Category Archives: beach

Jennette’s Pier

In 1990, I was privileged to be appointed to an advisory committee for the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island. I believe in the power of public education, and have remained with them ever since.

The North Carolina Aquariums are unique in that, North Carolina is the only state in the country to have 3 different and distinct facilities dispersed along the coast. Last week we hosted a joint advisory committee meeting, including advisors from Pine Knoll Shores and Fort Fisher. On a blustery Saturday morning, the group went to see the new Jennette’s Pier under construction. It is an amazing feat of engineering, and will be owned and operated by the North Carolina Aquariums.

For folks that love fishing piers or aquariums, it will provide a special one-of-a-kind experience, when finished. At 1000 feet long, it will have a 2-story pier house and alternative energy support. Ground breaking was in May of 2009 and completion is scheduled for May of 2011.

More information can be found at https://www.ncaquariums.com/

A concrete piling rests on the south trestle, ready for installation.

This photo shows the pier house going up and piling arrangement from the work platform, or south trestle.

This view of the pier construction from the 2nd floor of the pier house, shows the south trestle to the right. It is a temporary work platform, and will be removed.

This is the view from the pier house, facing west toward Sam & Omie’s Restaurant. Beyond is the bridge to Manteo.

New lease on life

Before I sign off on Serendipity, I want to show the new location. The picture tells it like it is. Today with the sun setting after a beautiful winter day, Serendipity already looks idyllic on site.

In 1991, Serendipity was only a couple years old. Roger Meekins, the original developer of the Mirlo Beach subdivision had asked me to make some photographs for him. He was proud of the new development, and especially proud of Serendipity.

As you can see from this 1991 aerial view, there was plenty of dune and beach way back then. That’s Serendipity on the far right.

Serendipity, the moving experience

The somewhat legendary house called Serendipity has been moved away from the S- curve and out of harm’s way, at least for a while. For the current owners’ sake, I hope a good while. They plan to restore the building to it’s cinema screen glory and rent it to visitors. If popularity has anything to do with it, it should rent pretty well.

The media and public interest in it’s relocation has been extraordinary. Last Friday, before a hundred curious onlookers, it was removed from it’s piling foundation and lowered onto I-beams supported on big tires. The weather window was ideal, especially for this time of year. It was brought back from the beach to the edge of highway 12, where it sat until this morning for the big move.

As I entered the arena today, there was a helicopter up for an aerial view, and what seemed like at least a couple hundred spectators. Others involved were Dare County Sherriff’s Department, State Troopers, electric coop workers, cable TV people, firefighters, EMT’s and more. The place was bustling with activity, all swirling around Serendipity.

As for myself, the moving aspect was interesting, but the general spectacle of the people taking it all in was equally interesting.

More troubles at the S-Curve

Just as NCDOT people are working feverishly to bring some semblance of normalcy back to the S-Curve portion of highway 12, another weather system hits. At high tide this morning, the new dune area was breached and suddenly there’s 2 feet of sea water on the road. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again.

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This looks like a repeat of the last northeaster.

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Traffic moves slowly, one lane at a time, while DOT equipment continues working.

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The Outer Banks can be hell on your vehicle

Even with the new alternative road bed paved just west of the old pavement, the reconstructed dune line going in, complete with huge sandbags, it looks like a loosing battle to me. I wish I could say differently, but at this stage of the game, that’s how I feel about it. And with the storm season only beginning, it’s going to be a long winter, as far as this is concerned.

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Condemnation notice.

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Jacuzzi anyone?

Editing a Storm

This blog entry was originally posted on November 19, 2009

Now that the storm is over, the memory still lingers. Many of us also have images to refreshen those memories. Some of my favorites have already been published on this blog. But I have a few more to share.

At one point, during the fury of the storm the sun popped out for a little while. The seas were building and the water was swirling across the shore. Walking the area of Mirlo Beach, I could see that this was just getting more intense. I can’t explain taking pictures in this situation. It’s almost as though another sense kicks in. I’m surrounded by vibrant, visual energy, and I have to enclose portions of that in the viewfinder. Some shots, I know have impact as they are taken, but many come as surprises, later in the editing process.

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