Carolina Beach

Last January, for the Martin Luther King weekend, we went up to Asheville, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Since then, we have been intending to try out one of the NC beaches, but had not had the opportunity until now.

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It turns out that someone we know owns a three bedroomed, two and a half bathroomed (Translation: two bathrooms and a toilet) condominium that overlooked Carolina Beach. They lent us the keys for a weekend away. We drove down on the Friday evening after school and came back on the Sunday, spending all day Saturday at Carolina Beach.

Carolina Beach

The town itself is not beautiful, but the beach boasts lovely big Atlantic waves and a warmth that comes from the Gulf Stream. The area of the beach that we were in was very long and narrow, even at low tide, but one doesn't have to go out far from the shore to be quite deep. There is also a fairly strong undercurrent, so if a wave knocks you off your feet, it's not always easy to get up again.

Carolina Beach is also famous for the invention of the Carolina Shag. One might think that the Shag did not need inventing; that it has been around since Adam and Eve; and that it comes fairly naturally to most people. However, the sign in the picture does not point the way to a house of ill repute, but to a dance hall. The Carolina Shag dance craze started on the North/South Carolina coast and the term "Carolina Shag" was supposedly coined at Carolina Beach, where this picture was taken.