Fishing at the NC coast

Saturday I went fishing with my dad and nephew at the coast, off Topsail Island. We trolled and also did some bottom fishing. It was a spectacular day. The water was calm, the sky was blue, and the ocean was a beautiful blue-green. We stayed out on the boat for 7 hours and it passed by like 30 minutes it seemed. I took along my camera and here are some pictures (you can click to make them larger):

Sunrise, sound side, Topsail Island. I believe that is a Green Heron on the post:

Headed from the sound side to the ocean at daybreak:

Cannonball jellyfish:

Bottlenose Dolphin in Topsail Bay:

He's got a black sea bass there:

Octopus caught and went back into the water:

Turning bridge at Topsail Island.

Fish fry for dinner! (Thanks Mom & Dad!) Scallops, shrimp, slaw & hushpuppies too:

Loggerhead Turtle Nests on Topsail Island

We spent a long weekend on Topsail Island with my family and the weather was beautiful. A lot of the time we were on the beach swimming and playing in the sand and beach-combing and I am happy to report seeing several loggerhead turtle nests roped off just in one small section of coastline. They came complete with with warning signs--penalty up to $100,000 and also criminal prosecution with jail time. Everyone was very respectful of the nests.

One nest even had a little 'runway' dragged into the sand from the nest to the surf by the volunteers who help protect the sea turtles. Evidently the 'runway' means it's close to having the eggs hatch. It takes about 60 days from the time the mother loggerhead turtle lays the eggs until they hatch and the babies make their way out to the ocean. The nests will have volunteer babysitters (nestsitters?) to sit with the nests overnight so no idiot will vandalize the nests at night. An interesting article here from last Saturday about the nests this year: Sea turtles take over Topsail.

Topsail Island has one of the few "sea turtle hospitals" to help injured loggerheads recuperate and get back to the ocean. You can even vist Topsail's Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. It seems to be a big hit with kids . . . and big kids like me too.

Here are some pictures I took:

A roped off nest near the dunes


The "runway" down to the surf:


The warning sign (click it twice to make it readable):


Here's a youtube video (not mine) of some Topsail Island loggerhead babies making their way to the ocean. And also a very quick video of a mother loggerhead on Topsail crawling back to the water.

Friends + Beach + Oysters = Excellent

Had a blast with friends last weekend at the beach. We roasted a bushel and a half of fresh oysters and also slurped down almost 5 quarts of homemade clam chowder. Walked on the beach. Hunted for sharks teeth. Sat outside and visited. Some threw the baseball around. Some chased a sweet and rambunctious 3 year old. And as a bonus, we had some tunes played for us by Jeff Hart who, incidentally, blogs about it (with pics) on his blog here.


Do you remember your first oyster lesson?

Topsail Island recently

It's just a 23 mile strip of sand, a barrier island, off the southeast coast of North Carolina. And like nearly all such places, it's overbuilt and overburdened. But in the winter, when the noisy bars have closed for the season, and tourists are long gone, and even the fishermen have retreated, a nice long walk on the beach can be especially exhilarating. It was deserted, and glorious, and cold. The moon was out and barely visible.



Two things I'd never found before in my previous miles of beachcombing: red coral and a starfish. The coral was brittle and little more red than this picture shows. The starfish was dead and missing a chunk off one of its points.




I also found a natural sea sponge. It was pliable and soft--and gritty with sand.




And I saw some dolphins jumping and playing:




From a shell's point of view: