What do I bring to the beach?
Most beach house and condo units I have visited do not include linens - you
are expected to bring your own, or rent them. So, make sure to plan for that.
So, plan to bring:
- Bed Linens
- Towels, washcloths
- Beach towels
- Beach toys and chairs (but see below)
- Clothes
- That favorite toy/blanket/stuffed animal
- Suntan lotion
What do I not need to bring to the beach?
Our beach house has lots of extras, so you do not need to bring too
much. We have picked up these things from yard sales and the sort. For example, we have in the house:
- A kitchen with all of the appliances you could imagine needing (i.e.
coffee maker - with spare carafe, can opener, toaster, electric skillet,
blender/food processor).
- Cooking skillets, pans, oven pans, casserole dishes, bowls, utensils,
kitchen towels, washcloths, dish/utensil place settings for twelve.
- In the living room we have DVD and VHS movies, Playstation games, radio,
20 decks of cards (no kidding - they seem to multiply), poker chips, lots of
board games, 20 or so books (adult and children).
- You can do all the laundry you need - we have a washer and dryer, ironing
board, iron, laundry basket - so bring detergent.
- One bedroom has some toys - read the renter
comments and you will see them mentioned several times!
- We have lots of deck chairs, including four rocking chairs. We also
have a picnic table at ground level.
- We have made the ground-level closet available to renters (this is not
often done by owners). Inside you have access to a charcoal grill, a
few beach chairs, some boogie boards/skim boards, a bike, and scooter, and
some beach toys.
- We have added a "beach wagon" in the ground-level closet. This
wagon will be especially helpful for bringing chairs, buckets, and coolers
to the beach, or to the pool.
If you want to "make a donation" to the shared stuff, we are
looking for a few tennis rackets, tennis balls, bikes, and bike helmets.
Feel free to leave your book, too.
What should I NOT bring to the beach?
- Pets are not allowed on the property (including on the decks and in the
house). A nearby kennel is Diamond A Kennels (910-575-3141) and
Companion Kennel (910-754-7282). The realtor says that several of
their customers use these kennels each year and they have heard no
complaints.
- Smoking is not allowed in the unit.
- Fireworks - they are not allowed on the entire island.
- Your work laptop. Hey, it's a vacation! But, if you need to check in
often, there is wireless internet in the unit during the summer season.
Check the living room table for the password.
What do I buy at the beach?
There are several good stores in the area (IGA, Food Lion, Lowes Food, Walmart
Supercenter), so you can usually wait to reach the beach before you buy some of
these items:
- Food and condiments
- Coffee (we have a coffee maker)
- Crabs/seafood (we have a large steam pot for crabs)
- Ice (the unit has an icemaker in the freezer, but you may need more if you
bring coolers to the beach)
- Mixed-drink items (we have a blender)
- Dishwasher and laundry detergent
- Paper towels, napkins, toilet paper
A note about alcohol: the state of NC has "Alcoholic Beverage
Commission" stores which are the only stores that sell liquor (for your
frozen drinks!). They are not open on Sundays, and rarely are open past
9:00 p.m. The closest location is at 59 Causeway Dr, OIB, on the island,
right as you cross the bridge (next to Sharky's).
Grocery stores sell beer and wine all week (but not until noon on Sundays).
Just a few beach house rules (to help us out!)
There are some things you can do to help us make the house last a long
time. In addition to the no-smoking and no-pets rule:
- Do everything you can to keep sand out of the house. Sand has sharp
edges that cut carpeting, scratch tubs, and clog washers and drains.
Please use the ground-level shower to rinse off sand. Don't forget,
piles of sand can get into kid's swim suits.
- Grill only on ground level. In fact, it is an OIB law that you
cannot grill on a deck.
- Don't forget to leave things in the house that were there before. We
have been lucky to have only an iron disappear.
- Things will break. If a tape goes bad or you break a dish, let us or
the realtor know. We actually have a full set of dishes in the owners
closet for replacements.
- Feel free to keep the place clean during your stay - we have brooms and a vacuum
cleaner in a closet.
- To prevent a bug infestation, we do not allow our kids to bring food in
the bedrooms.
- The owners closet does not contain anything good - we have no booze or
special electronics there. We just have a few tools, linens, and
replacement parts.
To rent our beach house at Ocean Isle Beach, NC, go
to our page here.
This page maintained by James Conrad.
Copyright 1994-2009 James M. Conrad. All rights reserved.
Last updated 2009-03-17