Bald Head Island Tour Part 1

Last week, we spent part of the week at our family beach house on Caswell Beach, NC which is on Oak Island. This is our home away from home. It's a small beach with surrounding local and historical flair to include the treasured Southport that I've talked about frequently.

Bald Head Island is right across from Caswell Beach. It's a short ferry ride. We decided to take the ferry over for the day and explore. I took my camera with the purpose of giving you a tour of its beauty and uniqueness.

Enjoy this pictorial tour of Bald Head Island, NC showcasing area homes!

This is the ferry station taken from the ferry as we were leaving to head to Bald Head. The beauty is obvious, but what makes it unique? When you arrive at the ferry station, you park you car in the lot. Fabulous ferry attendants load all of your luggage and belongings onto the ferry for you. Three of my nephews have worked at the ferry during the summers while in college and lived at the beach house. They make killer tip money each summer. You do not have a car! When you get to the island, you travel on your owned or rented golf cart.

Golf carts, bikes and your feet are your method of transportation while you stay on the island. It is just wonderful. What you get is a quiet and automobile pollution free stay.

You do pay a round trip ferry fee which includes transport of luggage to your accommodations.

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We did a day trip which is available to the public not staying on Bald Head. You will need to call ahead and check rates. I believe they vary depending on the time of the year. We were given free passes that day…we had a connection. 🙂 I believe that day they were $16 per person. That price does keep loads of people from flocking in, but does make for nice day.

Our view as we awaited to depart for Bald Head Island.

Our view of Historic Southport on the ride.

This is the Oak Island Lighthouse on Caswell Beach (our beach).

Here is the marina area of Bald Head Island. Bald Head is unique in that it has what I'd call 3 distinct areas of living: marina area in town, off-beach wooded areas, and beach area.

There are 7 locations for coffee, ice cream, snacks and dining. This is where we had lunch. We were allowed to dine on the porch with Bentley, our Westie. I had one of the best steak quesadillas that I've ever had here. When we first arrived, we reserved a gold cart for 2 hours that we scheduled to pick up after lunch.

We even had time to shop in the gift shop. The gift shop is fabulous. Not only do they have a wonderful selection of t-shirts and souvenirs, they have gorgeous summer wear. I was quite impressed. The prices were better that I'd expect at such an exclusive area.

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This is the beach area right by the marina. These homes are a bit different that your traditional beach house you'll see later. Aren't they gorgeous!

Loving this weathered, rustic look.

I think I could easily live here all summer! I found this interesting fact sheet about the island that you can find HERE. Bald Head is 12,000 acres. It has 1,120 residences with about 220 year-round residents. According to a Realtor that I spoke with while there, about 18 children take the ferry ride to school.

This is Old Baldy, the oldest standing lighthouse in NC.

You can see how it has been patched and repaired through the years.

There is a museum here that you can visit for I believe $6. We didn't go since we only had the golf cart for 2 hours and had the pup.

This is the area that is more wooded with glorious live oaks.

See how secluded it is. There are homes throughout this area. Photos were hard here with the landscape and how dark it was in the shade.

Here is one home in the wooded area. It is a beauty and for sale. To my joy there was also an open house in progress. We got to talk with the Realtor on duty. It was interesting talking with him about the area. We were the only ones there at the time. He allowed me to take interior photos. Be sure to come back for Part 2 when I share this home. Part 3 will showcase homes from more of the marina beach area.

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You can take my 3 part tour of Southport, NC HERE and HERE and HERE.

The Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven was filmed in Southport, NC. This was the store that Josh Duhamel's character owned. Ashlyn and I got to hang out and watch the filming. We got to also meet Josh Duhamel and Julian Hough. You can see set photos and scene shots HERE and HERE.