A Day At The Beach

Beaufort   

It was a beautiful morning and warm enough (for January). We put on our light jackets and excitedly left Crossroads for a day trip. While walking the dock to the parking lot, we saw our favorite little bird swimming alongside us. We have been captivated by this small, chunky black and white bird for days. It doesn't really have a tail or neck and has a stubby little bill. Most interesting, however, is that it dives and swims underwater like a penguin. It is loads of fun to watch. Plugging all these characteristics into Google, we identified it as a Dovekie, an off-shore winter visitor that is related to the puffin. Once in the car we headed south through Morehead City on US 70 with the required stops at West Marine and Harbor Freight for a few supplies. We then hopped over to Highway 24, skirted the Croatan National Forest, and passed by more Dollar Generals than I could keep track of before crossing over the ICW/Bogue Sound to Emerald Isle. 

Neither Barry nor I had ever visited the Bogue Banks so we figured we'd start our trip at The Point, the southernmost tip of the island ... only to find there was no parking or beach access. We were surprised by the large berms and hills that were covered with thick green vegetation. The canopies of twisted live oaks formed privacy screens between the road and private residences. We were not surprised by the density of houses, built property line to property line, or the amount of ongoing construction. The traffic must be insane and bumper to bumper in the summer. We pulled into The Inn and took the adjacent boardwalk through the dune to the beach. The view was incredible and the beach was wide at low tide. I was drawn to walk the surf zone where there were plenty of shells laying on the sand.  

The low lapping waves terminated as foam. Barry reminded me that we had other places to visit and I returned to the boardwalk, but had to take one last look back through the sea oats. We made a quick detour into the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores just to check it out. We'll visit it on another day.

The next town north was Atlantic Beach. We made our way to a spot recommended by my Aunt Wrenn and took the short walk to the beach. Wow. The sand was covered in shells and the Oceanana Fishing Pier was an easy walk away. The ocean was perfectly flat and several boats were enjoying a spectacular travel day. Yes, we were wishing we were out there saying, "50 hours to Florida."

I started collecting shells, but quickly found that I couldn't carry the shells and take pictures at the same time. What to do? I set my shells down in a little pile and continued to the pier which stretches nearly 1,000 feet into the ocean. 

Shore birds walked alongside me as the sun made its way toward the horizon. I came back with as many shells as I could carry. It was a nice start to filling my 2024 shell bowl. The day was fleeting, but we still wanted to make one last stop at Fort Macon. We parked, made a quick trip around the fort and agreed we'd come back another day to take the tour and see all of the exhibits. 

As we crossed back over the Beaufort Highrise Bridge, I commented that I might miss tonight's sunset. Thankfully, when I got back to Crossroads the show was just beginning. 

It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day. Life takes you down many paths, but the best ones lead to the beach.