Vacation spot: Topsail island, North Carolina

[Wetstuff]

I'll do this in a couple of posts because there are things to remember...  My daughter works for UCSF in San Francisco and lives in the city.  She does 'Home Exchange.com'.   Her most notable was with a lady in Paris who came for a week with her daughter. She's been offered Barcelona, a number of places in the States and recently the Dominican, but not does not have a lot of time.  It seems like a great system if you live in an interesting place - or one where hotels are $400 a night. 

The drive for me was about 350 miles thru Norfolk VA.  The roads in Virginia and North Carolina made Maryland and Delaware's look like Bulgaria. It must be the lack of winter, the willingness to spend money or some sense of pride... not only were the roads well done but they're not all trashy like Maryland.  (the trashy'est place I have lived)

Topsail Is. is about 26mi long with Surf City in the middle, about 30mi N. of Wilmington. There are center and upper access roads from the mainland. A new bridge is being constructed because it is miserable getting on/off the island at certain times.  Your first impression is the area is 'down at the heels'.  Somewhat like Ocean City Maryland, there's a mix of new and old ...where the old stands out.

For us types, the beach is simply a beach break.  I'm sure locals know where the sandbars move to, but it's not easy access.   We were nearly/exactly between two very large piers.  We did not have time to see them.  Oceanside houses are pretty well packed together.  The lots appeared to be ~50' wide. The houses were built atop a dune with staircases up from streetside, down to beachside.  I did not count the spacing, but there were access stairs for those homes not on the beach ...but, no obvious parking (in our area) for daytrippers.  This is a happy scene.     Jim

[APPST_Paddle]

Topsail picks up the south swells in the summer (with onshore winds typically though) and works well when the winds are NE in the winter.

[Wetstuff]

A_P...  it was hard to judge with the TS for three days then medium winds from all directions the other days.  There did not seem to be a morning/evening glass-off. 

I would not think >2% of core surfer types would intentionally go there — you can find shore pound anywhere. So I see it more as a family vacation spot, and yet it seems really lacking in that respect.

The only time I saw the beach was safe for smaller kids was at max low tide when there were some small tidal pools for them to play in. The rest of the time the waves and currents were sweeping the beach and shallows.  (there are no guards visible along house-row — only a beach patrol that was infrequent)  I only saw two small parks with swings, etc. for kids closer to town center.

You see lots of SUVs with small bikes on the back on HWY 17 headed down, yet there's really no place for them to ride. (at least in that middle section of the island where we stayed)  In fact, the main road reminded me of a 2-lane alley in a place like Chicago.  In the photo, you see all the garages, fixed trash cans powerlines and only a small lane with hardly any setback to walk or ride bikes.  The geezers who ride while the Tour is on TV mostly rode in the early morning. The good thing is the police know a resource when they see one and patrol the 35mph limit heavily.  But that narrow alley-like road is a large source of noise.  Pity the folks on the W side of this main drag, for many this alley is also their view.   


Jim

[APPST_Paddle]

A_P...  it was hard to judge with the TS for three days then medium winds from all directions the other days.  There did not seem to be a morning/evening glass-off. 

I would not think >2% of core surfer types would intentionally go there — you can find shore pound anywhere. So I see it more as a family vacation spot, and yet it seems really lacking in that respect.

The only time I saw the beach was safe for smaller kids was at max low tide when there were some small tidal pools for them to play in. The rest of the time the waves and currents were sweeping the beach and shallows.  (there are no guards visible along house-row — only a beach patrol that was infrequent)  I only saw two small parks with swings, etc. for kids closer to town center.

You see lots of SUVs with small bikes on the back on HWY 17 headed down, yet there's really no place for them to ride. (at least in that middle section of the island where we stayed)  In fact, the main road reminded me of a 2-lane alley in a place like Chicago.  In the photo, you see all the garages, fixed trash cans powerlines and only a small lane with hardly any setback to walk or ride bikes.  The geezers who ride while the Tour is on TV mostly rode in the early morning. The good thing is the police know a resource when they see one and patrol the 35mph limit heavily.  But that narrow alley-like road is a large source of noise.  Pity the folks on the W side of this main drag, for many this alley is also their view.   


Jim

Yeah, not sure if that was when the TS was north or south of it, but in the summer you will have those typical SW (onshore) winds, usually lighter in the morning, picking up with the seabreeze. Winter is the main time for Topsail for protection from NE winds if you don't want to paddle to Masonboro Island in Wilmington. Not sure of the sandbars there now, typically was better at low tide, but that could easily change after 10 years or so since I was last there.

WB/CB always had better sandbars it seemed, Topsail was just a destination based on wind direction.

[Wetstuff]

Again, my focus here is more about this as a 'vacation destination'.  As expensive as it is for a family to pack for a 'week at the beach', you'd want the most bang for the effort.

FOOD:  They have great food stores.  I'm about 2-3hrs from the big names of quality food.  They have ones I don't know. One was PUBLIX that was perhaps $1 more expensive per but was cleaner than our local hospital and their house brand foods were excellent.  From looking at the produce, the stuff we get must continue the journey N. on an open truck.  And, I know I walk funny but must look older than I feel; they want to push the cart out to the car.  I thought about doing pushups to show I could probably make it alone. (...maybe I look like a scrap metal seller?)

RESTAURANTS:  ...the lack thereof.  Are you kidding?! HeySus-f'ing.. Not even a Chinese takeout! (there's takeout in half the towns in Zimbabwe for fuc'sake!)  Being from the midwest, seafood is not compelling ...and expensive dining is a fraud, but you'd think there was a good pizza, maybe?  The one that rated the best, Santinos I believe, made us four 16"ers @ $20-pop.  It was early, so I can't imagine they were running out of provisions... but, they sent us the most under-spec pies of recent memory.  I would imagine the factory pies at Walmart had more material in them.  On a scale, one 12" Chicago pizza would have been equal in weight to 2-3 of these.   

I did require one thing on the trip: vinegar-based Carolina Barbeque.   To my dismay, the closest 'brother' with a shack on a backroad (like you see on TV) was totally unknown to any locals and the one place that had it was a fairly recent popup in a strip mall with a nail salon and insurance brokers.  The pulled pork was fine, it just lacked emotional credibility spooned out of a plastic container.

I'd never go back there... if there are not even places with good food ...it's vacation. It's when you want to go out?!   Ocean City Maryland, for all its limitations, at least has a decent restaurant to go to every evening with every combo of Asian, MEX, 'Merican and Seafood...   When you can cook better in a rented house's kitchen — you are not at a 'destination'.

I have not been... but my wife does a Ladies' Week with friends about 40mi S. of Wilmington at a place called Sunset Beach, NC right near the NC/SC line.  It is a much smaller area, but she describes a much more quiet area with wide sandy beaches that sound more like Hatteras with lanes of 'walkers' in the morning, yatta-yatta.   It may be more expensive - snooty.   But, it has plenty of restaurants compared to Surf City.

Here's another look from the landing.

Jim

[Wetstuff]

Forgot a couple of things...

The beach people were nice. 'Good mix of geezers and families.  Most vacationers I met were from Ohio, W. Virginia, and Virginia.  Outwardly middle-class and pleasant. There was a lot of fishing.  One 81yr old ex-sheriff's deputy from VA caught two large Drum (I am not familiar with this fish..), one was 31".  A young kid from Ohio taught me how to throw a cast net - it's an art form.  I had to get one.  ...and a better one ordered when I got home.

DOGS...  It was a great spot for Spot.  Not only can you walk them on the beach, the municipality supplies Dung Bags at the top of the public access stairs and garbage cans.  The leash law is '6-feet', but a lot of locals appeared to blow off the leash law entirely.  They were also likely responsible for the turds near the stairs.  As much as I like Florida beaches, my dog is as important to me as someone else's kids.

Jim

[Wetstuff]

I made an error -likely more- but, there were two potential 'Chinese' restaurants.* One appeared likely to use that universal, 8-panel, paper menu w/pictures seen in most parts of the occidental world - this one was a good distance out of town close to Hwy 17 on Rt.210.  The other I gather was a sushi joint with other options quite close to the center of Surf City.  Sushi would be logical with all the commercial fishing in the area.  Sorry for the error.

Jim

*my wife had seen one on one of her ventures.