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Best Beach near Wilmington

Good list but you skipped figure 8. I agree with your characterizations
 
At Sunset, you still have to drive a little to get to the Calabash places. But being that close to South Carolina gets you cheap gas and booze, which is nice.
 
HailToTheDeacons said:
At Sunset, you still have to drive a little to get to the Calabash places. But being that close to South Carolina gets you cheap gas and booze, which is nice.
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My primary thought about Sunset Beach is that I'm not sure why you'd go there and drive that far when there are other similar beaches that are closer. I feel like people go there for the seafood, but I'm not super drawn to the Calabash thing. I appreciate good fried seafood from time to time - fried oysters can be amaaahzing - but eating massive piles of it at an all-you-can-eat-buffet is not really my jam.
 
My mom grew up in Lumberton and has this very romantic view of Callabash from childhood. I love and appreciate good fried seafood, but I’ve always been underwhelmed and she went for the first time in maybe 20 years last summer and was similarly underwhelmed. Has it gone downhill or is it just that anything outside of Lumberton would seem like paradise?
 
BarcaDeac said:
My mom grew up in Lumberton and has this very romantic view of Callabash from childhood. I love and appreciate good fried seafood, but I’ve always been underwhelmed and she went for the first time in maybe 20 years last summer and was similarly underwhelmed. Has it gone downhill or is it just that anything outside of Lumberton would seem like paradise?
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I grew up in a nearby town that views Lumberton as a cultural and commercial outpost so I too grew up thinking "mmmm boy, Calabash style is as good as it gets." Now when I go I just see it as a plate full 'o fried seafood. That seafood is typically fresh though, so sure, it's good. Frankly, I've come to think of fried as about the most uninteresting way to prepare seafood, one step ahead of just broiling it with some lemon juice (for those times when I'm super adherent to what I'm eating) so I'm not too enthusiastic for the 'bash. Anyway, the folks in my hometown still view Calabash as all that, so I don't think there's a general downturn in the quality.

Just for my 2 cents, I've never considered there to be too much of a difference between Sunset and OIB. I've viewed Sunset as OIB Minor, basically.
 
Say hey could write for Fodor's! Is that still a thing? I would agree that he is spot on. WB is for nightlife and access to Wilmington - which is great! Check out Level 5 and thank me later. Shady as all get out, but awesome views! Plus, i dig shady...
 
Say Hey is pretty accurate but I would rate the Crystal Coast a little higher. They have avoided high rises so it is not too crowded, there are enough restaurants and things to do, and it is close to jump over to Morehead city or Beaufort which both have nice water-front marina areas and lots of restaurants.
 
I fully admit I have not spent much time along the Crystal Coast, mostly because it’s not as scenic or culturally/historically/geographically interesting as the Outer Banks, and it’s further for me than the New Hanover/Brunswick beaches. I am basically neutral on the Crystal Coast.
 
DeacHead said:
I grew up in a nearby town that views Lumberton as a cultural and commercial outpost so I too grew up thinking "mmmm boy, Calabash style is as good as it gets." Now when I go I just see it as a plate full 'o fried seafood. That seafood is typically fresh though, so sure, it's good. Frankly, I've come to think of fried as about the most uninteresting way to prepare seafood, one step ahead of just broiling it with some lemon juice (for those times when I'm super adherent to what I'm eating) so I'm not too enthusiastic for the 'bash. Anyway, the folks in my hometown still view Calabash as all that, so I don't think there's a general downturn in the quality.
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DeacHead said:
Just for my 2 cents, I've never considered there to be too much of a difference between Sunset and OIB. I've viewed Sunset as OIB Minor, basically.
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We always try to go to the Seafood Hut for lunch at Calabash. It's a small hole in the wall place on the left going to the bigger restaurants, but their fried seafood is the jam.

Regarding OIB and Sunset, we have stayed at OIB for years, but the beaches kind of suck because of the erosion issues. Sunset's beaches are much nicer.

We went to Oak Island last year and I prefer it to OIB. This year we are doing Corolla.
 
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BarcaDeac said:
My mom grew up in Lumberton and has this very romantic view of Callabash from childhood. I love and appreciate good fried seafood, but I’ve always been underwhelmed and she went for the first time in maybe 20 years last summer and was similarly underwhelmed. Has it gone downhill or is it just that anything outside of Lumberton would seem like paradise?
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Going to Calabash was always one of the fun parts about being at the beach when I was a kid. We typically went to Dockside. After not going there for probably 20+ years, my family started going back the last few summers. It is just as good as I remember it being. It's not something I would eat with regularity but once or twice a year is great. It is a lot better than any of the other seafood places. And it is always fun to walk along the docks and see the boats.
 
Say Hey Deac said:
My primary thought about Sunset Beach is that I'm not sure why you'd go there and drive that far when there are other similar beaches that are closer. I feel like people go there for the seafood, but I'm not super drawn to the Calabash thing. I appreciate good fried seafood from time to time - fried oysters can be amaaahzing - but eating massive piles of it at an all-you-can-eat-buffet is not really my jam.
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this place at Calabash our is fav restaurant at the coast; couldn't even tell you if they have Calabash-style b/c we got straight to the grilled/steamed/blackened , etc. menu:

http://boundaryhouserestaurant.com/

And if it's just you and the wife or maybe 3-4 of you, bypass the rubes waiting outside with the beeper things and go straight to the bar. They emphasize their bar food service; usually 4-5 bartenders/servers there and each one is trained to treat you as their own table, i.e. you'll never lack for a refill, extra bread, etc.
 
Extra bread ? I'm in !

Yisss-Bar-Headed-Goose-Dances-For-More-Bread-Crumbs.gif
 
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The outer banks is another place that people either love or hate. My family has vacationed on the coast of the Carolinas for generations. We have tried almost all of them at one point or another - with the exception of Topsail and Oak Island. The Outer Banks was different and has some good qualities but after going for a couple of years we never went back. It is just different and, in some ways, weird - it doesn't feel like a Carolina beach. The food is different, (I can't remember now but it seems like there wasn't much flounder or shrimp? and generally no sweet tea?), the people are different (lots of Canadians and people from the north - the workers were mostly Eastern European) [not saying that is bad, just gives it a different feel], the water is different (much colder and rougher). That being said, the Duck area is really cool, the lighthouses are cool, the quiet and solitude on the southern portions is really cool, Ocracoke is cool. It also takes a long time to get there from the rest of NC, depending on where you are going...
 
DownEastDeac said:
this place at Calabash our is fav restaurant at the coast; couldn't even tell you if they have Calabash-style b/c we got straight to the grilled/steamed/blackened , etc. menu:

http://boundaryhouserestaurant.com/

And if it's just you and the wife or maybe 3-4 of you, bypass the rubes waiting outside with the beeper things and go straight to the bar. They emphasize their bar food service; usually 4-5 bartenders/servers there and each one is trained to treat you as their own table, i.e. you'll never lack for a refill, extra bread, etc.
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No doubt! The Boundary house is the bomb. They also take reservations. It isn't traditional Calabash, but much better. I did have fried flounder there last year and it was the nicest piece of fried fish I have ever had - not greasy at all.
 
Say Hey Deac said:
I fully admit I have not spent much time along the Crystal Coast, mostly because it’s not as scenic or culturally/historically/geographically interesting as the Outer Banks, and it’s further for me than the New Hanover/Brunswick beaches. I am basically neutral on the Crystal Coast.
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I grew up going to the Crystal Coast beaches (grew up in Greenville, so I guess I fit your stereotype) and because my wife's family has a place down there that's still where we often go. I certainly don't think of them as "blue collar" (you could maybe say that about a section of Atlantic Beach) and as Scooter mentioned, those beaches are just across the bridge from Morehead and Beaufort, both very interesting towns with lots of good restaurants. I certainly get the distance and access issues.

What exactly is culturally/historically/geographically interesting about the Outer Banks?
 
One part of the Crystal Coast I enjoyed was camping out at Bear Island.
 
I partied on Figure 8 one night, I think TK Hearn's stepdaughter was there. I forget the circumstances except I feel we had to give a special password at a gate to get in?
 
scooter84 said:
The outer banks is another place that people either love or hate. My family has vacationed on the coast of the Carolinas for generations. We have tried almost all of them at one point or another - with the exception of Topsail and Oak Island. The Outer Banks was different and has some good qualities but after going for a couple of years we never went back. It is just different and, in some ways, weird - it doesn't feel like a Carolina beach. The food is different, (I can't remember now but it seems like there wasn't much flounder or shrimp? and generally no sweet tea?), the people are different (lots of Canadians and people from the north - the workers were mostly Eastern European) [not saying that is bad, just gives it a different feel], the water is different (much colder and rougher). That being said, the Duck area is really cool, the lighthouses are cool, the quiet and solitude on the southern portions is really cool, Ocracoke is cool. It also takes a long time to get there from the rest of NC, depending on where you are going...
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I completely agree on this. It's the rare beach in NC where most of the people visiting are from out of state - just takes so damn long to get there, and the traffic going north on Hwy 12 is so miserable once you do cross over from Manteo. And the water is indeed rougher and colder than the southern NC beaches.

I do think all North Carolinians should visit the Outer Banks at least once, because it is so pretty and unique, and there's a lot of interesting shit to see between Jockey's Ridge, the Wright Brothers Memorial, the Lost Colony, and the lighthouses, but it would never be my go-to beach for the annual summer family beach trip.
 
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