Day 1. Well damn, it's been a good long while. Less expensive and a much shorter trip to the DE beaches than to SNH. But... changes in latitude, changes in attitude, right? I like the easy drive down US 13, memories of T's Corner @ 175 where we used to buy fireworks, cold drinks and head east from there to our little shore cottage in Chincoteague. US 13 is nothing like the I-95 drive. The CBBT crossing was interesting with an Arleigh-Burke Destroyer transiting up the channel and a very loud group of 14 Harley's behind us in the tubes, lol. We rolled in to SNH about 4pm. Traffic was heavy and slow over the WMB. House was ready, we had the keyless entry code, the place was immaculately clean and the beds were already made. So we unloaded, poured ourselves a traditional cocktail of coconut rum & pineapple juice and hit the beach. Water was really calm and warm so we walked out to the first bar to get wet. 🎶 Toes in the water, ass in the sand... ...you know the song. A simple supper of chicken salad, grapes & raw carrots... in solo cups for another first night tradition - beach chair oceanfront dining. Deeeeelux! ⛱ After the stress melted away, we tired quickly and decided to go to bed early
Day 2. Sunrise with an iced coffee. Got our base camp on the beach set up. Took a walk up to Jennette's pier before breakfast. Pretty steamy already at 6am. The girls were anxious to spend the entire first day on the sand. No argument from me but it was a pretty hot day. My son and DIL arrived about 5pm. Minor rear end bumper damage by a VA driver not paying attention, duh 🤪. Happy Hour commenced immediately in our condo. 🎶 Red solo cup, I fill you up, let's have a party!... Lit the grill and cooked up some sausages, peppers and onions for supper. Spent some time in the pool and then watched the A250 fights. We mellowed out and went to bed about 10:30. We are morning people. Pro tip #1 - our icemaker produced a measly amount of cubes per day. WTH?!!! We bought a bag of ice to meet our first day needs but I started putting a 1/4" of water in baking pans and freezing it. Busting that up every few hours made plenty of ice per day and solved that problem. Pro tip #2 - remove your flips when applying spray-on sunscreen... ouch! 🤣
Day 3. After a blinding sunrise, it turned mostly cloudy. But it was 10 degrees cooler and much more comfortable than yesterday with a stiff breeze out of the north. Set up today's base camp farther away from the obnoxious flapping shades - there were 3 of them so it was literally '3 sheets to the wind'. The sun came out around 3 and the wind calmed down. We had an easy crockpot dinner of chicken taco bowls with all the fixins. Drove to Surfing Spoon for dessert; it was very crowded with a line around the porch. Pretty good gelato and a big topping selection. For 70 cents an ounce though, it is expensive. Came back, got some flashlights and caught a bucket of ghost crabs. Lots of laughs and a few screams too. I also got an email from the captain that our charter was pretty iffy for Thursday because of the winds. NO!!! Please, no! Our OCMD charter two years ago was ruined by weather. That day the captain only went out 15 miles and had to call it early because it got foggy and vis was just a few hundred feet at times. Boats w/o radar flying by was a little too close for comfort. Now, we're feeling disappointed that we might not be able to go at all this time.
Day 4. We walked to Sam & Omie's for breakfast, then drove over to the NC Aquarium with tickets that we had bought online the night before - glad we did that. When we left Roanoke Island a little after 1pm, the traffic coming into Manteo was very heavy. I don't know where they all were heading, but we were glad to be leaving. Since it wasn't a good beach day, the girls drove up to the NH outlets, that lovely OBX shopping mecca. My son & I went to O'Neals to see what was happening over there. Excellent fried soft crab and okra daily special! And shrimp & grits will be the Friday special! Aaaaand tuna loins for $9.75lb!!! So if our charter gets canceled, we'll fill the cooler with fish & shrimp on Friday to take home. We grilled some galbi for supper, flew a kite until dark, watched a cloudy sunset and called it a night.
Day 5. Cloudy with a breeze but the rain train was staying south. Capt called me at 0700 and said the wind forecast was still tough (SW 20-25, G30) for tomorrow - he'll call me back at 1900. Hung up the phone and the sun peeked through... a good omen or a bad omen? 😕 Walked down to Fish Heads to see if anything was biting on the incoming tide. Two guys were cleaning some small blues but everyone else looked bored. Blues chase all the other fish away, bummer. Apparently that little peek of sun earlier was a good omen. At 9:15... the sun came out. Good day on the beach but surf fishing wasn't... didn't even get a crab nibble. We moved up to the pool late afternoon to get our gear off the beach and start getting cleaned up. Sugar Creek for supper. Fried calamari was perfect. Our catfish, shrimp, scallops & flounder entrees were large, all very good and broiled, which is how we like it. Southerners love their seafood fried. Our first choice was the Colington Cafe, but it was already booked solid for the week when my wife called. We should have called a week earlier. The weather forecast for the sea was updated at 3pm... now Gale Warning from Currituck to Ocracoke, 0-60 miles out. We w
Day 6. Another blinding sunrise. Set up the beach base camp for the girls. A very hot, sticky and windy day in the mid 90's. My son and I fished from Jennette's for the morning high tide until noon. We caught a few fish, one tiny croaker and a few small blues. Went out on the beach for two hours but it was oppressively hot. The shade canopies were useless against the stiff breeze 😆... We decided to go rent barstools at Fish Heads for a couple cold beers and snacks - in the shade. They were busy like always but we beat the happy hour 4pm crowd. We grilled up some burgers and fresh corn for supper, then rode up to Fat Boyz for some ice cream. I got a chocolate-peanut butter-banana milkshake that was so thick, it clogged the straw! Nice!
Day 7. Rainy day forecasted. Makes it easier to get ready to leave (yeah, right). Time to graze on everything left in the fridge. A bell pepper & cheese omelet... cut fruits... and a 'WTH is this?' kinda salad with assorted leftover proteins and a salsa & sour cream dressing. Sounds weird maybe, but it works. Went to O'Neals to get tuna, wahoo, scallops and live soft crabs from the market to take home and we ate shrimp & grits bowls and soft crab sammiches from the restaurant. We weren't hungry, but it's shrimp and grits - amirite? Stopped by Jennette's to get a couple of their super soft cotton tees that we like. Stopped at Cahoon's for some fresh Bass Farm sausage to take home too. Good stuff! It was a really good family beach week. SNH has some nice advantages over DE, but the drive time... 😥
Day 8. Time to hit the trail home. US Route 13 is our preferred way. 7-1/2 hours. My ass had a flat spot when we got home 😆. Right after we left, my son sent me a text that the bulldozers starting working on the beach directly out front. He stayed an extra day.. Ridiculous to ruin beach vacations when people are paying $500+ per night. That's a major reason we don't visit too often. Pro tip #3 - Cahoons sells dry ice if you need it and they open at 7am. 🎶 Adios and vaya con Dios... Good to be home. Lots of blueberries and strawberries were ready to pick.
Greg- I loved reading your trip report! Wish you had stayed two weeks just to keep reading your daily adventures and the colorful funny descriptions. You are an exceptional writer and it sounds like you guys had a ball. Glad you are safely home!
@BentMtn another reason I was disappointed about our charter... I would have stopped by BB and done a shot with you!
@Greg - Wish our trips would have coincided! Left last Monday and headed back to Virginia. That would have been so fun and we certainly would have taken a shot. Pinkies up, friend!
@BentMtn yeah well... I would have gotten you all wound up and then Bill woulda have had to deal with you, lol.
@Greg - Hahaha!