Wilmington...Where to stay and what are the quietest beaches?

cburgin

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
statesville/boone NC
Looking to take the girl down for a long weekend and wondering where is the cleanest, most cost efficient place to stay? What are good beaches? Also, is there a beach you can drive out on for the day?
 
Are you set on Wilmington, or just the area? Just south of Wilmington is Carolina/Kure beach, you can drive out on the beach on the north or south side, $20 per day IIRC. As far as a quiet beach, I prefer going down a little further south to Oak Island, it is a lot slower paced and more family oriented, so not much nightlife except Dairy Queen, but the beach is great during the day, especially if you drive down to the point. Southport is between Oak Island and Carolina beach, there is great food there (Provisions) and a great small downtown to walk around. There isn't much of a beach there, but you can take the ferry from there to Ft Fisher/Kure/Carolina beach. We usually stay in OKI, then go up to SPT for a day to walk around/eat, and then usually will make a day out of taking the ferry to Kure to drive around on the beach/fish/enjoy the peace.
 
Fort Fisher is the most quiet beach in the area. You can drive right up to the water and throw your line in if fishing is your game. Freeman park on the north end of carolina beach is not so quiet but you can camp mon the beach and have a fire for cooking. As long as it's not a holiday weekend, it's usually not too crowded.
 
I stay at Caswell Beach every year. I also don't miss a chance to ride the Southport Ferry over to Fort Fisher. Take a pack of crackers so you can feed the nazi seagulls from the back of the ferry. They'll eat right out of your hand!
 
cburgin said:
where is the cleanest, most cost efficient place to stay?
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Are you familiar with Wilmington? If not, you should really think about staying somewhere outside of Wilmington. A large portion of Wilmington is a toilet someone forgot to flush. If you go downtown at night, there are some nice places (Front St Brewery, slice of Life, etc) but you need to be aware of your personal security.

The advice above is good advice. If you like small town quiet, then Southport is good. The ferry is right there to take you to the drive on beaches (Ft Fisher is a mile from the ferry landing and is a lot better then Freeman park if you like quiet. Oak Island has nice beaches and is just a few minutes from Southport.
 
Decomp said:
I stay at Caswell Beach every year. I also don't miss a chance to ride the Southport Ferry over to Fort Fisher. Take a pack of crackers so you can feed the nazi seagulls from the back of the ferry. They'll eat right out of your hand!
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I secretly want to throw you overboard, especially the day my Jeep got parked on the back end of the ferry and your pet seagulls decided to repaint the interior of my TJ with the top off.
 
I like to look around the boat. You can tell exactly who is getting pissed! I thought the boat crew would get pissed, but they are the ones that told me about it.
 
Decomp said:
I like to look around the boat. You can tell exactly who is getting pissed! I thought the boat crew would get pissed, but they are the ones that told me about it.
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Lol, I was on the Ocracoke ferry a few weeks ago, the captain made an announcement, "would ferry passengers please not feed the seagulls." About 2 minutes later, he said "Ma'am, in the blue dress, this means YOU!".
 
Kure or Ft Fisher. I usually stay at Kure. Seven Seas is a decent place to stay and it's right by the pier if you like fishing.
 
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