Fall takes a break 10/29/08
beach280
The weather finally caught us with us and the rest of the East coast. On Monday afternoon of this week a front came through.

We had great fishing that afternoon, but the next morning temperatures had dropped to just over forty degrees and struggled to get to fifty-nine degrees by afternoon.

This morning we were just under forty degrees, but things are looking great for next week when the forecast has a long string of days with the temperature rising to the mid-seventies.

If you want a little more perspective on the weather I did a post on Crystal Coast Living about our early taste of winter.

porch280
Two days of cool weather does not change the fact that this is a great time of year to visit the Crystal Coast. You might be lucky enough to find a view like the one from this front porch.

There is plenty happening in November along the coast.

While this past Saturday was rainy and windy with some high water, the weather began clearing by the afternoon just in time for us to enjoy our lobster dinner at the Saint Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church.

After our lobsters, we drove up to Atlantic Beach to catch the annual Kite Festival, but we caught up with the rain which had dampened the event.

We made another try on Sunday afternoon and were more successful. In fact Sunday was such a memorable day that I wrote a post about it on my View from the Mountain blog.

Lately I have had a lot of fun exploring my home waters by kayak and skiff. While I am trying not to be over confident, I am really starting to enjoy the White Oak River and Bogue Inlet. I have lots of favorite places now.

The Intracoastal Waterway has been packed on weekends with spot fishermen. I suspect it is hard for some of the larger boats to make their way through all the small boats which sometimes anchor right in the channel.

One trip over the Emerald Isle bridge we could see boats stretching as far as the eye see on both sides of the bridge.

My spot fishing has been spotty, but we have caught a few. I even kept one to try out a new cooking method which seems to work great and save a lot of cleaning.

Mostly I am a catch and release fisherman, but once in a while I keep a few for the pan. There were a lot of surf fishermen on the east side of Bogue Inlet Pier this morning. I suspect they were catching something, but I did not have time to check it out.

swimmers280
On this past Sunday afternoon we stopped by the Iron Steamer beach access near Pine Knoll Shores, and were surprised to see some folks swimming . They did not stay in the water long, but they were definitely in it.

One nice thing that has happened recently is the drop in gas prices. Tonight I saw regular gas priced at $2.58 per gallon at the intersection of Coast Guard Road and Emerald Drive.

Maybe the drop in fuel prices will make it a little easier on our shrimp fishermen who have been challenged by high costs this summer.

Bigwave280
The weekend winds did whip up the waters and bring some big waves to the beach, but I only saw a few surfers around.

Most of our days have been blessed with clear skies. That has made once again for some fantastic sunsets. I even wrote a post about the sun in my eyes. This time of year the sun can be deadly driving west on Route 24 near Cedar Point.

Bluewatercove280
I much prefer sunsets from kayak than from the car. This one was taken just outside the entrance from the White Oak River to Bluewater Cove where we live. It is about a five minute paddle from our home. I posted some more pictures of that in my MobileMe albums.

(If you are using one of the latest version of Internet Explorer and Vista, you might have trouble viewing the pictures. Everything works fine with Firefox which you should be using anyway)

Something special happens when the sun hits our crystal clear waters which I suspect are the reason the area is often called the Crystal Coast.

This week Carteret County reminded me of Canada. It was not really the cool, clear weather that clicked with my memory. I think all the time that I had on the river and wandering some trails reminded me of how quickly in Canada you could go from civilization to wild country.

Our county is not very wild even with the 158,000 acres of Croatan National Forest, but it is a place where the out of doors is so close that it is pretty easy to spend lots of time there, and that is what I have been doing for the last few weeks.

Nova Scotia has nothing on us when it comes to being close to the water. In other notes, the local oysters are available, and we tried the new White Swan Restaurant in Morehead City recently. We enjoyed our meal. I will be back for some more of their Brunswick stew.

If you missed my most recent post, a few paragraphs are included below the waterline.

interestingwater680

The scenery has been as spectacular as the weather. Fortunately we were out of town for the only rain that we have had in the last couple of weeks.

We did catch some early fall foliage, a blooming Tulip Magnolia, and more blooms on our Almond Bush. Perhaps the warm weather in the mountains has these blooming trees and bushes a little confused.

I understand that Saturday was a little damp at the Mullet Festival, but when we tried to go on Sunday afternoon, it was impossible to find a parking place.

My guess is that they ended up doing pretty well.

This sunset picture was taken Tuesday evening from the Emerald Isle bridge.

The view was just as nice tonight, but I had a police car behind me so I could not slow down to take a picture.

We had a very good meal at Riso’s Italian place on HIghway 58 about three miles north of the intersection with Highway 24. They seem to have done a very nice job fixing up the interior.

Finally I just did an article on the Wonders of North Carolina.

Lets not forget the fish, may the fall fishing season also begin in earnest. I plan to be ready, I just went to a trout seminar.


lineofwaves


Why we love it here?
It is hard to say that any place is perfect. There always a balance between what you like and what you don't like. That also changes as you age. At one time I was close to homesteading in Newfoundland.

Today I would steer you to my articles, Ten ways Carteret County met our needs, Why I love living in Carteret County, and to the Crystal Coast Electronic Village Homepage as answers to why we have chosen this area.

From that reading it is easy to understand why we enjoy living in a small subdivision called Bluewater Cove near Cape Carteret. It is what we were looking for in a place to live. It's close to services and close to the beach but not on the beach. We have a dock behind the house and are close to some great trails. I can ride my bike in the neighborhood and not face a lot of traffic.

I also use my kayak on the White Oak River and have learned to love exploring the river and surrounding waters with our skiff.

This area also has some great festivals like the Newport Pig Cookoff, the Emerald Isle Saint Patrick's Day, and the Swansboro Oyster Roast. We were also impressed with the Emerald Isle Christmas Parade.

It is a friendly area with a great future. So right now it is the spot for us. I often write about the area in my other websites. If you are a very avid reader, you might find some content on multiple sites, but usually the content is fairly specific to the sites.

View from the Mountain

Ocracoke Waves

Crystal Coast Living Blog

Crystal Coast Blog 09

Crystal Coast Blog 08

Some archived articles

More Crystal Coast Info