A Week at Ocean Isle Beach, Part 2

Myrtle Beach is about an hour away from Ocean Isle, so we decided to make an afternoon of it. Paul had been there as a kid, but not me or the kids. I wanted to see what it was all about.

We got there about 2 p.m., accompanied by gray clouds and a few sprinkles. We walked the boardwalk, got ice cream and Italian ices and stopped in some souvenir stores. That was enough of Myrtle Beach for me.

On the return trip to Ocean Isle, we made a slight detour to the Calabash Seafood Hut, sharing a large platter of fish, clams, oysters, shrimp, fries, hush puppies, coleslaw and a stuffed crab. Delicious. It was a feast we shared on an outdoor picnic table, and then under an awning when it began to rain.

The remainder of the trip was more of the same -- swimming, sand and fun, followed by a long 10+ hour drive home to put an end to our first family beach vacation.

Credit (and many thanks) to Kathryn for this photo!

Credit (and many thanks) to Kathryn for this photo!

Credit (and many thanks) to Kathryn for this photo!

Paul playing Frisbee with a friend.

A Week at Ocean Isle Beach, Part 1

Paul and I have taken a lot of different types of vacations -- cities, cruises, a dozen or so countries. But last week's trip was truly one of a kind.

Last week we shared a 12-room beach house with about 50 other people, fairly evenly split between adults and kids. We are good friends with two of the other families, had met an additional two and had never set eyes on any of the others.

Wow.

The duplex was steps from the sand at Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. Six families (or group of friends) stayed on each side of the house, with separate kitchen and living areas, but a shared deck and pool.

Our house, right on the beach.

View from the beach house in one direction ...

... and the other.

It was amazing. We would often spend the morning in the ocean or the pool, back for lunch, and then while away the afternoon in the opposite. After the kids were in bed, the adults would talk on the deck, play games or watch movies. And nearly everyone had a drink in their hand each night! My favorite parts of the trip were the late nights, and my least favorite parts were the early mornings that followed.

Both the kids and Paul and I made so many friends, and we all came home a deeper shade of brown (or pink!). The photos below are from the first half of the trip, and next week I'll follow with photos from the second half, including our afternoon in Myrtle Beach.

Atticus called these his "whistle chips."

Prince Edward Island Beaches

At Basin Head Beach

Our visits to a few of the beaches of Prince Edward Island were hit-or-miss.

Almost the first thing we did on our first full day on the island was visit Dalvay by the Sea (known as the White Sands Hotel in the "Anne of Green Gables" movie, and for Prince William and Kate's stay there after their marriage).

Dalvay by the Sea

At Dalvay by the Sea

We drove through part of Prince Edward Island National Park on the way there and parked our car to walk along a couple of beaches. Truth be told, however, I was pretty miserable. It was cold and extremely windy, and I had a slight earache by the time we returned to our vehicle. Luckily no other beaches were on our itinerary the rest of the day; we had only to try our luck during the remainder of the vacation.

And luck was on our side. The next day, after visiting the "Anne" sites, we stopped to get our feet wet at Cavendish Beach. It was a much better day for flitting about the sand. The sun was warm -- hot even - and wading in the cool, salty water felt nice. Paul enjoyed skipping stones -- there were plenty of flat ones about, and the multitude of waves made the actual skipping nearly inevitable.

Paul at Cavendish Beach

Cavendish Beach

The next and last day on Prince Edward Island was our true beach day. We made a couple of stops that day in Greenwich and East Point (more about those places in a future post), but our major destination was Basin Head Beach, also known as Singing Sands. However, the sand doesn't so much sing as squeak when you walk on it just right.

We stayed about two-and-a-half hours. Although I had my swimsuit on, I'm not sure much above my knees got wet. Although currents supposedly make Prince Edward Island beaches the warmest north of the Carolinas, it still felt pretty cold to me. Paul did take a dip or two, but I made myself comfy in the sand with a paperback.

With our visit to Basin Head, we ended up saving the best and most scenic of the beaches we visited for last:

Beach vacations aren't really my cup of tea. I don't like cold water, and I'm not a big fan of heat or getting tan (even at Basin Head I enjoyed myself more when we set up camp in a shady spot). I must admit, however, that our last day at the beach made for a relaxing end of the vacation. And there's nothing like an endless expanse of water before you to remind you of how small you really are.

Water Taxi Beach: Sand, But No Swimming

Sand. Skeeball. Drinks. Did I mention sand?

That's all it took to convince me and a group of coworkers to visit Water Taxi Beach at the South Street Seaport on Friday.

It's an easy walk from work, but I'd never been. But a beach on the banks of the East River was intriguing, although you can't actually swim there-- even if you'd want to. In fact, a fence separates all beach-goers from the river (leading one co-worker to speculate that kids visiting Water Taxi Beach would grow up without the slightest idea that -- gasp! -- beaches are actually for swimming!).

To paraphrase another co-worker, Water Taxi Beach is little more than a few truckloads of Home Depot sand spread thin. It couldn't have been more than a few inches before you'd hit concrete. But that didn't stop the kids from making sandcastles or me from flopping off my sandals and digging my feet in the sand.



The beach is practically in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, with good views of the Manhattan Bridge and, even further out, the Williamsburg Bridge. Manhattan lies on one side of the river, Brooklyn on the other. As an almost-full moon rose above the bridges, the night seemed almost magical-- if it weren't for the bright blue and orange neon palm trees lining the beach.



Despite the sights, the $5 cover and poor selection of adequate drinks means this isn't a destination I'd choose every weekend. But I'd willingly return and stake out another picnic table. And maybe next time I'll actually play skeeball.