Kids at the Beach

Kids LOVE the beach. What a great family vacation! It's a chance for grandma and grandpa to invite their adult children, and more importantly, the grandkids. And really, isn't that what's it's all about! Come on, we all love our kids but grandkids give us another chance to relive the great days of discovery of youth. Your kids may not be able to afford a get-away vacation at the beach, but they'll love you for inviting them and the kids. And the kids love the beach.

Can life be any better than that?

Call us to rent your family vacation spot. 919-454-7701 or look at our beach houses at http://beach4rent.org

Island Time Vacation by Darlene

A restful vacation is on beach time

When you go on a vacation at the beach, our favorite beach is Topsail Beach on Topsail Island. (Pronounced "Topsul" by the locals). Be prepared to relax and do nothing. Doing nothing is quite good for your health. We have found it to be a great stress buster.

When we arrive at our Answer to Prayer beach rental, it is right on a beach, so be prepared to take your watch off, put your to do list away and sit in your Adirondack chair and do nothing but listen to the ocean waves lap the shore.

Our first year, one of our guests put a “Beach Etiquette” list together and we read it every September when we are there and laugh as we put our cell phones away and take off our watches for the week.

BEACH ETIQUITTE

1. TAKE OFF YOUR WATCH – It is island time! If anyone asks for the time, proper responses include “daytime”, “almost dinnertime”, ‘time to pray”, "time for another swim”, “night time”, or "time for a drink”, All of these answers can be given confidently without the aid of timekeeping devices.

2. LEAVE ALL SAND OUTDOORS – if you fail to do this it will follow you around and chafe you in the darndest places when you least expect it.

3. NEVER SHAKE OUT A BEACH BLANKET IN AN INHABITED AREA – (THIS IS A COROLLARY OF #2) the sand will come back to get you or someone else.

4. THOU SHALT REGRET IT IF THOU FEEDEST THE SEA GULLS - They're beautiful, but they tend to thank you by leaving "white stuff" all over your deck, chairs, beach towel, and so forth.

5. THE OCEAN NEVER SLEEPS – it is cool and refreshing and can be enjoyed at any hour of the day (please refer back to #1 for hours of the day).

6. ALWAYS SWIM WITH A BUDDY - preferably with the name “Bob”.

7. KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE WAVES WHEN SWIMMING – No two waves are alike and some are downright sneaky.

8. Almost anything you collect from the beach (except well washed shells) will smell just terrible after 2 days, especially if you pack it in a suitcase. Spread it back around the beach so someone else can collect it the next week.

9. Peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches are NOT approved eating.

10. Bodysurfing requires no equipment and is to be recommended. For technique, just watch the natives.

11. Use outdoor shower whenever possible and keep showers short to preserve hot water – exceptions can be made for group showering.

12. With regard to #11, NO PEEKING!

13. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES may be consumed by those 21 years of age and older at anytime after the SUN IS "OVER THE YARDARM". Since no one can ever find yardarms on the island, this rule is subject to broad interpretation. IN THE PICTURE ABOVE, the crew is checking to see if the sun is above the yardarm!

14. The tide is always either coming or going in, usually when you least except it.

15. Finally, walk in love, have fun, and remember that God giveth us richly to enjoy, the ocean is one of them. Yippee let the good times roll!

Come to the beach and enjoy beach etiquette. Check out our website www.beach4rent.org

How about some Surf Fishing?

Dad or Grandpa helps pack up the car and rustle the kids into the back seat. He drives all the way down to Surf City, then hauls everything up stairs. They're barely done when Mom asks if they'll take the kids out swimming. After chasing the kids around, he tiredly brings them back inside for meals, showers and eventually that night, bed.

The good thing is that the kids will sleep in - at least longer than Dad or Gramps will. But what can Dad or Gramps do with those early morning hours of peacefulness?

How about fishing the surf? He can catch small sharks, jacks and other ocean delights while he sits back and enjoys the peacefulness of the morning. Yet, unlike deep sea fishing, with surf fishing he can reel them in and join the family when they get stirring and ready to do something.

He can rent equipment for the week and get a license at East Coast Sports in downtown Surf City. Click on East Coast Sports or click here for more places to buy or rent fishing gear on Topsail Island.

What's The Best Place to Beach Vacation on the East Coast? Yahoo Voters Say Topsail Island!!

Yahoo Answers is a forum where people post questions and then other people - regular people - respond. People can either give an answer or vote on the best answer already given. Well when somebody posted a question about where the best beach vacation was on the East Coast, somebody answered Topsail Island and enough other people voted for that answer, that it won.

Here is the exchange (which can be found here.)

Resolved Question

What East coast beach would you recommend for a family vacation? Any suggestions on where to stay?

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

We are on the way to TOPSAIL ISLAND in North Carolina next week. It is a family beach WITHOUT a carnival atmosphere and theme park attractions. There are many good and inexpensive seafood restaurants, small shops for souvenirs and two large grocery stores. If you put TOPSAIL ISLAND on Google, you will find more information than you want to know. If you are looking for a "beach" experience with miles of sand and a gentle surf, this is the place to look.

The Christmas Parade at Topsail

Rand Burchfield is a great realtor here on the island. We found this story on his blog:

Well, the third and final parade of the season (for The Rand Burchfield Real Estate Group, anyway) was Saturday, December the 6th. We put a holiday wreath on the front of the truck, lit it up and we were off to Topsail Beach from our main office in Surf City! Joining us were team members Linda Blackburn, Judy Carlton, Bob Ramsey, Dot Cotman and myself and Kathy. Not able to be with us were Justine Warner (our executive assistant) and Bill Hunt, a long time associate and buyer agent. As you will note from the photos, Lilly and Pearl had a grand time, all decked out in the reindeer antlers. Pearl is actually starting to enjoy the limelight a little bit!

Our last event of the year will be a food drive for the North Carolina Food Bank, to be held on December 20th in the Food Lion parking lot in Hampstead. We call it “Feed the Need.” This year in particular, there are a great many more people turning to the food banks all over the state and the country, I would imagine. You can help locally by just bringing canned food and dry items (nothing frozen or needing refrigeration) to the collection point. We will transport it to the Food Bank. Easy for you and so helpful to those of our citizens who may find themselves without this holiday season. Please come and help!

Christmas at the Beach - in Full Color

The Topsail Advertiser has picked one of the most delightfully decorated homes on Topsail Island to post on their cover. Here is their story about this lovely house:

What requires more than 7,000 energy efficient LEDs, more than 2,300 feet of wiring, 20 surge protectors and 96 man-hours to create?
Bryson and Pierce's dynamic sound and light show!

December 10, 2008 - 1:00 PM

Carrie Bryan


Christmas came to Surf City on the evening of December 1 at the home of Sterling Bryson and Glen Pierce, when the switch was pulled to illuminate a multitude of lights at their Shaes Landing residence.

Glen Pierce designed and engineered the system, upgrading from last year's 4-channel GE Christmas-In-A-Box to a 16-channel light controller connected to a "Monster Brain" that has a built in mini MP3 player.

The mini MP3s uses a compact memory card with sequenced songs that sends a signal to the monster brain telling it when to turn on and off each of the 16 channels. The monster brain's "line out" sends the music to an FM transmitter, and then from the transmitter to a 200-watt stereo to power the outside speakers. The FM transmitter is a legal FCC transmitter that transmits the music on 101.5 FM up to 150 feet from the house.

There are more than 7,000 energy efficient LED lights in the display, more than 2,300 feet of wiring (equaling about a half mile), and 20 surge protectors. Read more.

Kayak in the Topsail Sound

Kayaking in the wetlands in the Topsail Sound is great exercise and it also gives you an upclose and personal view of nature's beautiful wetlands. Birds, fish, and the bright sun bring you to a world that is spectacular.

But what do you do if you didn't bring your kayak or you want to try it first before you commit to buying? Rent one and launch it from Herrings.

Herrings is the best outdoor outfitter on the island.

Rent a kayak and go on the sound, or get really good and kayak-surf the waves. You can also rent beach cruisers (bikes) and utilize the bike lane which runs from the county line (about the 9 mile mark) to the south of the island.

They also carry a full line of rods and reels and all types of bait. The girls will love the "Life is Good" clothes line they carry. My wife went in there and spent more than an hour trying on "cute little things". I found a great pair of reef walker shoes at a good price.

Check their web site out here.

Autumn with Topsail Returns!

A funtastic fall festival returns this month to Topsail.

In it's 20th year, the festival brings a carnival atmosphere together with neighbors who enjoy the warm fall weather on the island.

You may have thought that Topsail Island is alive only in the summer, but in fact, it's becoming a lively place all year round. Many fishermen and seniors come down in the fall season which usually stays pretty warm in the daytime up until Thanksgiving.

Then families come down for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

There are also a significant number of people who come down for the entire winter. One couple, staying in North Topsail Beach, sold their home in Cleveland a few years back once their youngest went to college. They now live 6 months in a rental in the Florida Keys during that low season (the summer) and then stay on Topsail Island in our low season (the winter). They love living at the beach without having to have the worries of beach home ownership.

For more info on the Autumn with Topsail Festival click here.

Where to Eat at Topsail: Restaurant Reviews

Are you coming to Topsail Island and are looking for the perfect place to eat?

Check out the Restaurant Reviews page where you can find almost every restaurant reviewed, along with addresses and pictures to find the place.

Click here.

Sunrise: Is There Any Better Way to Start the Day Than at Answer to Prayer?

This is a picture of the sunrise from off the deck of Answer to Prayer.

When you get up in the still of the morning, pour a hot steaming cup of coffee, and step out onto the deck as the sun rises, you experience a peacefulness and clarity that you never get back in the city.

Things come into focus, possibilities flood in, favorite memories replay in your mind, thankfulness overflows in your heart.

God put the sunrise there for you. Why not come and enjoy it. Contact Answer to Prayer here.

Time to Make Vacation Plans

You know you are going to want to get away to the beach next summer. Now is the time to plan it while the week you want is still open.

What if your plans change? Most places only require a 10% deposit more than 6 months out. That means only a couple of hundred dollars to reserve your spot. Then you can call your sister/mother/friends now and see if they can come with you. They can arrange for the week off now before all this vacation week is taken by someone else at their office.

What happens if they want to come but can't get the week you've reserved but can get another week? Most places, including beach4rent.org will let you change your week this far in advance.

And you can all discuss how much fun it is going to be when you get together for the holidays.

Indigo Marsh - Off Season Specials

I don't mean for this to be an advertisement but since I like Indigo Marsh so well, I thought I'd share the off-season specials that they are running now. This is what they sent me in an email:

Indigo Marsh

Off Season Specials!

1/2 Price Wine on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
Includes all Bottles and Glass Wine!
Also...
Get a FREE Petite Mixed Greens Salad
with every entree!
And...
As always, if you are seated before 6:00 you get a
FREE dessert along with the FREE salad!

Join our new Referral program and earn FREE food!
Reservations Recommended
910.328.2580

Indigo Marsh is located at:

602 B Roland Ave
Surf City, NC 28445
Phone: 910.328.2580
Fax: 910.328.2508

As I said before on this blog, this is my favorite restaurant on the island.

Local Surfer Coty Luetgens Becomes National Surfing Champ

The Topsail Advertiser reports that 18 year old Coty Luetgens won the men's national surfing championship in Huntington Beach California. TA reports:

Local surf competitor Coty Leutgens recently took the men's title in the 2008 Surf Industry Manufacturers Association Surfing America U.S.A. Championships.

Leutgens, 18, grew up in Surf City and learned to surf at a very young age. He began competing in Eastern Surfing Association contests around age 8, and said he was hooked immediately. He's now a sophomore at University of North Carolina-Wilmington, majoring in communications, and the school surf team captain.

The championships were held Aug. 19 to 24, in Huntington Beach, Calif. The competition pits the best surfers out of five districts from around the U.S. together to find U.S. surfing champs. The men's final for ages 18 to 29 was one of nine categories to compete.

Though Leutgens had been eligible to compete in the SIMA competition before, this was the first year he was financially able to enter the championship.

"This is pretty much as high as it goes as far as amateur competitions is concerned ... so it's really an honor for me. I won the (2008 Mid-Atlantic Regionals) in South Carolina, so I had some confidence going into it," said Leutgens, who practiced in California waves for two weeks before the competition. He also trained with the ESA All Star and the U.S teams.

Get the full story here.

Topsail Beach Vacation 2008: Their Own Words

I was hunting around the blogosphere and ran across the wonderful Ernst Family's blog. Interestingly, they had recently spent a second and a third vacation at Topsail and said so. Here is part of their story:

A few years back (2004), Dan and I went on our first family vacation. We looked online and found Topsail Island in North Carolina. It looked so nice and much less commercialized than Mrytle Beach. We made reservations (along with my parents and sister) and had a wonderful time that summer. So much so that we went again in 2006 (when I was pregnant with Claire). This summer, we headed over again and got to spend a week with Mom and Dad Ernst, The Indy Ernsts, and the Billingtons. We had such a WONDERFUL time! So many fun memories were made.

For more read here.

When you come to visit, many of your vacationing neighbors will be people like the Ernsts, because it's a family beach. Come on down and enjoy.

Read This Book!! Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea by Ray MacAllister

I read this book and ABSOLUTELY loved it. Ray McAllister has come to Topsail Island and captured its history, lure, beauty, and enchantment.

Here is a quote from his book:

"Why stay at Topsail Island?

It's easy to see why. Because of its small land area, Topsail has not been subject to the massive development of island communities like Nags Head to the north and Wrightsville Beach to the south. Indeed, it remains largely in the idyllic state those places knew half a century ago - a small beach town with few commercial trappings, a family haven...a paradise where it's possible to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean and set over Topsail Sound from the same cottage."

With chapters on real life pirates, secret military operations, the bear that swam to Topsail, the fishing, families who have returned yearly for a quarter of a century and more, it is a must read!

You can buy it here at Amazon.com or get it straight from the author at http://www.mayberrybythesea.com/

If you like MySpace try here.

This book will increase the fun of your Topsail vacation by 50%

Where is the Best Place to Take a Beach Vacation on the East Coast? Yahoo Voters Pick Topsail Island!

Yahoo Answers is a forum where people post questions and then other people - regular people - respond. People can either give an answer or vote on the best answer already given. Well when somebody posted a question about where the best beach vacation was on the East Coast, somebody answered Topsail Island and enough other people voted for that answer, that it won.

Here is the exchange (which can be found here.)

Resolved Question

What East coast beach would you recommend for a family vacation? Any suggestions on where to stay?

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

We are on the way to TOPSAIL ISLAND in North Carolina next week. It is a family beach WITHOUT a carnival atmosphere and theme park attractions. There are many good and inexpensive seafood restaurants, small shops for souvenirs and two large grocery stores. If you put TOPSAIL ISLAND on Google, you will find more information than you want to know. If you are looking for a "beach" experience with miles of sand and a gentle surf, this is the place to look.

Of the Top 20 Golf Courses Rated by Metro Magazine, 4 Are Within a 45 Minute Drive of Topsail

If you like playing golf, 4 of the best 20 ranked courses from the Raleigh Durham Triangle to the Coast are located in or near Wilmington, which is a short drive (28 miles) from Topsail Island.

Here is the listing from Metro Magazine:

The Top 20 Courses: From the Triangle to the Coast

If you’re a golfer in the Metro readership region from the Triangle to the Coast, consider yourself blessed. There are so many great clubs and outstanding courses that compiling a definitive Top 20 list leaves too much for argument.

The selections are in alphabetical order, but three courses stand indisputably at the top nationally — Donald Ross’ masterpiece, Pinehurst No. 2 and Tom Fazio’s Eagle Point near Wilmington and Forest Creek in Pinehurst.

1. Bald Head Island – Southport; George Cobb, 1974.

2. Cape Fear Country Club – Wilmington; Donald Ross, 1924 & 1947.

3. Country Club of North Carolina – (Dogwood) – Pinehurst; Ellis Maples, 1973.

4. Croasdaile – Durham; George Cobb, 1961.

5. Currituck Club – Corolla; Rees Jones, 1996.

6. Eagle Point – near Wilmington; Tom Fazio, 2000.

7. Forest Creek – Southern Pines; Tom Fazio, 1996.

8. Governors Club – Chapel Hill; Jack Nicklaus, 1990.

9. Hasentree – Raleigh; Tom Fazio, 2007.

10. Hope Valley Country Club – Durham; Donald Ross, 1926.

11. Landfall Dye Course – Wilmington; Pete Dye, 1988.

12. North River – Beaufort; Bob Moore, 2007.

13. Old Chatham – Chapel Hill; Rees Jones, 2001.

14. Pinehurst Resort & Country Club – Pinehurst No. 2 (Donald Ross, 1907); No. 4 & No. 8 (Tom Fazio, 2000 & 1996); No. 7 (Rees Jones, 1986).

15. Pine Needles – Southern Pines; Donald Ross, 1927.

16. Prestonwood – Cary; Tom Jackson, 1988.

17. Raleigh Country Club – Raleigh; Donald Ross, 1948.

18. Tobacco Road – Sanford; Mike Strantz, 1998.

19. TPC at Wakefield Plantation – Raleigh; Hale Irwin, 1996.

20. Treyburn Country Club – Durham; Tom Fazio, 1988.

Did Anyone Say Golf? How About the Highest Rated Course on the Coast!

Did someone secretly say that they wanted to go golfing while their wife was sunning on the beach or shopping at the beach stores? Well how about 18 ...or 36...holes at the highest rated course on the coast!

There are a number of golf courses in the area. One of the best is North Shore Country Club located in Sneads Ferry just after you cross back to the mainland over the "high bridge" on the north side of the island (not the swing bridge in Surf City).

Golf Digest has rated this course a 4-star course. Visitors are welcome.

101 N Shore Dr
Sneads Ferry, NC 28460
(910) 327-2410

Surf City - as Presented by NC Coast

NCCoast.com has written this little ditty about Surf City.

Incorporated in 1949, Surf City was the first official municipality on Topsail Island and remains its commercial center. This relaxed beach town is Topsail Island’s hub of shopping and entertainment variety.

Driving down NC Hwy. 210 from North Topsail, you parallel beautiful beaches as you pass oceanside vacation cottages and soundside marinas. Entering town via NC Hwy. 50, you cross the Intracoastal Waterway over one of the last swing bridges in North Carolina, sort of a working antique.

What Surf City lacks in sheer volume, it makes up in quality. The friendly, independent gift and art shops offer many locally crafted or inspired items with very competitive prices and the opportunity to find something out of the ordinary. Dining out is a pleasure here. Fine restaurants offer diners a wide array of fare from superb local seafood to pizza, Italian, gourmet, home-cooking, subs and burgers.

Surf City also has convenient supermarkets, nightclubs that bring live music to island evenings, and many choices of family entertainment. The kids love the miniature golf course, the public playground, and the island’s only water slide, all in Surf City. Everything for surf sports can be bought or rented here from boogie boards to surf boards and wind surfers. And the fishing can’t be beat, in the surf or at area piers. You may find Surf City vacation rentals that feature homes on the beach and within walking distance of the beach. Bring the family and expect the best vacation yet in Surf City, the heart of the Treasure Coast.

7 Great Benefits to a Vacation

Here is a great blog on the benefits of taking a vacation and how to take it. You should read the entire blog because it is great but here is the start:

Summer’s almost over. Have you taken a vacation yet? If you haven’t, will you?

Acccording to a 2006 survey by Harris Interaction and Expedia, 36 percent of workers don’t plan to use all their paid vacation days, and 37 percent never take more than a week off at a time.
So to convince you to take a much-needed break, here’s my list of how vacations can benefit your health and mind. While relaxation and exposure to culture are obvious benefits, there’s a wealth of other rewards too:

1. Live longer

A State University of New York survey found that men who took annual vacations reduced their risk of death by 20 percent. Men who didn’t take any vacations in five years had the highest death rate and incidence of heart disease than any other men surveyed.
Improve your mental health

A study by Wisconsin Medical Journal found that women who took frequent vacations were less likely to become depressed, tense, or tired. Women who rarely took vacations were likelier to have stress at home and sleep less.

2. Revamp your relationships

I don’t have any fancy studies to back this one up, it’s just common sense. A real vacation is the ideal time to reconnect and revitalize relationships that have taken a toll from an on-call, always-on, and work-obsessed culture. My 9-hour work days and blogging duties have caused my relationships to suffer more than I’d like to admit. Yes, I too need a vacation.

3. Recapture your childhood

When was the last time you went out and play? I mean really play. Without worry of someone calling or interrupting you. Real vacations let you recapture that feeling of childlike exploratory freedom. You can wake up when you want, go to sleep when you want, and eat what you want. Most importantly, you can have fun without worrying about the consequences on work back home.

4. Gain self confidence

“Don’t put yourself on sale.” This is my favorite mantra from financial guru Suze Orman. While Suze’s target audience is directed to women, the advice applies to everyone. When you skip vacations, you put yourself on sale. If you have 2-weeks of paid vacation and don’t use them, you’re essentially working for free. By committing to a vacation, you declare to yourself (and to others) that you are important and deserve dedicated time for yourself.

Read the rest here.