We thought we would share him with you:

The number of nesting pairs in the lower 48 United States increased 10-fold, from less than 450 in the early 1960s, to more than 4,500 adult bald eagle nesting pairs in the 1990s.

In the Southeast, for example, there were about 980 breeding pairs in 1993, up from about 400 in 1981.

The largest concentrations were in the states of Florida and Louisiana.

Today, there are an estimated 9,789 nesting pairs of bald eagles.

Bald Head Island has an ever changing avian population, including white ibis, pelicans, and bald eagles. During the summer months, the Conservancy sponsors a series of “Turtle Walks” designed to teach visitors about the island’s most famous residents, the loggerhead turtles that come to nest.

Bald Head Island has something for anyone who enjoys island fun. For your next vacation, get back to nature and enjoy everything this remote, secluded island has to offer.

If you have photos you’d like to share email them to us at info@CoastalNC.com and be sure to tell us a little about yourself and your photos!

It was decided to place a lighthouse on Bald Head Island to guide ships through the channels and sand bars of the Cape Fear River. In addition, one was also needed to help vessels avoid the treacherous Frying Pan Shoals, which extends over 20 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean.

North Carolina’s first lighthouse structure was constructed in 1795. This light station was located on the southwest point of Bald Head Island. The light station was ordered to be destroyed due to severe erosion along the river. Funds were approved the same year for the construction of a new light station. It was not until 1816 that efforts were made to obtain bids for the construction of the new light.

The new octagonal tower, “Old Baldy,” as it is affectionately known, was first illuminated in 1817. This is the present lighthouse on Bald Head Island. At its base “Old Baldy” is thirty-six feet wide, and its walls are five feet thick. The top the lighthouse is fourteen feet and six inches wide and two feet and six inches thick. The foundation and the platform for the lantern room are constructed of stone.

The tower is constructed of brick and painted with plaster on the exterior. The ground floor is made of brick, while the remaining floor joist and the stairs are made from North Carolina Yellow Pine.

The first lighthouse keepers cottage was located the on the west side of “Old Baldy.” Due to erosion the keepers cottage was destroyed. It was replaced in the 1850’s with a one and one-half story cottage located on the east side of the lighthouse. The second structure was destroyed by fire. As a result a larger two story structure was built in 1883 in the same location as the previous keepers cottage, reusing some of the original brick piers. This too was lost to a fire in 1931. A museum was built on the same spot, replicating the two story cottage.

View of entrance to Bald Head Lighthouse

Trivia Note: The Island may look familiar to you, this was the Island that Weekend at Bernie’s (1989) was filmed on, as well as The Butcher’s Wife (1991), and Pirate Kids II: The Search for the Silver Skull (2006).

Visitor Information

Directions: From Hwy 17/74 south of Wilmington, Take 133 south to 211 south and once in the town of Southport, turn right on 9th street. Take 9th to Plantation Drive and you will reach the ferry landing that will take you to the island. Information Contact (910) 457-7481 for more information about Bald Head Lighthouse

Summer Hours

Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m

Sunday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Winter Hours

Please call 910-457-7481 for hours.

The ferry ride is a people only ferry and costs $15 per person for a round trip. Once on the island, you can rent bikes to get around since there are no vehicles allowed.

The lighthouse is very close to the ferry landing so you can easily walk there. It also has a small museum that is set up similar to what the keepers house would look like. There is also a shop that sells books, shirts, and various lighthouse related items. It costs $3 to climb enter the museum and climb the lighthouse.

There is a chapel that was built in 1987 near the lighthouse that is open to the public. Across from the lighthouse is a small post office.

Historic Island Tours

Tuesday-Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Meet at the Island Ferry landing

Cost: $45/Adults and $40/Children 12 and under, price includes Ferry, Tour and Lunch ($30 for island guests)

Call 910-457-5003 for reservations.

* Bald Head Island Lighthouse was built in 1817.

* It is the oldest standing lighthouse in North Carolina

* It cost just under $16,000 to build.

* The structure is 109? 10-3/4? tall, made of brick and coated with cement.

* The tower is no longer in service, however serves as a tourist attraction.

* Bald Head Island is fourteen miles north to south, and 3.6 miles east to west.

Local authors Fred R David and Vern J. Bender created this 66 page paperback book.

$14.95 Buy it at: http://Islands-Art.com

People from age 4 to 104 will love this book, for twelve good reasons:

* It provides short stories of the last voyage of ships that sank offshore of Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Holden Beach, Oak Island, and Baldhead Island
* It provides actual pictures of ships that sank here, such as the Sherman, the Hebe, the Raritan, the Governor, and the City of Houston
* It provides GPS #’s of many shipwrecks off southeast North Carolina
* It provides color pictures and short descriptions of exotic marine life that inhabit local shipwrecks
* It reveals where local Shark Tooth Beds are located and describes the extinct megalodon that once roamed here * It discusses the local Cypress Tree Forest on the ocean floor
* It provides numerous embedded YouTube video hotlinks to bring to life local shipwrecks and marine life
* It describes how, when, and where to catch spiny and slipper lobster here
* It gives important information for diving local shipwrecks, including depth, visibility, currents, type of artifacts, and marine life
* It describes local shipwreck history, from pirate ships to Civil War blockade runners, to World War II U-boat victims, to the recent Valour sinking * It tells the story of Frying Pan Tower and Frying Pan Lightships
* Help us preserve the history of this area by making this book available to others.

$14.95 Buy it at: http://Islands-Art.com

The tower also offers a safe haven for boaters and a helipad for use in medical emergencies. “Top-end” users could fly in for a week or weekend and enjoy a private fishing vacation according to Neal.

Neal also hopes to have a cell phone tower erected on the platform. Neal, 51, is a licensed pilot who had flown over the structure but had not yet set foot on it when he made the winning bid.

The tower is a modified 80-foot steel oil drilling platform and was used by the Coast Guard from 1966 until about eight years ago as an aid to navigation. The Coast Guard turned the nautical landmark over to the GSA to be sold when the introduction of GPS and buoys rendered the tower obsolete.

A federal General Services Administration spokesman said Neal was the only bidder for the modified 80-foot steel oil drilling platform when it was auctioned off in 2010.

The tower has two floors and 5,000 square feet of living space including five bedrooms, a kitchen, office, storage area, recreation area and toilet facilities.

Prior to beginning life on the tower Mr. Neal admitted to fishing only once in his life but had gained a love of the ocean from many flights taken along the Eastern Seaboard in his small private plane.

Neal currently has the tower accessible and hopes to be “fully functional” by 2012. We are not certain what conditions are at this time but they are taking reservations! Go here to make a reservation inquiry: http://www.fptower.com/inquiry.html

Now the story gets more interesting…Neal has written a book, or rather a software program born on the tower has written an ebook available for Kindle download at Amazon, “Hiding In Anonymity (HIA)”all proceeds are donated to the restoration efforts. Rather than trying to explain I offer this video for your consideration.. or in the words of The Twilight Zone “Submitted for Your Approval”…

Check out their website and facebook page to get a better idea of what’s going on!

http://www.fptower.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frying-Pan-Shoals-Light-Station/121119241261861

Buy this book at:

http://Islands-Art.com

• Race for Riches: a history of the origins of piracy
• Greed and Gold: a pirate’s life aboard ship and in battle
• Tools of the Trade: weapons, vessels, and pirate culture
• Rogues and Raiders: profiles of pirates through history
• Other Pirates, Other Times: the past and future of piracy
• A Roster of Infamy: a list of pirates and their vessels

“The illustrations are incredible, from the actual pirates to their ships, battles, maps, tools of the trade and treasures. For every generations’ fascination with pirates and the exotic and exciting life they supposedly led, this book will satisfy that hunger for the actual and imagined part of pirate lore.

Miller Pope is as exceptional a writer as he is an illustrator, writing with the visual in mind, always crafting his words from an illustrators’ perspective and then backing that image up with the very picture the words so masterfully created.”

- Island Living Magazine

Divers had planned to bring up the second-biggest artifact on what is thought to be the Queen Anne’s Revenge however they discovered it was too well-attached to some of the other items in the pile of ballast, according to the project director, Mark Wilde-Ramsing. So they pulled up another anchor instead that is the third-largest artifact and was most likely the anchor for the ship.

The anchor, which is 11 feet, 4 inches long with arms that are 7 feet, 7 inches across, was covered with a mixture of shells, sand and other debris that has been attracted by the leaching wrought iron. Its estimated to weigh approximately 2,500 to 3,000 pounds.
The size of the anchor is typical for a ship the size of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, with the two other anchors probably used in the event of an emergency, like a storm.

Archaeologists were planning to remove the second-largest anchor, which is 13 feet long with arms that are 8 feet across, from where it is located on top of the ballast pile. But found it to be too well-attached, so the divers went in from the side instead retrieving the “everyday anchor”. This means that in the future other dives may require going in from the side of the shipwreck rather than the top.

Divers are continuing to work for four days next week, then they’ll decide how best to move forward. The dive team hopes to recover all the artifacts by the end of 2013.

North Carolina state officials are hoping the anchor as well as the other artifacts will attract tourists. The shipwreck was discovered in 1996, causing world wide attention. The largest exhibit of artifacts from will be on view at the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort starting June 11.

The timing of the recovery of the anchor couldn’t be better for North Carolina tourism interest in the shipwreck. The Disney film “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” starring Johnny Depp was just released earlier this month featuring both Blackbeard and the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

Check out this video of the 3,000 pound anchor from what they believe to be the wreck of the pirate Blackbeard’s flagship being recovered off the North Carolina coast on by Archaeologists:

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Get an up close look at the unique wildlife found on Bald Head Island; everything from ibises to alligators will make this tour an unforgettable experience.

If you’re interested in joining the Bald Head Island Conservancy on a Wildlife Tour, contact Andy or Maureen at 910.457.0089 ext 16. Or email them at andy@bhic.org or maureen@bhic.org.

The cost for the tour is $50 per participant and includes ferry passage to and from the island (price adjustments can be made for folks already on the island). The tour starts at 10:00 a.m., so you’ll take a 9:00 a.m. ferry to the island and Andy, Maureen or one of the other Conservancy volunteers or interns will have you back for a 1:30 p.m. ferry back to the mainland. Groups of 4-16 can be accommodated. Take a look at a more detailed tour itinerary here or call or email Andy or Maureen for more information.

Bald Head Island is a resort community accessible only by boat where no cars are allowed. Located two nautical miles off the southeastern coast of North Carolina, this Island’s shores are no longer a refuge for pirates. However, the natural beauty of Bald Head Island ensures that this is still a place to seek and find adventure. Of the Island’s 12,000 acres, 10,000 acres of beach, salt marsh and maritime forest are protected and will remain undeveloped.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, when pirates ruled North Carolina’s coastal waters with greed and terror, Bald Head Island was a favorite hideaway for these notorious bandits. The most famous pirate to roam the waters was Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. In a nod to this colorful past, today’s visitors are transported to the island aboard ferries appropriately named “Revenge” and “Adventure” – both ships from Blackbeard’s infamous fleet.

Bald Head Island’s historic lighthouse, known affectionately as Old Baldy, was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson in the early 1800’s and is the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina. It’s not the only lighthouse in Bald Head history, though. Another beacon once shone from the island’s eastern tip: the Cape Fear Light was erected in 1903, following the creation a U.S. life saving station on Bald Head Island. Cape Fear Station was a bustling community of surf men until the service was deactivated in 1958.

Today, Bald Head Island’s preeminent residential community, Cape Fear Station, stands as a tribute to these heroes. Its entrance is marked by the ruins of the Cape Fear Light.

50-year-old Richard Neal of Mint Hill bought the Frying Pan Shoals Light Tower in a federal government auction in May for $85,000.

Neal plans to turn the 44-year-old former U.S. Coast Guard post into a bed-and-breakfast. The tower is 25 miles from Wilmington and is more than 60 feet above the water. It has seven bedrooms, a kitchen, a recreation room and helicopter landing platform. The tower was built in 1966 and was deactivated in 2003.

Neal wants to open next summer.

The Frying Pan Shoals Light Tower is a decommissioned lighthouse located approximately 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Bald Head Island, North Carolina. The light tower is a steel oil drilling platform, known as a “Texas Tower” on top of four steel legs that has been modified to be used as a lighthouse. The 80-foot (24 m) light tower marks the shoals at the confluence of the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean. The platform consists of two floors. The subfloor is a living area of approximately 5,000 square feet (460 m2) that includes five bedrooms, kitchen, office, storage area, recreation area and toilet facilities.

The light tower is potentially available by helicopter and boat. However, the platform cannot support a helicopter landing and the ladder to the light tower has been destroyed.[citation needed] The tower was replaced by a buoy in 2003 and no longer serves as an aid to navigation. The Coast Guard considered demolishing the light for use as an artificial reef, but the tower was instead purchased by South Carolina diving and research firm Shipwrecks, Inc. in 2009 for $515,000. However, the company failed to make the down-payment and subsequently, the tower returned to government hands and was sold again in May 2010 for $85,000 to Neal who plans to turn it into a bed and breakfast.

For years visitors to Old Baldy could climb literally “at their own risk”. In 1991 the Old Baldy Foundation launched a campaign, “Steps to the Top”, to repair the steps to the top of the lighthouse. Between 1991 and 1995 Old Baldy Foundation raised over $125,000 for renovation efforts.

In 1997 plans were developed to recreate one of the three keepers’ cottages that stood on the site. The Old Baldy Foundation undertook a loan to finance the building of this one and a half story building. It now holds a small gift shop, museum exhibits and office space for staff. In 2000, upon opening this museum and gift shop the Old Baldy Foundation started to charge a $3/person fee to see the museum and climb Old Baldy. Over the past eight years those fees, and the proceeds from the gift shop, have been set aside for maintenance and long term preservation work.

Visit the http://www.oldbaldy.org site