Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Immerse yourselves in the sounds of late summer nights. The crickets and katydids are filling the air, comforting you with their chirping and rhythmic scratching.
While you listen, it’s a great time to let your mind wander and weigh the wonderful and plentiful options for travel this coming fall. Whether it’s a weekend, a week or weeks, it’s a good idea to get trip plans in place soon, especially if you need to work your plans around commitments like school, scouts or fall sports.
And, if you’re not quite ready to give up on summer, here’s an idea. Plan a trip to the North Carolina beaches. A place where locals say in early September every day is usually a good beach day complete with clear skies and 80-degree temps. And, yes, you will need sandals, swimsuits, sunglasses and beach towels. Don’t forget the sunscreen, cause you’re going to need it, too.
Logic says it can’t be so. Days are getting shorter, evenings cooler, football season is upon us. Time to put on sweatshirts.
Yet in North Carolina, the weeks right after Labor Day can be a great time to hit the sand. You could target the Outer Banks as your destination, but why not consider Topsail Island, a separate lesser-known barrier island to their south and west.
Topsail Island is basically a long thin sand bar off the Carolina coast. North Topsail Beach – Top-sul, as locals call it – is within sight of the Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune, while at night the lights of the city of Wilmington glow on the southern horizon.
Technically, it’s the off season there so rates for renting those coveted beachside homes and condos are lower. Not cheap, but lower.
The summer crowds are gone, yet all the great stuff is still there. The sea breeze blows firm and refreshing in-shore, fiddler crabs scurry and stop and scurry again across the open beach sands, and the sunrise rewards early risers, splattering the oceanside view in rich, warming tones of reds and oranges. After sunset, walks on the beach happen under a canopy dominated by the Milky Way, pouring an incredible cascading ribbon of millions of stars from overhead until it douses itself in the ocean.
At sunrise, trawlers work the distant horizon, nets and booms silhouetted in the glow. Gulls and shorebirds work the beach shallows and pools, dancing back and forth with the surf.
This time of year, among the most obvious things to be noticed at Topsail are the butterflies and dragonflies. Lots of them. So many sulphurs, fritillaries, and swallowtails that it’s impossible to ignore them. With scores of dragonflies zipping about, looking for all the world like they’re flying fighter cover for the butterflies.
No sooner do the butterflies emerge in the fall than seasoned island residents – and visitors – reach for their fishing rods and a bucket. There’s plenty of fall fishing on and offshore Topsail. Piers can be lined with anglers hoping to catch Spot, one of the local favorites in September.
At the sea turtle rescue sanctuary, dozens of volunteers and several scores of supportive onlookers, escort sea turtles that have recovered from injuries to be released into the ocean.
No worries about services, Most businesses are home-grown and still bustle. Restaurants serve excellent food, often matched with excellent seaside views. If there’s something you need that just can’t be found on the island, mainland stores stand ready to please.
For more information contact the Greater Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism at 910-329-4446, or visit either TopsailChamber.com or the official VisitNC.com website.
