I should be packing up suitcases while the boys are napping. We’re leaving for home tomorrow morning. However, I’m sitting here with the deck door open, editing some photos while the wind flows through the beach house. The rest of the family, minus our exhausted boys, are braving the beaches. The waves are up and advisories for high surf and rip currents are out due to the churning of Hurricane Bill out in the Atlantic. We’re safe and, likely, everyone is sitting in their beach chairs under the umbrellas, drinking something cold.

This year we stayed further west on the island of Emerald Isle than in previous years. In fact, we’re about as far west as you can get, a few blocks from the tip of the island where the sound meets the ocean. If you look at a satellite view, the beach is very wide around the tip of the island… when it’s not all eroded. In the past three weeks, much of the sand has been washed away, exposing some old sandbags and causing concern for six houses on the very tip of the island. For us, it made a great tidal pool at high tide, allowing the boys to swim and play without the threat of current and waves. For the owners, I’m sure it has been a scary time. One beach access at The Point was entirely washed away this morning. I shot some pics of what’s going on.

That fisherman is standing in what is normally the beach.

Sandbags around the end of the point protecting six houses.

This used to be the walkway. It’s gone and it would just lead to water now.

A sign of what’s been going on.

This is not normally the ocean. It’s normally sand.

Crashing the sandbags.

They’re actually hoping that the surge brought about by the presence of Hurricane Bill out in the Atlantic will redeposit some sand on the beach. While I’m not a native, I hope the same thing for those who are probably filled with worry about their homes, their beach and their city. While the North Carolina coast is no longer in the projected path of the hurricane, I can tell you that high tide was much higher than normal last night, pushing water on our part of the beach clear up to the dunes. The waves started to get rough yesterday as well, sending BigBrother for a loopdie-loop, flip-flop that had him coughing and sputtering and me running to catch him. It was very Baywatch but less sexy. At least we didn’t have sharks at the same time.

To be honest, while the weather forecast as of last Thursday (before we left) was pretty grim, we’ve had perfect weather. Every year, our vacation weather seems quite similar. Great beach action all week until our last day (Friday) when the waves seem to be a bit too rough for the smallest of the beach goers. It served us well, however, as we got to visit the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. We had been waiting for a rainy day to waste looking at fish but the rain never fell from the sunny blue sky. So, a “too rough” day served us well. Also, we’re kind of exhausted. More on that next week when I give you the pros, cons and other “intimate” details of our vacation. As for the aquarium, I forgot my camera. It’s good we took four cameras (or, really, six) with us as I was able to at least get a few decent shots with BigBrother’s camera. See? There’s a method to my madness.

I really should go pack. While BigBrother does miss his Caterpillar Bed, it’s always so hard to say goodbye to the ocean for another year. We’re really lucky to have had another fabulous vacation together.