Location: Wrightsville Beach, NC
Our last few days at Wrightsville Beach were full of runs, bike rides to the beach (no swimming), seventy-three degree weather, trips to West Marine, Napa, Car Quest, the grocery store, the hardware store but most notably there were oysters. In this part of North Carolina, or maybe in all of North Carolina, everyone was catching oysters.
Down the road from the marina was Mott's Channel Seafood. There we got a two dozen oysters for around fourteen dollars. Although this was the best deal that you could never find in New England Dad still said that it's a shame to buy them when everyone is bringing them in by the bushel for free. He was right, as we walked down the dock at Mott's to check out their fishing trollers we spotted thousands of oysters fighting for space on the pilings. That's not all we saw, looking down into the mud under the dock we saw the perfectly preserved skeletons of six foot long grouper, among other fish. We also peaked our heads in the back and watched the employees cleaning, trimming, and packaging fresh fish, the whole process was pretty cool. Back at the boat we feasted on the oysters and watched the sun set. Having fixed the engine we made plans to leave the next morning for South Port. My sister, Corinne had finally booked a flight to meet us in Charleston for Thanksgiving so we had to start making some progress. For our last night in Wrightsville we decided to walk down to the beach bars and visit a good Mexican place that friends had recommended to us called Tower 9. We both ordered great margaritas and had a good time talking to the bartender, a local who told us about the culture we had missed in Wrightsville (flannels and shotguns being a highlight). By the end of the night she was putting free shots of tequila down in front of us (I can't take any credit, my Dad's the big talker). Setting out we never thought that shots were in our future. In fact I have never taken a shot of anything with my father and I wasn't quite comfortable with breaking the unspoken tradition. However we are sort of on vacation and it would have been rude to refuse. I think the night felt warmer for the both of us on our walk back to the marina. We both remarked at how nice a stay Wrightsville Beach had been, made all the better with the warm weather we were enjoying. It finally felt like we were on vacation. I think it was also the town that made us feel that way. In New England the beach towns empty out in the winter, making them lonely and unwelcome. Wrightsville Beach was still alive. Even on the colder nights boaters got together for sunset cocktails on the dock or barbecues and they were all so friendly. Here's to hoping South Carolina can match up.
What we ate: oysters, tacos, steaks, Utz Carolina BBQ chips (amazing.)
Spotted: warm water fish, Dad napping, kids at the beach - I wish I didn't care what the water temperature was.
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