redferns nursery. The local corn and tomatoes are pretty hard to beat. Also this weekend marks the annual Blueberry Festival in Burgaw.
Based on the heat forecasts, I think I will pass on heading inland to any festival. The interior of North Carolina is set to cook. Burgaw is supposed to be ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday. I am guessing some places will hit one hundred. It will be a good time to be near the water.
The Answer to the Heat is nearby
Jun/11/09 09:46 PM
We actually like the warm temperatures because they bring up the temperatures of our coastal waters to the point where fish are active and swimmers do not turn blue. This time of year, the heat is very easy to handle since the night time temperatures are still cooling into the seventies.
It is during those few weeks mostly in late summer when the temperatures sometimes stay in the eighties at night that we sometimes dream of a Canadian cold front. But right now you will find very few residents complaining about the warm temperatures near the beaches.
One of the reasons is that all you have to do is go a few miles inland, and you will feel the full force of the summer heat.
The Crystal Coast's temperatures are moderated by the temperature of the waters around us. In the spring, we stay cooler than the inland areas of North Carolina until our waters warm. Most of the summer, water temperature and breezes protect us from the worst of the heat.
On a number of trips I have left here with the temperature at 85 degrees Fahrenheit. In the short trip to Jacksonville, we will often see the temperature rise into the nineties, and sometimes by the time we hit Raleigh, it is over one hundred degrees.
The solution to the heat on the coast is the water. It you are on an island in Bogue Inlet surrounded by water, I can guarantee you will be in a more pleasant climate than any mall parking lot in the eastern two thirds of North Carolina.
If you are jumping waves in the 80 degree water along Emerald Isle's beaches, I suspect you are far more comfortable than you would be walking the streets of any of North Carolina's small towns.
Yesterday when I kayaked out on the White Oak River, it was pretty warm at my house just before noon. Even with the exercise of paddling out into the river, I had cooled down by the time I was in the middle of the river. I stayed in the river enjoying the breeze and trying to outwit some fish for a long time. Only when I paddled back and hit a section of our inlet protected from the wind did I finally feel the heat once again.
The heat does change routines a little here. Getting up early is well worth it. The air is fresh and cooler than it will be at any other time in the day. Southern gardeners have done their work in early morning hours since the South was settled. The other really nice time of day starts about thirty minutes before sunset and goes to thirty minutes after sunset. It is actually one of my favorite times to be on the beach. You can almost alway count on nice breezes at that time in the evening.
Heat at the beach is to be welcomed and enjoyed. Take off as many clothes as possible, or go straight to your bathing suit when you get here. Get wet as many times as you can in a given day, This is not Northern Virginia or Raleigh where you have to wear a coat and tie. A bathing suit is our uniform of choice here on the coast.
As you get really warm try to concentrate all the heat at the top of your back between your shoulder blades. Then bravely walk into the ocean water until it is waist deep and turn your back to the waves. If one does not hit you squarely in the back and completely drain the heat from your body, bend your knees a little so the waves will not have to work so hard.
I guarantee a warm body which gets a wave in the middle of the back will really appreciate the difference between hot and cool.
Swimming pools south of Maine are not acceptable substitutes for draining the heat from your body.
Remember, getting hot makes you appreciate getting cool.
A Place to be with the Elements
Jun/05/09 09:48 PM
If I had planned a fishing trip I would have been a little disappointed. But fishing had never been in the cards for today so the winds were something to enjoy during a very warm week. In fact we also had winds late Thursday afternoon. The clouds and wind absolutely rescued me.
My yard needed mowing, but mowing when the temperature is near ninety is something that I try to avoid. Thursday's winds and clouds made mowing the yard a fairly pleasant experience. Today was different. I needed to smell the ocean and get away from civilization. So I headed over to the Point at Emerald Isle.
It is one of my favorite places especially when I need to feel the power of the ocean and lose myself in the vastness of the landscape. Today's visit did not disappoint. As you can see from these slides, the landscape could easily overwhelm you.
Most of the horizon at the point just melts into the sea or the sky. Many times it is hard to tell which. Even if a person or two is walking on the Point, they end up being lost in the landscape.
While the breezes were mild today on my walk, often in the winter the Point can be a bitterly cold place with non stop winds off the cold waters.
Today the winds were strong, but the air was warm. I only got to take a few shots before the fine wind driven mist had coated one lens. That actually did not bother me since I had come more to recharge my spirit than to try to capture the moment with cameras.
I did not stay long, but I did lose myself in the sounds of the waves and winds. For some reason I could not hear the buoy today, but that was fine. Waves and wind will wash civilization from you pretty quickly.
The scene on the Point was a stark contrast to my visit yesterday to Grand Villas where I snapped this shot of the beach from their eight floor.
The broad flat expanse of sand and water at the Point is about as far away from a high rise condominium building as you will get.
I am just thankful that I am close enough to such a special space that I can count it as being in my back yard. If you have never been, it is well worth the trip. Just head out Coast Guard Road.
Park in the parking lot at the corner of Station Drive and Coast Guard Road. Continue walking on Coast Guard Road until it runs into Inlet Drive. Turn right there and head for the water. The very pleasant walk is about four tenths of a mile. You can go out of one of the beach accesses on Inlet Drive and walk to the Point by the beach.
In the unique landscape of the Point, it is easy to imagine what it might have been like on the Crystal Coast long ago. It is nice to have a spot where that still works.
Soaking up the Warmth
Jun/02/09 09:51 PM
Today's picture is no exception. It was snapped this afternoon at the Eastern Regional Access in Emerald Isle. I thought it was a perfect picture for a nice warm beach day. A broader view of the beach would have shown people relaxing in all the ways that are normal for a beach.
Young children were playing in the surf, sunbathers were stretched out on beach towels, surf fishermen were wading in the water, and a number of people were relaxing with a favorite book in their beach chairs. It was a summer beach day with the sun and air warm enough to perhaps tempt even the timid to get into the water.
I love weather like this. After a cool, windy spring, it is time to soak up some of the heat of summer. While that is true in the case of those of us who live near the beach, it is especially true for some of our visitors.
I have some clients who are visiting the Crystal Coast for the first time. They have come from the mountains of Montana where snow has been seen in the last couple of weeks. In fact I checked the early morning temperature at their hometown this morning, it was in the mid-forties. I am glad that they could wake up this morning on Bogue Sound to temperatures in the mid-seventies.
As I stroll to the mail box to pick up our newspaper each morning, I am always excited to experience that time of the day when the air is still cool, but at the same time, you can almost feel the temperature rising as the sun gets higher in the sky. Wednesday will likely be one of those days when the temperature gets over 80 degrees before ten or eleven o'clock in the morning. Those are not good days to mow your during your lunch break.
Those are the days to be on, near, or in the water. It is either that or find some shade and cool breezes off the water. Otherwise you end up in an air conditioned space all day. This morning after some early weeding of our flower beds, I relaxed on our front porch. The sun was still at the back of the house, and the breeze was coming off the water. It was very pleasant, and normal for this time of year. I stayed there as long as I could get way with it, just enjoying the warmth and the breeze.
While even this early in the year, the inland temperatures often soar into the nineties with little relief other than air conditioners. Here on the coast, the cooler-than-land water saves the day in June and even part of July. By late July, the water has warmed and finding cool sea breezes is a lot more difficult.
Today was a day that we could rejoice in the heat, beautiful waters, great breezes, and blue skies. It was one of those picture perfect days that keeps people coming back to the beach to make memories. It was a great day for visitors to defrost all those body parts that suffered so much this past winter.
On our first trip with our children to the North Carolina coast in the eighties when we were living in Canada, my wife got out of the car at a fast food restaurant just on the edge of the coastal plain one July day hot enough to melt asphalt. She announced that for the first time in years, she was completely warm.
There is something to be said for Carolina heat, it makes memories of the winter melt away quickly.
Back to Normal at the Beach
May/28/09 09:54 PM
I guess we were lucky it only took us an extra six or seven minutes to make the trip to the stoplight where you turn to go to Bogue Inlet Pier. I heard that there was an accident on the bridge earlier Saturday morning that caused a lenghty delay.
I can understand the frustration that some people might feel getting caught on the bridge. I look at it a little differently. When they are working on the bridge, I will often make extra trips hoping that I get stopped on the bridge so I can take pictures.
Aside from the accident on the bridge, I have not seen reports of any other problems. Of course on Tuesday it was like the tide of people had receded, and things were back to normal.
When we were in the stop and go bridge traffic on Saturday, my wife counted nine boats in the Intracoastal on the east side of the bridge, I counted five on the west side and saw two sea-doos in a channel headed to the ICW. Tuesday when we made the same trip, we saw a total of two boats.
My holiday boating was confined to Friday morning, but I talked to several people who did put their boats in during Memorial Day weekend. No one seemed to think the waters were overly crowded.
When we walked the beaches on Saturday night, we were impressed with the number of people still out enjoying the water at 8 PM.
Of course the number of people on the beaches has also dropped. The biggest difference has to be the grocery stores. They are back to being almost empty. It was nice to see everything very busy over the weekend, but it is also nice to catch our breath before the next wave of visitors shows up.
Storms have been crossing the area for the last few days. They are expected to continue through Friday night. Then things are to clear up, and the weather looks to be fantastic through at least the middle of next week.
Last year I went for my first ocean swim on June 3rd. We had been through some much warmer weather last year, but I am still hoping to duck my head in the water next week. When I get really hot, my formula for cooling off is simple. I position myself so that an ocean wave will smack me right in the middle of my back. That has never failed to cool me off. Of course I have also been flattened a couple of times.
As we move into the first week of June, we will see an increase in people staying for a whole week. Fishing should pick up also. Our next wave of area vegetables should be on us as the tomatoes soon start to ripen. The strawberries might be finished this week, but I will actually trade strawberries for a ripe tomato and some sweet corn any day. The local sweet corn will take a little longer, but it will be worth the wait.
Another week of busy grocery stores on Friday through Sunday should firmly push us into our summer rhythm of shopping from Monday through Thursday.
There was one more sure sign of summer and of things returning to normal. Some fresh shrimp were brought in during the last week. We fixed some delicious ones Wednesday night. I am already looking forward to my next batch of shrimp and some more beach visitors.
What Makes a Vacation Memorable
May/25/09 09:56 PM
We just hosted our daughter from Northern Virginia. She called several days ago, and she told us that she just needed to get out of the big city. Our family B&B does that very well. In our cul de sac on most nights you can see more stars than most people could dream.
The only noise happens to be frogs, and they are random. My daughter has visited us a number of times, so she came with a few things on her list. One thing was to sit on our upper front porch and read a book. Another was to go for a boat ride.
She also was counting on an evening walk on the beach. Beyond that she wanted to have a very restful nap., It is interesting to see how her visit worked out.
One of my jobs when we have visitors is to cook at least one hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. Since we had planned a boat ride for the first morning, we had our substantial breakfast the first morning.
We had a relaxing breakfast until the last cup of coffee was gone, but still we managed to leave our dock at about 10 AM. I considered that pretty good since we had been up until midnight the previous night waiting for my daughter to arrive.
Our boat trip was just a short one but it allowed us a nice ride over to the marshes on the other side of Intracoastal Waterway at Swansboro harbor. It was a very pleasant out on the boat. I am pleased to report that my daughter enjoyed it greatly.
Since we got back well after noon from the boat ride, we decided on a late lunch at Jordan's. My daughter said earlier that you cannot have a proper beach visit without some fried Carolina seafood. I had a nice plate of flounder and oysters to support her statement.
That evening we tried to work off a little of the Carolina seafood by going for a walk on the pier at Bogue Inlet. This was a new experience for my daughter, but I always enjoy walking on the pier to check the pulse of the community. That evening we got to watch surfers and young couple strolling along the shore. There was also a good cross section of humanity on the pier, fishing and watching the fishing. I did point out to my wife that a number women seemed to have their hands on fishing poles.
Next morning we ened up at Yana Mama's for pancakes for the ladies. After breakfast we visited the shops of Swansboro. Another thing on my daughter's check list was a visit to shop on Front Street that carries, Vera Bradly purses. She had a goal of getting her mother's day shopping out of the way. It took a while to accomplish that mission, but we did get it done. That afternoon I had to work some so I think there was serious reading done at home.
When I got home everyone wanted to ride over to the beach which we did. After checking out the sights, we ended up at the Captain Willis Seafood Shop. They were slicing up some beautiful salmon; so we took home a piece to go on the grill. A friend had given us some homegrown Romaine lettuce. I had an errand to do in River Oaks Plantation. While I was in visiting with my client, my wife and daughter decided to walk the subdivision. Apparently they had a great walk except for a disagreement with three Canadian geese at the boat ramp.
After we got home there was just enough time to relax a little before grilling our salmon. It turned out to be very good, and the meal prompted us to head over to the beach for a walk. We were fortunate that much of the day's traffic had disappeared. We stopped at the Western Regional Beach Access and walked until a little after 8 PM. There were still people on the beach when we left.
Sunday morning was oatmeal in the crock pot and a trip to Beaufort to try to catch the NIna and Pinta. When we got there, we figured out that they had canceled their trip. We made it back to Cape Carteret in time to show my daughter a neat home in Cape Carteret that we had seen on our real estate caravan that week. After that I headed off to work while my wife and daughter headed home to get her packed up for the trip back to DC.
My daughter was still at the house when I got there a little after 5 PM. I guess she had finished her list by taking a long nap before the seven hours drive back to DC.
I think her beach trip was a success. There were a lot of moments that went into making it memorable. I suspect the altercation with the Canadian geese will be a lifelong memory.
Summer is off to a great Start
May/22/09 09:58 PM
Based on traffic going across the Emerald Isle Bridge this evening, I would say that the tourists have come back to the beach in force. When we drove across the bridge, traffic was slow because of a fender bender that happened just as you come off the bridge onto Emerald Isle.
Even then, traffic was moving smoothly. As soon as we got a whiff of some salt air, the group decided to take the pulse of the town and walk the Bogue Inlet Pier. The pier parking lot was as full as I have seen since last fall. It was a great evening for a walk, and we saw lots of activity on the beach and pier.
Though we saw some nice Spanish mackerel being cleaned, we did not see any fish pulled in while we were on the pier.
My daughter from Northern Virginia was with us, and this turned out to be her first visit to our famous pier. She is a big fan of our quiet and uncrowded beaches so I was curious to find out what she would think of the pier. She finally turned to me and said it was like being at a very laid back party.
I think she hit the nail on the head. From our perch on the pier we could see young children playing in the shallow water, There were also surfers actually catching a wave once in a while. Then there were a number of young couples enjoying walks on the beach and on the pier.
Some older folks like us were on the pier to watch the spectacular sunset that we got this evening as the sun dropped behind the beach houses. While it was cool on the pier, everyone seemed to be having fun. There were people fishing of every imaginable description. I took great pleasure in pointing out to my wife the large number ladies who actually had fishing poles in their hands. Somehow I doubt that it helped my case that she should get a license in case I get a couple of fish on different rigs.
It took us a while to get back to our truck since my wife had to visit with a dog that had just come off of the beach. Cruising back through Emerald Isle confirmed that we are on our way to what looks to be a very good crowd this weekend.
Jordan's and the Dairy Queen both had good crowds. There was so many cars parked in the Food Lion parking lot that we decided to see if Lowe's might have fewer folks so we could sneak in and pick up four or five things. My wife likes to play grocery store roulette which is my term for visiting a grocery store during summer on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
While there was also a good crowd at Lowe's, we decided to give it a try. It actually was not too bad. The exceptions were the aisle with bottled water and the area near the milk. I am glad that I am on Western Carteret Water and do not need bottled water. It looked like a swarm of locusts had consumed all of the water. The milk and junk foods also looked well shopped.
As we were leaving, I thought the crowds looked to be thinning a little. I said something about it to one of the managers. He said that the crowds had been at full force all day, and that it was good things things were slowing since they were starting to run out of some things.
I think almost all residents are excited to have some company here on the beach. Personally I am really happy to see a very good crowd here this weekend. I hope everyone enjoys their time on the beach, and manages to get home safely.
Here are some pictures of our walk on Bogue Inlet pier and some pictures of having fun on the White Oak in our skiff this morning.
It you boat on the White Oak River, you might want to check out my comments about the missing buoy on the river.
I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.
Our Season is on the Horizon
May/18/09 10:03 PM
As I wrote in this post predicting nice weather for the weekend, there are detours along the road to summer. This recent cool weather is one of them. It seems as summer gets closer, I can almost feel the warm wind on me as we head down the Intracoastal Waterway and make the turn to go out Bogue Inlet.
Perhaps being deprived of the chance for some early season boating has made the memories even more vivid. We will soon have days as nice as this one pictured when the sunrise was shining on the shrimp boats at Clyde Phillips (photo taken June 3, 2009).
Already more people are over on the beaches. The changes are coming as beach season arrives.
Even today the Emerald Isle Food Lion, which has slumbered through the last several months, was a beehive of activity for a few minutes. It was just a preview for what we can expect this weekend.
In fact Saturday over on the beach felt like summer to me. There were folks in the water, the sun was hot, and people were having a great time. Gas prices also jumped a few cents over the weekend. It looks like summer is here to me. If we can just make it through one more cool day, to Wednesday, the temperatures will climb back into the seventies. That should get us back on the road to summer.
I am certain that we will not go into summer worrying about drought this year. We have had our fair share of moisture. Gasoline, while rising in price, is still much more reasonably priced that it was last summer. As far as I can tell, aside from the construction to replace the fire damaged Valero gas station on Coast Guard Road, Emerald Isle seems ready for visitors.
The extension of the bike lane a little ways down Coast Guard Road has been completed. The beaches look great. The access to the Point has been repaired, and the pedestrian access is open and ready for bare feet.
Area restaurants have been going steady all season. There are few new ones around, and I am sure that all will be busy this weekend. I have just seen advertising that what was once Gourmet Cafe is now a new Mexican restaurant.
Since last season, Swansboro has completed its new Riverwalk Park. There are now some nice boardwalks down on the north side of Highway 24 by the river. They also have a brand new picnic area just off the parking lot. It is across the road from the First Citizens Bank. I was impressed to see an accessible picnic table which can be used by someone in a wheelchair.
I understand that dredging has been completed over to Hammocks Beach Park on Bear Island. Of course other places have not been dredged. So as usual, boaters need to pay attention. If not they might be doing some pushing to get off of some new sandbars.
During the winter Emerald Isle finished up their accessible ramps at both the Eastern and Western Regional Accesses. Each has a nice platform. If you want to look at beach without getting sand between your toes, the new platforms are just the ticket.
Up Beaufort way, the newly renovated boat ramp and kayak ramp at the far end of Front Street has opened. I have heard that the parking lot has even been paved.
Since last season, we have added a new Harris Teeter grocery store in Morehead City along with a Panera, another Dunkin Donuts, and a Chick-Fil-A. A new Quiznos recently opened in Cape Carteret.
I think that our ducks are all in a row. All we need are visitors and some great weather for them this weekend. For my sake I would like for the fish to be biting on Thursday and Friday of this week. As long as the wind is not blowing, I plan to be fishing then.
That will be a great way for me to personally kick off the summer beach season. It is about time.
Peace on the Beach
May/15/09 10:05 PM
The grocery stores are a little more crowded on the weekend, but really this is the quiet before the storm. The beaches are still virtually empty except on the nice warm weekends which seem to draw a fair number of people who come for the day.
May is stiil a time when one can find plenty of peace and near isolation on the beaches during the week. It has been a busy week for me. I spent much of the week on real estate work including a movie which is a virtual tour for an upcoming listing. After lunch on Friday, I was ready for some beach time. I was fairly sure that we would have the beach to ourselves.
Around 3 PM we loaded the car for the trip. The gear I put in the car was simple but included my favorite lightweight surf rod and my tiny fishing bucket which has a few lures, a pair of pliers, and a fishing glove. A couple of cameras also made the trip with us.
We rarely sit on the beach since both my wife and I prefer to stroll along the water's edge so we did not bother with chairs. The quick trip through Emerald Isle confirmed that there were a few more people in town but nothing serious to cause worry. It was only a few minutes before we drove by the eastern regional beach access and a few drops of rain started hitting the car. I noticed that there were only a couple of cars at the eastern regional access.
Seeing so few cars there practically guaranteed that we would have Third Street Beach to ourselves. The rain kept sputtering on us as we drove further east, but it never got to the point of being serious. However based on the puddles, there had been some substantial rain just before we arrived.
There were just a few very light sprinkles coming down as we turned into the empty parking lot at the beach access. While the rain was a non event as far as I was concerned, my wife announced that rain meant wet sand which would stick to her feet. I rolled my eyes and handed her the keys to the car. Then I strolled over to the beach.
She headed off for a walk along the shore road. Just as I was walking onto the beach, a young father walked into the parking lot with his three year old daughter. While I proceeded a little east along the beach until I found water that looked right, they set up shop directly down from the access point.
I was actually happy to see them. Watching youngsters experience the pure delight of playing in sand and water, is something that always brings a smile to my face.
I took my camera out of my pocket and snapped a couple pictures to get a feel for the light and scenery. Then I attached a gold Gotcha lure to my line and started flipping the lure into the water just inside the sandbars where the waves were breaking. I actually was not expecting to catch anything. I just wanted to get my feet in the water and do a little casting.
That is exactly what I did. While the little girl played in the water and built sand castles, I focused on working the water in front of me. I did not see any signs of fish, but the ocean water was warm on my bare feet, and the gentle roar of the waves was the only sound that I could hear. My wife even called me on my cell phone, and I did not hear it ring.
I probably fished in the same general area for twenty minutes or so before deciding that the picture I wanted to take for this post was probably a little farther west on the beach. I gathered up my tackle bucket and waded past the little girl and her father. We exchanged some beach chat as I headed to my new position on the beach.
I fished a few more minutes while waiting for a little more of the sky to go from clouds to blue. Then I snapped twenty or thirty pictures so I could have some nice choices for this post.
After the photos, I briefly considered switching lures, but since I had seen no birds feeding or schools of fish, I decided to make a few more casts and call it a day. I noticed my wife had been watching me for a few minutes from the safety of a picnic table surrounded by decking.
It was not long before I made my way up the stairs to the picnic table. My wife asked why I was giving up so easily. I think I mentioned something about being nicely refreshed and headed to the car to load my fishing rod and camera for the trip home. I noticed that the dad and his little girl had been close on my heels when I left the beach. They walked through the parking lot to the rental house across the street.
I was refreshed as I told my wife, but a better description would be cleansed. I had forgotten about some frustrations from the week. My mind had moved on to some new thoughts, mostly about fishing. When we went by Jordan's Restaurant and the Fairway Restaurant, I noticed that the evening crowds were starting to build.
As we drove home, I wondered if there might be time to sneak in a short kayak trip out into the river before dark.
As luck would have it, dinner was a frozen flatbread pizza which quickly cooked in the oven. About ten minutes after seven PM, I slid my kayak into the water and started the short paddle out to the White Oak River. Our inlet was very peaceful, but by the time I got into the White Oak, there were some fairly serious waves for a kayak, dark clouds, and a strong wind coming in from the ocean. I managed to hold my position in our boat channel for fifteen minutes while I hoped for a spectacular sunset.
It was not meant to be. The sun stayed far behind the clouds so I quickly turned and paddled back to our dock. I had not even bothered to make a single cast with my fishing rod which always makes the trip in the kayak. In the space of a few hours, I felt like I had been in three different climate zones, beach, inlet, and river. They were not very far apart in distance, but the beach and inlet were far more pleasant than the river.
As I was putting my gear away for the evening, my thoughts drifted back to the peace that I found on the beach. It was definitely the highlight of my day. The memory looked even better transposed against the waves, wind, and dark clouds that I found on the White Oak.
I am going to hope for a fine beach sunset tomorrow night. I think waiting for that with my feet in the warm salt water might be a good way to end a Saturday. Who knows I might even catch a fish?
Some of my Favorite Things
May/12/09 10:07 PM
I actually enjoy mowing my yard as long as all the grass is long enough to tell where I have just mowed. If you have centipede grass, you will be able to relate to my feelings. It is a little strange enjoying mowing, but once in a while it brings back memories of days when I mowed acres and acres of hay fields.
Then just as now getting the job done brings a sense of accomplishment that makes you feel good. There are plenty of easier things along the Crystal Coast that can make you feel good. One of my favorite diversions is to drive across the bridge to Emerald Isle. There are times when I wish I could pull over and stop at the top just to gaze at the Intracoastal Waterway.
The beauty of Bogue Sound always inspires me. I also have some favorite things that are less grand than Bogue Sound.
One of them is fresh local strawberries. We have been enjoying berries for a while now, but today my wife declared that it was time to put up the freezer jam for the next year. At one time we canned, froze, pickled, and put away much of our food. Today we grow tomatoes and always try to put up some strawberry freezer jam.
That is about it. There is nothing like strawberry freezer jam to bring back memories of summer on a cold winter day. We had enough strawberries today to have strawberry shortcake. The homemade shortcake was still warm from the oven when we had our dessert.
High on my list of favorite things is kayaking in the White Oak River. On a day when the winds are calm, I can stay out there for hours just exploring, taking pictures, and occasionally pretending that I am fishing. Once in a while, I will catch something, but most of the time I just relax and let the beautiful scenery burn its image into my memory.
Of course I love walking along the beaches. My favorite beach for walking is just to the east of the Point. I love the huge expanses of sand. I also enjoy Third Street beach when I am in a mood for looking at shells.
Perhaps one of my most favorite things is finding an island in Bogue Inlet and surf fishing from it. Beaching the skiff and then anchoring it just off the island while we fish is just lots of fun. Having a whole island to wander with only one other person is a great way to enjoy the ocean.
Being in real estate gives me some opportunities that others might not have. An example would be taking pictures for an oceanfront listing. I have caught myself sitting in one of those oceanfront rocking chairs and imaging waking up to a sunrise on the shore.
Some smaller pleasures that I enjoy almost every day are walking out on my dock to check the tide. I enjoy the mirror images of the trees in the water. I also spend time on our deck which looks out to the White Oak River. The wonderful summer breezes from the White Oak and warm morning sun can almost put one in a trance. I can often watch white herons feeding or like today see a hawk in close pursuit of some prey. The jumping mullet seem always to be around.
Then there is one of my greatest pleasures, the first homegrown tomato sandwich of the year. We are rapidly closing on that event. With favorable weather, it could happen as early the first of June. I can almost taste it now.
Waiting for the Winds to Die Down
May/05/09 10:10 PM
People visiting the beaches on a windy day can get some minor sand blasting. Areas farther inland will often get seriously warm while we have enough of a breeze to make things very comfortable sometimes even cool.
We get some days when it seems like our summer weather pattern is close to being established, and then the winds start blowing again. It becomes a waiting and guessing game. When will the winds finally drop down so we can enjoy the area waters and beaches? It is a question that gets asked each year.
Saturday, May 9, was about as nice a late spring day as you could ask for along the Crystal Coast. The temperatures were in the upper seventies. The sky was blue, and there was not a hint of severe weather during the day.
All was nearly perfect except for the winds which were steady all day long. The winds did not stop us from our yard work. In fact the winds made our chores more pleasant. I even washed our car and truck. Drying them off was easy since the winds did most of the work.
Yet the White Oak River was far too stirred up to venture out in our skiff. The white caps that I could see from my deck also made it clear that kayaking would not be fun. I did notice some people going to the subdivision pool, but I generally like to do my swimming after the weather has settled into the mid eighties for a few days. Years of living in the north have made me a little slow about jumping into the water before June.
Eventually we decided to go over to the beach in spite of the winds. My guess was that it was too windy for many people to be there. I actually was hoping to record some wave sounds for a little movie project that I am doing. Lots of people would spoil my opportunity so I was hoping for an uncrowded and relatively empty beach.
On our way to the beach we made a slight detour and stopped by Clyde Phillip's seafood. I have been craving some home cooked flounder. With no opportunity to fish, I put myself in a corner. Buying a nice one at just a little over two pounds was the only way to get flounder in the pan. After the experts had turned it into four boneless fillets and iced it down, we resumed our beach trip.
On the way over we noticed a sign at Captain Sam's Seafood. They were advertising fresh shrimp. A week ago they were still working on their boat, but it appears they have been out and come back with the first of the 2009 shrimp for the area. That is a positive sign.
Our trip through Emerald Isle confirmed that our weekend visitors are still coming. The Emerald Isle police had a car and a motorcycle pulled over just before Emerald Plantation. The porch of Jordan's was packed with diners waiting to get into the restaurant.
It did not take us long to get to the Eastern Regional Access. I was really surprised to see a pretty good weekend crowd for this time of year. People seemed to be ignoring the wind. There were actually some people in the water up to their knees.
It would not have been my perfect beach day, but I guess if you are visiting, you have to take the weather that you are dealt, and today was sunny and warm in spite of the wind.
After meeting a couple of Siberian huskies coming off the beach with their owners, we headed back home to wait for a better beach day. There was no reason for us not to be picky, the closer beach spots are less than ten minutes from home. Still the trip was not a failure. I did get a few nice pictures including the one at the top of the post.
Our trip back to Bluewater Cove did not take long. Shortly after we got home, I was dropping some flounder into the frying pan. Pan fried flounder is a southern classic which always makes we wonder why the winds will not stop blowing so I can go flounder fishing.
If some of our local experts are to be believed, the winds should stop by the end of May. I am counting on that.
Walking a Beach
May/03/09 10:12 PM
The first is whether there are fewer people to the east of me or to the west. I always lean towards the less crowded areas. Our beaches on the Crystal Coast run east west.
My second thought has to do with light. I prefer to walk with the sun to my back when I first start out. The color in pictures is easier to control and that lets me walk back into a sunset on our return if we time things correctly.
If I have a conflict between number of people on the beach and sun at my back, I usually walk with the sun at my back. Beyond picking your direction on the beach, you also have to decide where in relation to the water you will walk.
Deciding how near to the water you will walk often provides some quick personal information. Assuming the water is anywhere close to warm, I will walk in the water since I do not mind getting wet. Actually I like to get wet, and in warm weather I am often in a bathing suit with a towel back at the car. I use the towel to keep my car seat dry. When it is really warm, I often go for a quick swim. It is not a surprise that I am a fisherman.
My wife dislikes getting wet but loves to look at shells. She often walks just a few feet above where the waves are reaching. She also does not like the sand to stick to her feet. If she keep her feet dry, she can easily brush the sand off. If the weather is hot enough for her to get her feet wet, she will likely have chosen a beach which provides water to clean the sand from your feet. My wife loves the beach, but she would prefer that the sand stay on the beach.
While I enjoy looking at shells, I would much rather see some bluefish chasing menhaden in the surf. The possibility of that happening would explain the fishing rod that is sometimes my companion on beach walks. I end up looking like the ultimate tourist with camera around my neck and a fishing rod over by shoulder.
The great thing about the beach is that you can look like a tourist and not feel bad about it. Our beaches are all about enjoying the beach while not worrying about how you look.
You do not make many trips along the beach before you figure out that it is ever changing. The beach you walk on tonight might be gone tomorrow and replaced with one which feels totally different.
Sometimes the beach sand almost sucks your feet into it. Other times it feels like soft sandy pavement. Often you can be walking and watch as the beach changes character right in front of your eyes. As the water drains from the sand, the beach become firm. As the water saturates sand filled with shells, the beach becomes challenging for walkers.
We see all kinds of people walking on the beach. There are the first timers who have just rolled up their blue jeans and are barely getting their toes damp. The tanned year round residents are often in sun bleached clothing and walking for exercise.
The young children are the most fun to watch. It does not take them long to figure out that sand and water create almost unlimited opportunities for fun. The only creature better adapted to a beach would be a water loving dog, There is nothing more entertaining than watching a Labrador retriever get wet in the surf and then search out the driest and finest sand for a nice dust bath. The beach is a spa for many dogs.
Wind also changes the beach. I can remember walking near the point last year after a very windy period. All the light sand had been blown into hard packed dunes. You could walk on hard-packed sand, and your footprints hardly showed. The wind had also sculpted the beach into areas where the sand was coarse, very hard packed, and red in color. Some pictures towards the end of this slide show illustrate that.
I have seen people who love to walk in the wet almost mud like sand of the beaches to the exclusion of all the other types of sand. I figure those folks just love the feel of wet sand between their toes.
Most of all I enjoy walking the beach and staying on that line which goes from wet to almost dry back to wet with each wave. The walking is usually great at that line. My feet stay wet, and I catch the odd wave to remind me that I am on the beach and subject to getting wet at almost any time.
The only thing close to being as relaxing as walking on a beach is watching a sunset while kayaking.
By the time I walk back through the fine white sand, you often find just as you enter a beach, I have enough sand on me to earn a disapproving look from my wife. While she is used to me by now, she had to keep up appearances in spite of being very mellow after a nice beach walk.
Treat yourself to a beach walk this week, but do not use my words as a guide. Make sure that you write up your own manual for beach walks. After all, you might just be defined by the way you walk the beach.
Still Room at the Table
Apr/28/09 10:15 PM
One of the things that attracted us to Carteret County was the relative lack of crowds. During most of the year, Carteret County has about 114 people per square mile. That compares to 2,636 people per square mile in Fairfax County, Virginia is where I spent most of my corporate working years. It a huge difference.
Actually the difference is even bigger than that since the people per square is calculated using just the county's land area. If you added in the county's over 821 square miles of water, our population density drops to 44 people per square mile.
While we have very few people living on the water all the time, we have lots of people who spend a considerable amount of time on the water. If space, freedom from crowds, and the ability to lose yourself on the water or a beach are important to you, the Crystal Coast has space for you, but there is more than that to it.
There is actually a seat at the table for you in Carteret County. By that I mean that we are small enough communities that you can be more than a face in the crowd. You can be someone who is recognized at the grocery store or whom the waitresses remember.
There are not a lot of layers of government here. Carteret County also functions mostly through small businesses. Lots of times, the person behind the counter or planting your palm tree might be the owner, son of the owner, or someone who has worked in the same business for years.
On the flip side of this, most people here in the county give others a fair amount of space. If you want to be left alone, that will not be a problem. If you want to find a spot to hide, there are plenty of cul de sacs where your closest neighbors will be herons and pine trees.
While people are extremely friendly when they stop to talk and drop into your world, they just as quickly can move out of your world and walk on down the beach.
We end up exchanging a fair amount of pleasantries along the beach, but I have never felt like I intruded upon or bothered another person. There is something about being beside the ocean that lets you be momentary friends as waves crash on the beach. Yet just as a wave expends itself and heads back out to sea so also do our temporary friends have a few words and then disappear down the beach.
It is definitely not like being on city street. Making eye contact and saying something just does not seem threatening on the beach.
Right now we are in an in between period. Our visitors this time of year mostly come down on the weekends sometimes adding a day or two to make a long weekend. There is more traffic over on the island on the weekends, but there certainly are no crowds.
As we get closer to June, we will start seeing more vacationers. Eventually the grocery stores will be pretty crowded from Fridays through Sundays. We will end up dodging some of our favorite restaurants during their busiest times.
It is a rhythm that is pretty easy to take. In the summer months we end up doing most of our boating during the weekdays. We often hit the beaches in the afternoons just as the serious beach lovers are departing. Going out to dinner on a Friday or a Saturday night at the busiest times will likely wait for a few weeks until the peak of the tourist season passes by in mid-August.
Then as Labor Day rolls around, we will pick some late season visitors with younger children. After that surge, aside for the fishermen, we are back to having all of the space to ourselves.
We are glad to have summer visitors because they keep our businesses running. Still it is nice to have plenty of elbow room back each fall. It is great to have crowds who leave before they become permanent.
The tourist season helps Carteret County continue to be a very attractive place for those of us who enjoy a night sky without a lot of additional light beyond the stars.
We get the benefits of a summer influx of people without having to take care of them all year. It ends up helping us have services and businesses that might not be justified by our year around population. It works out well for tourists and locals.
Time to Stick Your Toes in the Water
Apr/25/09 01:53 PM
The water temperatures are still in the sixties so we got a cooling breeze off the water for most of the day. I suspect we barely made it to eighty.
Today's warm temperatures were still a real treat. Before we made it over to the beach, I managed to go kayaking. In spite of a strong headwind, I paddled out to the White Oak River with little difficulty.
However, it appeared challenging enough with the wind blowing so hard that a neighbor, who was headed out in a powerboat, offered to give me a tow. I declined since I always enjoy my kayaking exercise.
Besides as it turned out it would have been a quick trip to nowhere since my neighbors only made it to the first buoy before turning around because of the choppy conditions.
My trip back in the kayak was a lot of fun and required almost no paddling. All I had to do was stick a paddle in the water to occasionally guide the kayak.
Since my kayaking trip was cut so short, I convinced my wife that a walk on the beach was in order. We headed over to the beach and drove from Emerald Isle towards the eastern regional access.
I was surprised to see so many parked cards at the Eastern Regional access point. We decided to head on to "our private beach," the Third Street beach. It was deserted as usual. In fact we looking as far as we could see, there was no one to the left or right of the beach access.
Our real reasons for going to beach were so my wife could look for seashells, and I could take a few pictures. Third Street is actually a much better shelling beach than Eastern Regional Access. As is often the case, I managed to get my bare feet wet pretty quickly. While there was a little initial shock from the April waters, it did not take long for my feet to get adjusted and cooled by he surf. Still it is a little too early to get seriously wet.
A pretty good breeze was also blowing along the coast so we did not stay very long on the beach. We headed home where I managed enough early evening energy to grill some chicken for a salad that my wife had planned to serve for dinner.
After the grilling got started, I opened a browser on my computer only to see some amazing temperatures. It is not often you see temperatures in the ninety along the I95 corridor this early in the year. After enjoying our brief time over on the shore so much, I guessed that a lot of people north and west of us would love a few minutes on the beach to cool their bodies and warm their souls like we had done.
Tonight the air has once again cooled into the sixties, It is perfect sleeping weather, and I have many of our windows up. It won't be long before the house is chilled just enough so the covers will feel nice.
It is my one of my favorite times of year. If you have not planned your 2009 beach vacation, now is the time to get it done. Come early. The azaleas are still blooming, the local strawberries are ripe, and we will soon have the first of this year's fresh shrimp.
Finally an Afternoon on the Water
Apr/24/09 01:56 PM
A little after eleven AM this morning we pulled away from the dock behind our house. A few minutes later I was reeling in the first fish of the season. I was excited even though my first fish was a small croaker that I immediately threw back.
It was not the last croaker of the morning. We must have caught close to twenty of them. They were all too small for anything besides bait. But for a few minutes, we were having a lot of fun just being on the water under blue skies on the relatively quiet waters of the White Oak.
It was just great to be out on the water without a jacket and with the knowledge that the water temperature was in the sixties.
Many of us live along the Crystal Coast just because it is easy to get out on the water. About the only thing that keeps us off the water is cold weather, heavy rain or winds.
This year we have had all three. We made one attempt at fishing on the river in March. The air was relatively warm that day, but the cold water kept us chilled.
Friday, April 24, was a nice warm day with almost no clouds. It was a nearly perfect day to enjoy the out of doors.
It did not start that way. When I first got up in the morning, I thought we were in trouble. The fog was impressive. You could not even see the river from our house which normally has a great view of the White Oak. Fortunately the fog was a temporary situation.
A little after ten AM, I headed off to get some shrimp for bait and some ice for the coolers. Before I left, I happened to notice that our high tide was a little less that I like to see it. I made a mental note that I needed to be back from fishing before 3 PM if I wanted to get the skiff back on our lift.
My trip to Clyde Phillips confirmed that we are still eating and using frozen shrimp for a while longer. The guys behind the counter said that fresh shrimp were still a few days in the future. On the way home, I stopped for ice at one of the ice vending machines.
While I was loading up the boat, my wife fixed a couple of roast beef sandwiches from her latest crock pot roast. My fishing buddy, Dean, showed up, and after packing a few more things, we headed towards the White Oak.
The night before when I called to plan our trip, we had decided to fish one of our favorite holes just outside Bluewater Cove which is near Hancock Point. We had some great luck there last fall. Friday morning we had our nice run of croakers, but they did not last very long so we pulled the anchor and headed to Swansboro harbor.
I am pleased to report that the buoys marking the channel down the White Oak are in good shape. Everything seems to be where it should be. The big red buoy just before the bridge is missing, but that is it.
There were only a couple of boats in the harbor. After a few casts while drifting in the harbor, we decided to try in the marshes on the south side of the Intracoastal. It is one of my favorite spots for a number of reasons. It is often sheltered from the wind. You can usually catch an interesting mix of fish, and if the fish are not biting, there are lots of birds to watch. We got several hits but did not land anything. Someone who had been fishing in the area motored by and told us he had only gotten one trout which was too small to keep. Since we were not having any luck and the tide was rapidly falling, we decided to head back to our home dock.
It was a great trip back up the White Oak, We had the wind at our back so it was a smooth ride. We did have to pull up just before we got to Red 16 where we turn for Bluewater Cove. Someone had anchored in the middle of the channel. It is hard to believe some folks have so little concern for other boaters.
While we were only out for three or four hours, it was just the kind of spring tonic that I needed. Since we did not use all our shrimp, my wife and I turned them into a meal of shrimp and grits. I know that I will sleep like a baby after all that fresh air and a great meal.
We are already planning our next boat trip which will likely take us to Bogue Inlet. It will be the first of many this year.
The picture in today's post was taken from the marshes on the south side of the Intracoastal behind Dudley's Marina but looking towards Casper's Marina.
Crystal Coast Treasures
Apr/22/09 01:59 PM
The idea for the post came to me while driving up Highway 58 this afternoon when I saw the sign that the local strawberries were ripe at Buck's Corner Farm.
It occurred to me that in the few years that we have been living here, there have been some special things have made life on the Crystal Coast unique.
Having local farm fresh strawberries in the month of April happens to one of those things which I treasure. For many years we lived along Canada's Atlantic coast. Strawberries were something that you hoped for the first week in July.
The idea that strawberries could ripe in April was completely foreign since the ground often still had some snow on it in April. There are a lot of other Crystal Coast treasures.
After we picked out a big box of strawberries, we headed off for another of the area's special treats, fresh shrimp. We stopped at Captain Sam's in Cedar Point.
Given all the wind we have seen for the last few weeks, I was not surprised that they have not been out shrimping yet. We settled for some frozen shrimp from last season, but I know we will see some fresh shrimp in the next few weeks. A bowl of chilled shrimp, freshly prepared and local caught, are really hard to beat.
I suspect my next local treasure is going to cause some chuckles, but to me it is as much as part of the area as shrimp. You can actually buy them in hardware stores and even the drug store over in Beaufort. If you have not guessed yet, that treat happens to be the locally prepared peanuts that are done by Swansboro Methodist men. We have friends who enjoyed them while visiting. They take some home and the next thing we know they will call us and ask us to bring peanuts when we travel back to Roanoke, VA.
Now I might disappoint some folks but not naming collards as a local treasure, but I do believe that Bogue Sound watermelons qualify as local treats. We try to get at least a couple to enjoy each year. We have also taken them back to Virginia for Fourth of July parties. The watermelons are something the area can justly be proud of producing.
Not all Crystal Coast treasures are food. I think the White Oak River qualifies as a treasure along with Bogue Inlet. Both are very unique in their own ways. I have wonderful memories that both have created.
Of course one of my absolute favorite area treasures is the Point at Emerald Isle. It is unique in many respects and ever changing as we all know. I fished there with my late uncle over 40 years ago when you could only get there by lots of four wheel driving.
Then there are the azaleas that seem to thrive here along the coast. I think I saw an azalea today about one half the size of a house. While the color they bring lasts just a week or two, it certainly is the most color that we see in the spring.
Of course I could continue and come up with a few events that should included, but I will save that for another post. Today the strawberries and azaleas are at the forefront.
Actually I think that I will go have another strawberry before I slide into bed.
On Being the Local Experts for Visitor
Apr/19/09 02:02 PM
There is nothing mysterious about the situation, people love to travel, especially when there is a beach in the area. Having a personal tour guide makes the trip even better. If you add the prospect of some fresh seafood, and great weather after a cold winter, the idea of visiting your old neighbors becomes irresistible.
We love having company from places we have lived previously. Often you end up getting to know people better when they come to visit than you knew them when they were neighbors. So far we have only had positive experiences. Perhaps details of a recent visit we hosted will show how much fun can be had by everyone.
Having guests come visit requires that you get out and learn your area. Most visitors come with little idea of what to do and depend on you for almost all their ideas. We have developed a number of activities that are suitable for guests. A lot depends on the individual guests, what they want to do, and sometimes what they can do.
Recently one of my college roommates came for visit. We started their visit by meeting them in New Bern for lunch. My friend is in a wheel chair so we had do a little extra planning, but things worked out very well. We arrived a few minutes ahead of them so we could find some nearby accessible parking. By communicating with our cell phones, as they came down Middle Street in New Bern, I stepped out, flagged them down and pointed them towards a nearby parking spot.
We had already checked that Captain Ratty's had a table that would work, so we were instantly seated, and it did not take long before my friend and I were enjoying a delicious appetizer of lightly fried oysters. The rest of the meal went very well. After visiting a few shops, we headed off to take advantage of this past weekend's free admission to the Tryon Palace gardens. Again we had talked to folks in the Welcome Center ahead of time to make certain we could navigate a wheel chair through gardens without any problems. We had a great time looking at the flower gardens and the vegetable gardens. We even browsed a plant sale that was taking place.
Around five pm after the ladies had checked out the palace gift shop, we got on the road to Beaufort where I had recommended our guests stay. We often have friends stay with us, but unfortunately we do not have a ramp for a wheel chair. After my friend and his wife checked into the Beaufort Inn, we headed off for quick tour of town and then dinner.
After perusing the specials on menus along Front Street, we picked an old favorite, Spouter's, for dinner. Both my roommate and I chose the fried soft shell crabs. Not only were they lightly breaded and perfectly cooked, but they were also huge. They were some of the best that I have ever enjoyed. The two ladies had pasta and bouillabaisse and were both impressed with their entrees.
After dinner my wife and I headed back to Cape Carteret with plans in hand to meet the next morning. We were back in Beaufort Saturday morning by 10:30 am. We wandered around Beaufort until the ladies struck gold in a book sale being conducted by the Beaufort Library. While they filled bags with books, we headed off to visit the Publick Day at the Beaufort Historical Site. After checking that out, we headed back to the book sale where without any surprise we found the ladies were still shopping.
We decided to head on to the Maritime Museum while they finished filling their bags with books. About half way through the museum, they managed to catch up with us. As always, we really enjoyed the museum. It never fails to be a treat, and our friends were very impressed with it. After the museum we had a somewhat forgettable meal by the water in Beaufort. When visiting a small restaurant where you have not eaten in a while, you can end up being a little disappointed or pleasantly surprised. We usually will not take visitors to a restaurant unless we have eaten there in the last three months. However, our plans changed at the last minute, and we took a gamble that did not work out. I knew that we should have gone for fried clams at the Crab Shack in Salter Path.
After lunch we headed off for a quick car tour of Fort Macon where we saw several folks dressed as Civil War soliders. It is a good thing that we had not planned to stop since there appeared to be no parking places. We continued on down the beach, stopping at a couple of locations to enjoy the waves.
We had offered our friends the choice of visiting the Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores or going for a hike to the sound at Emerald Woods. They chose the Emerald Woods trail. It turned out to be one of their favorite parts of the trip. The full trail all the way down to sound is completely accessible. My wife did worry when I took my roommate and his wheel chair onto the dock, but we were fine. He really enjoyed the opportunity to take some photos right on the water.
After that we gave them a tour of Bluewater Cove where we live and Swansboro. We tried one of our favorite fancy restaurants, but the wait was over an hour. We ended up at our favorite local spot, The Fairway. Our meals were exceptional and our friends were very pleased.
As we rode back with them to Beaufort to gather our car, it was obvious that they had enjoyed their visit to our little piece of paradise. We were very happy the weather cooperated and gave us two near perfect days. We have been at Tryon Palace when it is hot so we were very pleased by the almost perfect temperatures there.
When my wife and I drove back from Beaufort to Cape Carteret later in the evening, we started planning where to take one of my cousins and his wife who are spending the night with us this Thursday.
We enjoy being hosts, especially when our guests leave with a new appreciation of the Crystal Coast and nearby attractions. Showing people what a wonderful place the Crystal Coast is remains high on my list of good fun.