Taking a break

This is the world famous reasonably well-known 'round these parts Johnny Mercer's pier at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Wrightsville Beach sits atop a miles-long dune just north of Wilmington. The beaches at the shore are simply fantastic.

Yes, there is a pier at Johnny Mercer's Pier. Today it is made of concrete but in years past it was made of wood, much like a house's deck. So many hurricanes tore the wooden pier to pieces over the years that after the last one the town passed stiff ordinances governing rebuilding of homes and businesses that were damaged or destroyed. Nothing was grandfathered. So now the pier is concrete. Not quite the same charm as before.

Another view of the pier. The tide is out in this view.

A look southward from near the pier. Being a Wednesday, the beach is not crowded. On weekends, it's pretty packed. My daughter and I went into the water early this morning (early being defined in vacation terms as about 8:30 a.m.) and there were very few people about, just a half-dozen surfers trying to catch tidal waves as the tide came in. Nothing much for surfing here, I'm afraid, as waves rarely get higher than five or six feet.

In years past, we'd take a motorboat to the landward side of Marlboro Masonboro Island, the next island south. Marlboro is state owned and entirely undeveloped; there is no bridge to drive there. We'd anchor in a small inlet on the eastern side and hike over the dune to the beach, which ran five miles north to south. On a crowded day there would be maybe a dozen other people within eyeshot. And the beach looks like something on a postcard.