Bald Head Island NC - townofbaldheadisland.com

Vacation Planning and Real Estate Guide to Bald Head Island, NC

Things To Do

Christmas At The Beach!

xmasfamily.jpgYour whole family can get together for a unique Christmas experience!

This year do something different – bring the family to The Winds Resort Beach Club on nearby Ocean Isle Beach for Christmas at the beach. The Winds will have a beautiful Christmas tree set up and decorated for you in a four, five or six bedroom Resort Cottage!

If you prefer the tree can be left undecorated so you can have the experience of decorating it with your loved ones (we’ll provide the tree, lights and decorations!).

The Winds is in a great location for families to “meet up” for Christmas – half way between New England and Florida so families living north can meet those from the south halfway!

There are also two international jetports close by (myrtle beach 40 minutes to the south and Wilmington NC 40 minutes to the north).

Everyone will enjoy the beach, the heated indoor pool and the hot Southern breakfast buffet (included each day).

Check out The Winds’ website for details: https://thewinds.com/christmas-packages

The Pirates Are Coming!!!

Creepy FrameThe Old Baldy Lighthouse and Smith Island Museum of History (on nearby Bald Head Island) are staging a weekend day pirate extravaganza event in conjunction with National Lighthouse Day.

These events will make for fun day trips for guests of The Winds. It is a short drive and ferry boat ride to the island from Ocean Isle and it looks to be great fun for all ages!

See the schedule below for details or go to oldbaldy.org.

For nearly 200 years, North Carolina’s oldest standing lighthouse, Old Baldy, has marked the mouth of the historic Cape Fear River. Today, thousands of visitors make the exciting journey each year to beautiful Bald Head Island to learn about the island’s rich maritime past at the Smith Island Museum of History and experience Old Baldy up close – including the climb to the top for a breathtaking view of the surrounding area’s outstanding natural beauty.

Friday July 31, 2009

Gift Shop opens at 9am, Grounds open 1-4pm
$5/Youth (3-12), Infants 2 and under Free. Visit the pirates camp, shop and climb the lighthouse.

Scalawag School
Pre-registration required, space limited
1:30pm – 2:45pm (4 – 7 year olds)
3pm – 4:15pm (8 – 12 year olds)
$20/child
Learn to walk talk and act like a pirate. Fee includes all day admission to the lighthouse grounds, a T-Shirt, eye patch, tatoos and certificate.
Island Wide Treasure Hunt
Pre-registration required, space limited
Friday 3pm – Saturday 3 pm
All ages
Registaration: 2;30pm Old Baldy Lighthouse
Cost $20/team
Test your skills in this pirate challenge designed for families. The challenge must be completed by a team of 4-6 members and the challenges span all ages from creating art to singing pirate songs, to following the clues to finding hidden treasure. The trick is you only have 24 hours to complete the challenge in order to maximize time and resources and get the most points to win.

Pirates Invade Bald Head Island
5:30pm
Free
West Beach Access #1 Turks Head Court and #2 Row Boat Row
Pirate Pub Night: Grub and Grog at the Harbour Pavillion Tent at Bald Head Island Marina: 6pm -10pm $40/Adult, $15/Youth 3-12, Infants 2 and under Free -Dine with pirates, dance to music of Rusty Cutlass direct from Disney World and bid on booty at the Auction – games for kids and cash bar for adults.

Saturday August 1st, 2009

National Lighthouse Day on the grounds of Old Baldy Lighthouse Grounds
10am -9pm $7/Adult, $5/Youth (3-12), Infants 2 and under Free.

Events Include:

  • Children’s Activities
  • Pirate Skits and Presentations
  • Grub Ship (hamburgers and hot dogs available for purchase 11am -2pm)
  • Educational Presentations
  • Direct from Disney World – Rusty Cutlass Band
  • Blackbeard’s Crew Pirate Camp
  • Carnival food, beer , wine and soft drinks available for purchase after 5pm

Build A Pirate Ship

Pre-registration required, space limited
10:30am – noon (7 – 12 year olds)
4pm – 5:30pm (7 – 12 year olds)
$22/child
Build and decorate your very own pirate boat, learn ship vocabulary and test your sailing skills. Fee includes boat kit, admission to the grounds all day Saturday.

Scalawag School

Pre-registration required, space limited
10:00am – 11:15am (4 – 7 year olds)
4pm – 5:30pm (4 – 7 year olds)
2pm – 3:15pm (8 – 12 year olds)
$20/child
Learn to walk talk and act like a pirate. Fee includes all day admission to the lighthouse grounds, a T-Shirt, eye patch, tatoos and certificate.

Sea Turtles on Bald Head Island

hatchlings1004The sea turtles are coming ashore nightly and nesting on the area beaches including Bald Head Island. Area turtle watch organizations are keeping an eye out for mother turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. The Bald Head Island Conservancy Sea Turtle Protection Program is constantly patrolling the beach. Later in this article is a list of things you can do to help protect sea turtles coming to Bald Head Island.

The Winds Resort Beach Club, an oceanfront resort hotel on nearby Ocean Isle Beach has “adopted” a sea turtle nest and they want your help naming their Turtle!

Be sure to submit your names for consideration by Friday June 26 and come back to this site to vote on the name on Saturday June 27th with the winning name to be chosen by online votes placed by visitors to this site!

153_uncovering_a_nest
A Sea Turtle Nest
153_uncovering_a_nest
Hatchlings

Email your Turtle Name suggestions to: [email protected] by Friday June 26th for consideration. The list of proposed names will be posted here on this website on Saturday June 27th with the winning name to be chosen by online votes placed by visitors to this site!

Be sure to submit your names for consideration by Friday June 26th for and come back to this site to vote on the name on Saturday 27th!

Gloria Hillenburg – Coordinator of the Ocean Isle Beach Turtle Patrol says “Mother turtles continue to come in and lay their eggs just about nightly and new nests are discovered constantly. We are there to protect them and get their babies out to sea to make their long journey, only to return to our Island and start the process all over again.”

You can help the turtles when you visit Bald Head Island by following a few simple guidelines:

525_turtle_on_beach

Do Not Disturb: If you see an adult sea turtle coming on shore, stay quiet and keep your distance! Otherwise she may get scared and go back into the ocean without nesting. They are an endangered species and it is a federal offense to harass them.

Turn Off All Flashlights! Lights may scare or confuse the adult female and cause her to leave without nesting.

Lights Cause Hatchlings To Go In the Wrong Direction: Please turn off all outside lights each night. Also if there are curtains or blinds use them so your indoor lights do not lead the hatchlings away from the ocean.

Never Pick Up A Hatchling. It is critical that they crawl on their own.
Do Not Disturb The Nest Area. Watch for the nest markers.

Stay Off Sand Dunes & Do Not Pick Sea Oats. Sand dunes provide critical habitat for sea turtles and help prevent flooding during times of extreme tides and storms. Foot traffic kills plants and severely damages the sand dunes. The penalty for failure to adhere to this requirement is a $100 fine.

Help Us Keep Our Beaches Clean -Sea turtles may mistake a plastic bag or other forms of litter for a jellyfish (they eat them). All personal items and equipment must be removed from the beach each day- these items may trap a sea turtle.

Please Fill In All Holes On The Beach When Done Playing.- Holes can trap sea turtles and are a safety hazard to humans.

Keep Dogs On Leashes At All Times!– No dogs shall be permitted on the beach strand between the hours of 9:00am and 6:00pm during period of Memorial Day through Labor Day regardless of whether they are leashed or not.

Fireworks can scare off nesting sea turtles and leave behind trash that may be mistaken for food by marine wildlife.- Discharge of fireworks is not permitted per North Carolina state laws.

Please Report all sightings of nesting turtles, dead turtles, unmarked nests or crawls (looks like a bulldozer came out of the water).

Call the Bald Head Island Conservancy at 910-457-0089.

Keep up with the Sea Turtle Protection Program at: https://www.bhic.org/STPP.shtml

Check Out Bald Head Island Magazine