ISLAND ANTHROPOLOGY
A s someone who dearly loves lear ning,
I revel in my role as a naturalist
obser ving a ver y unique species,
t h e N o r t h C a r o l i n a b e a c h v a c a t i o n e r.
It is vital to immerse myself in their favorite habitat, the
beaches of Emerald Isle and the Crystal Coast, sometime
during their peak season, early May through late October.
Like storied anthropologists before me, my most significant
research is accomplished when I move from the role of
scientific observation into total immersion myself. For two
weeks at the height of summer each year, I go native.
For over 25 years my family has enjoyed a “staycation” on
Emerald Isle every summer. We pack our cars with beach
chairs, beach towels, surf boards, fishing rods and suitcases
stuffed with favorite bathing suits, rumpled shorts,
favorite t-shirts and cotton sun dresses. Left behind
are the dress clothes and rigid work and meeting
schedules. Then we drive 10 minutes, unload
the car, stock the refrigerator, and race
to get toes in sand.
This is me unplugged, even from
the on-line major newspapers to
which I subscribe as a self-proclaimed
news junkie. For these two weeks of
each summer, I may be less informed about
what’s going on in Washington, DC, but I can tell
you everything that each of my grandchildren have
been up to from sun up to sun down. Everyday feels like I
am waking up on Christmas morning and I must be the first
person to run barefoot downstairs. It’s so early even the sun
has not yet peeked over the rooftops of beach cottages
as I stroll east and do my early morning research of fellow
beach dwellers: the shell seeker, the turtle patrol walkers,
the optimistic fishermen.
My hope after walking is to be the first person on the
porch with a steaming cup of coffee in hand when drowsy
toddlers appear with their parents. Biscuit baking mornings,
peach coffee cake, smells of bacon drifting out to the deck,
hungry teens roused by promises of hot breakfast and cool
hours of surfing. Hours pass blissfully resting, reading and
catching up on the lives of our adult children in the coolness
and breezes of our ocean hued blue-green Shibumi Shade
tent. Sunset walks, giggling one and two year old cousins
spying the ghost crabs doing recon from their crab holes in
the sand. Little ones tucked in with dreams of their beach
days, tiny legs restless from playing endless games of tag
with white-foamed waves near shore. Late evening, I am the
last person turning the lights off in the kitchen after sweet
hours of screened porch conversation with my womenfolk.
First one awake, last one to go to bed…my children have
agreed on the diagnosis of my condition, FOMO (fear of
missing out); perhaps you suffer from it also.
Satiated by this vacation quest, I return to the
helm of our family vacation rental business
and apply all that I have learned.
Going native has newly reminded
me of beach house comforts and
dynamics and ways to make beach
vacations singularly unique for
the vacation rental guests like you who
choose Emerald Isle Realty for your perfect
beach getaway every summer. My life’s work
wasn’t just selling and renting island real estate,
but to craft beautiful beach memories since 1962. In
accomplishing my primary research on North Carolina
beach vacations, I’ve received the gift of a lifetime of
amazing Emerald Isle memories of my own.