Tag Archives: Beach

Cristobal Lights Up the NC Surf Scene

All my research was complete and the call was made for the morning: Emerald Isle was the spot, fingers crossed. Hurricane Cristobal was sitting off the coast, pumping in swell. I used a combination of MagicSeaWeed and SwellInfo to help me pinpoint a surf location—be sure to check out my post Surfing the open data wave that highlights how open data is used by surf forecasting tools. As a surfer stuck inland, if I’m getting in the car to drive two plus hours, I want to maximize my time. Continue reading →

Winter Surf on the Outer Banks

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Kill Devil Hills surf forecast via MagicSeaweed.com

On the evening of Friday, March 7, 2014, I started preparing for a winter surf session on the Outer Banks. I gathered my wetsuit and various wetsuit parts, including booties, gloves, hood, and other layers. I packed all my gear in my surf tote and got my surfboard ready. I’d been watching the surf forecast all week and it looked like Saturday afternoon would be firing. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Six: Sailing Around the Island

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Our last full day on St. Martin was going to be awesome, no matter what. Rain or shine, we wanted to go out with a bang. So we signed up for a catamaran tour around the island with Eagle Tours.

The shuttle picked us up a little after 8:00 am and took us Philipsburg for our island tour. We boarded the catamaran and enjoyed the view of the south side of the island as we started the day. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Five: La Galion, Grand Case, and a Christmas Parade

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Day what? For those of you paying attention to a calender, you’d know it was Sunday. For those of us on island time, we barely noticed. The weekend on St. Martin is jamming and we are part of the island vibe.

It was another early day, yes, I went barefoot running for about 24 minutes again at 6:00 am Atlantic Time. I’m totally digging the foot freedom on the white sandy beaches of Grand Case. Our preparation last night had us ready for another full day at the beach. After breakfast and making our picnic lunch, we were off to Le Galion beach again. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Four: Surf at Le Galion

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Our vacation is slipping away. After Merri Beth’s birthday it was time to get some sun on the beach. I started off the day with another barefoot run on the beach in Grand Case. Then Zander and I hopped in the water for about 20 minutes. The sun was barely coming up over the mountain ridge and the entire family was up, getting ready for the day. While we were finishing breakfast, a quick rain shower came through and a rainbow brightened our day.

We didn’t have anything planned, so we went with a beach day at Le Galion. It’s a family-friendly beach, rated number one on the island (or so the sign said). So we indulged. And the family friendliness was apparent as we drove up. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Three: MB’s Birthday with Butterflies

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It was another beautiful day on St. Martin. And it was a special day too, because it was Merri Beth’s birthday. The entire household was up early to celebrate (we wish)—it must be the island night life. I went out for another run, barefoot, after first breakfast. I came back to have second breakfast as the family was getting ready for the day.

Our first stop was the The Butterfly Farm located on the east side of the island near Orient Bay. We arrived shortly after they opened, perused the area for about 20 minutes, then went on a guided tour to learn all the things we wished we’d known about butterflies. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day Two: Beaches and Airplanes

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Our second full day in St. Martin started off bright and early. I was up at 6:00 am (Atlantic Time) and I went for a short run. Barefoot. On the beach. Born to run baby! After that, Zander and I went out for a swim in the Caribbean in front of our place.

After breakfast, we loaded up the car and headed out for the day. Our first stop was Pic Paradis, the tallest spot on the island with some great views. But I think we missed a turn somewhere on the single-lane road, lush with tropical foliage on both sides and only a few places to pull over and let other cars pass. Continue reading →

St. Martin Day One: Paradise in December

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4:30 am was an early start to our day, but it was worth it. Our flight to Charlotte (CLT) left Raleigh at 7:10 am, or at least it was supposed to. We were up, showered, and already packed by 5:15am, then it was time to start our long day of travel to St. Martin. We were at RDU International Airport before 6:00 am, checked-in and through security. Our flight had a slight delay taking off, but we made it to CLT within ten minutes of our scheduled time. Continue reading →

Farmdog Surf Camp: Day 4

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I was up early today to enjoy this cool, October-like weather on the OBX. I decided to get in a 5.8 mile sunrise run to the Wright Brothers Memorial and back. The air was brisk and void of humidity, which meant I could actually breathe while running. I headed down Bay Drive, then over to First Street and along the trail leading to the Wright Brothers National Park. As I turned the corner from the airport, I had to stop and take some pictures. As I ran up the monument trail, I had to take more. Continue reading →

Farmdog Surf Camp: Day 3

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Surf camp day three in one word: Cancelled. My second choice of words: Bummer. I got the call from Aaron at 8:30 am, surf camp was cancelled today due to rough and unsafe surf conditions. I had a suspicion that this would happen with the storms that came through the night before.

We had a cold front move through the area on Tuesday evening with some nasty storms. The winds switched North East and cooled things down by at least 10 degrees. With the change in weather, there was a building North East swell with a stiff current. Continue reading →