On one of NC’s last open beaches, a chance to feel sand, sun and normal again
Shawn Chilton finished setting up his Shibumi Shade and took a seat in a beach chair as the blue fabric fluttered in the stiff breeze. The nearest other beachgoers were 30 feet away. The Oak Island Pier loomed above him, empty of fishermen.
As beaches across North Carolina were shut down to discourage masses of spring-breakers from gathering, life proceeded pretty much as normal on Oak Island, where there was plenty of unoccupied sand for Saturday’s sun-seekers to practice ample social distancing.
“Whether you’re at the house or here you still always have that risk,” said Chilton, who lives in nearby Southport. “Stay away from people, keep your distance, just try and stay healthy.”
Sunday dawned overcast and cool, but Saturday was ideal beach weather, in the low 80s, under high clouds. Fishermen set up rods in the surf. A couple teenagers played catch with lacrosse sticks. Families built castles in the sand. And most sat in chairs and watched the ocean, trying to enjoy a moment of normalcy amid a national and international crisis.
Off the beach, on Oak Island and in Southport, things were very much the same as everywhere else: restaurants closed, streets and stores empty, the feel of life during wartime. The Lazy Turtle, an Oak Island beach dive bar institution, was offering not only takeout but delivery, the hours and information painted on its windows. A few streets down the beach, the fishing pier, known to locals as the Yaupon Beach Pier, sat so curiously empty, not a single line in the water or hand-holding couple taking in the view.
And yet on the beach, in the sun, it all felt so very far away. Here, at least, was one place where life was more or less able to proceed as planned, at least for the moment.
“I would say it’s pretty normal,” said Jim Duncan, who came down from Charlotte with his wife, Kelli, to spend the weekend. “The restaurants aren’t open, but it’s OK.”
Beaches across the state had remained open even as restaurants and bars had been shut down by government order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but that was changing quickly. Dare County was the first to act, closing its borders to seal off the Outer Banks from outsiders.
Wrightsville Beach, Surf City, Topsail Island and Emerald Isle all took steps last week to discourage visitors, from closing beaches to blocking off parking, essentially limiting access to residents. Bald Head not only closed its beaches, but called for a voluntary evacuation. New Hanover County closed its beaches entirely Friday.
If it seemed like sacrilege to shut down basketball in North Carolina, beaches wouldn’t be far behind, but it’s come to that. There were six known cases of COVID-19 in Brunswick County Sunday morning — more than 270 in the state — and on Saturday night the town of Oak Island declared a state of emergency and suspended all short-term rentals, giving visitors 48 hours to vacate the island.
But the Brunswick County beaches remain open, Caswell and Yaupon and Oak Island and Holden and Ocean Isle and Sunset, at least for now.
Oak Island beachgoers said the area was far more crowded Friday as high school and college students who had been kicked off other beaches migrated south, from Wrightsville to Carolina to Kure as each was closed, and finally to Oak Island. The kids were gone by Saturday, when the sun shone through high clouds, leaving the usual, scattered crowd of March weekend regulars to bask in its warmth.
Even on the 4th of July, there’s still always a parking spot to be found somewhere on Oak Island. It lacks the bustle of Wrightsville or the polish of Ocean Isle. There are far easier beaches to get to from Raleigh or Charlotte. It’s the kind of place you have to want to be, and the people who want to be there would just as soon it stay that way.
Jean Corley came down from Raleigh, and Chris Ruckert was visiting from upstate New York. They had their chairs set up at the top of the beach, far from the water with the tide out. But they had their own corner of the beach to themselves, open sand around them, dunes to their backs.
“Everything’s closed everywhere, so you may as well enjoy it,” Corley said. “The beach is never closed. The ocean’s there. It’s wonderful.”
They had big plans for dinner: ordering from Koko Cabana, the restaurant at the pier, which like all others was closed to diners but offering beachside delivery of food, beer and wine, portable table and all.
“As long as it doesn’t rain,” Ruckert said.
There was a chance of evening rain in the forecast, as there often is along the coast. Even in these times of upheaval and dislocation, some of life’s uncertainties never change. Especially at the beach.
It never did rain.
This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 9:28 AM with the headline "On one of NC’s last open beaches, a chance to feel sand, sun and normal again."
