What Do Residents of the Crystal Coast Do For Fun?

Living in the land of vacations is actually a lot like living in paradise. There is always something great to do. One of the reasons people come here for vacations is that we have fantastic weather and plenty of things to do. While some residents maintain that they never go to the beach, there are plenty of us who go to the beach every chance that we get. I worked on Sunday, so this Monday was part of my weekend. With sunshine, blue skies and warm temperatures, the beach quickly got on our agenda today. I was beginning to feel a little disconnected with the beach since my toes had not been in warm salt water for over a week.

After a morning of biking, swimming, kayaking, and fishing, we ate a late lunch and and around 4 pm headed out to do some errands. If was so nice out that after a stop by the office, we decided to postpone our errands and go to the beach before any rain arrived.

A trip to the beach for us this time of the season usually means driving down the island. After crossing the bridge to Emerald Isle, we drove another six miles down the beach to the Eastern Regional Access.

We often go there during the peak summer months since it is rarely crowded. After Labor Day, we usually switch to the Western Regional Access. When the weather cools down a little, we will often switch to the beaches near the Point. Those beaches require a little hike so we tend to go there when the weather is nice for hiking.

Today when we arrived at the Eastern Regional Access, it was uncrowded as usual. There were a few people on the beach from the nearby condos, but there were less than ten cars in the parking lot at just after 5 pm.

My wife prefers the Eastern and Western Regional Accesses purely because they both have water to wash your feet after you come off the beach.

Today once on the beach we headed east along the beach towards Salter Path. We watched someone land a small fish, I took some pictures, and we said hello to a couple of well-mannered dogs. Somehow we both managed to get our legs wet. My managing to get wet is a little like a Labrador retriever somehow managing to find a person to throw a ball.

It was a relaxing time on the beach. We always keep our beach chairs in the car, but it was just a little warm for my taste so we didn't haul them down. Usually when we go to the trouble of hauling the chairs down to the beach, I end up swimming. Since I had already logged several laps in a near perfect pool this morning, swimming in today's big swells didn't appeal to me.

After the beach we headed to Dudley's Marina to fill my gas cans for our boat. On the way back from Dudley's we stopped Winberry's Produce stand to get some corn on the cob and another Bogue Sound watermelon.

We love the small seedless ones since a single one makes for two good watermelon meals for us. We were home in time to watch the six o'clock news and weather. Our whole expedition from our home in Bluewater Cove including the beach walk and other stops only lasted about an hour and forty-five minutes.

That's one of the great things about living here. No one is very far from water.

It was a really nice way to finish the day. Next time I am taking my swim suit.