We decided to meet at my sister Mary Payne’s beach house. If you’ve never been to Bald Head it is different from anywhere you’ve ever been. There are no cars, only golf carts.

You fly into Wilmington. It’s 45 minutes (lots of driving services available) to the marina to catch the ferry. Then you hop on the ferry to the island. It’s about 20 minutes.

If you can’t make the ferry, it’s sold out or the times aren’t quite right you take the private ferry. It’s super fast.

Old Baldy is the name of the lighthouse. It’s the oldest standing lighthouse.

The island is very protected and not overly developed. There are miles of beaches, marshes and forest. The Forest has live oaks with beautiful moss hanging from them. The Island is a turtle nesting sanctuary.

It is also very quiet. You don’t realize how used to car/traffic noise we are. Most everything shuts down between 9 PM and 10 PM. All of the workers have to be off the island by 10 I believe and they take a contractor ferry back to Southport. 

There are 2 “clubs”. One is basically a pool and beach club. It’s called Shoals Club. It’s located on Cape Fear Point. Bald Head Island Club has tennis, pickleball, croquet, golf and swimming. Each one has a couple of different dining choices.

There is a nice spa called Island Retreat spa. Another massage spot (10/10)has opened at a Wellness Clinic. I highly recommend Mary Beth at Willow Bald Head.https://willowonbaldhead.glossgenius.com/

There is a small but stocked grocery store, tiny busy post office, shopping (Bald Head Blues, Monkees, etc)and dining.

A big part of everyone’s day is alligator 🐊 searching and bird watching. There are ospreys, herons and egrets.

Sunsets are magnificent. The Atlantic Ocean meets Cape Fear River making great views.

We played Music Bingo one afternoon and did ok. We played Trivia one afternoon and did terrible. It was embarrassing. I joined a mahjong group one afternoon and had a blast plus I won 2x.