The beautiful weather Thursday morning really got motivated. When I saw how nice the river looked, I was desperate to find a fishing buddy.
Unfortunately all my fishing friends were busy, so I had to make do with a sunset cruise. until our Friday trip
That evening I managed to line up a partner for Friday afternoon. Friday morning I straightened out my tackle buckets and sharpened all my hooks.
We got on the water about 1 PM and took a quick trip to Swansboro to fish in the marshes on the other side of the Intracoastal.
I caught a 30” shark and my partner hooked a huge ray that he never could get to the top of the water.
Back in the river, I caught an eighteen inch red drum, but I let him go so we could meet again.
Our fishing trip hardly took us past Swansboro Harbor, but you will never get me to complain about an afternoon of fishing even if we don’t go far.
There will be plenty of trips out the Inlet this summer. A day mostly on the river just reminds you of how neat coastal rivers are.
I can enjoy fishing when I am hardly out of Bluewater Cove. In fact if I catch something nice, and I am near home, I can have my catch in the pan in minutes.
I decided that it was not going to rain. Before lunch I headed over to the beach.
My time on the beach was only an hour, but I had great fun and took a ton of shore bird pictures.
Right where you come on the beach at the access point, some fishermen were diligently watching their rods for any sign of a bite.
However, once I headed west along the beach, there was almost no one in sight.
I did not see anyone swimming, and after wading in the water a little, I would have to agree that we need some more heat before taking a dip.
There were also a few boats a couple of hundred yards off shore. I think they were taking advantage of the extremely calm seas.
I think I enjoyed the birds more than anything. They were feasting in the surf, and about as oblivious to my presence as they get.
My wife thinks some of the pictures are the best that I have taken.
She thinks they are creepy.
I also got some fresh shrimp. It is nice to see the boats bringing some shrimp even if they are small and still growing this time of year.
Before I went home I made a stop at Windberry’s to get some of the great hot-house tomatoes that I have been enjoying this year.
The last of the strawberries were on sale, but I chose some of the newly arrived local blueberries. I had a great banana-blueberry smoothie before I went to bed last night.
It is hard to believe that I ate a ripe tomato from one of my vines on May 23.
This morning I noticed that Edmonton, Alberta was getting some snow.
Ah the price that we pay for living along the Crystal Coast is well worth it..
I am looking forward to Memorial Day weekend. I think we will be ready for the season without any problems.
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.
These are additional sites not mentioned in the above post.
Ocracoke Waves
Crystal Coast Blog 09
Crystal Coast Blog 08
Some archived articles