Ocracoke Waves

December on the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 04:05:00 +0000

It is hard to believe that the four days leading up to Christmas Eve have had temperatures over 65F along North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks. While it has been a warm winter so far on the east coast, it has been terrific along the south facing beaches of the Crystal Coast.

The Crystal Coast runs roughly from Beaufort, NC to Swansboro, NC. It is just enough off the beaten path to miss the huge crowds during the summer. Most of us living here year round enjoy the few weeks each year that we have tourists. The area seems festive and busy for about eight weeks during the summer.

Then we slide into the fall which is the favorite season for most of us. The water is warm, the beaches are empty, and this fall the fish were biting. It is the best time to be on the coast. As the fall progresses and the water cools, the fish don't bite as much, and most of the fishermen start thinking about next year.

As late November arrives, usually we cool down considerably. That didn't happen this year. December has been full of days when the temperature got to seventy degrees and even better. It has been shorts weather all through our last month of 2012. There have been some stellar beach days.

When the holidays get close, the beach gets very quiet. A few restaurants close for part of December and January. As the new year gets into sight, residents often wander inland to visit family and friends. A lucky few enjoy the piece and quiet along the waters along Bogue Sound and our coastal rivers as Santa makes his rounds.

With crab pot Christmas trees adorning many yards, and few places to go crazy shopping, the peace of the Crystal Coast seems to remove some of the commercialism from the holiday season. It is a very quiet time on the coast, but there are still boats on the water and even a few fishermen trying their luck. The beaches, while uncrowded, are far from deserted. You can still buy some fresh shrimp and a nice flounder for dinner without much difficulty.

Only during the coldest weather do the beaches become completely empty. When we do get our cold weather, usually defined by temperatures during the day of just under 50F, the herons, egrets, and pelicans retire to the sheltered creeks and marshes where they find protection from the cold winds.

Winter rarely lasts long. Even last year's record winter started to fade in the middle of February. By the end of February the warm North Carolina sun always heats up the soils of Carteret County. By March things are starting to grow, and sometime between late March and the middle of April, the strawberries announce the beginning the berry season.

By late April or early May, the fishing begins to show some life. The tourists start showing up on weekends during the spring, and by the second or third week of June, we're back to being a tourist beach.

The rhythm of life along the Crystal Coast doesn't change a lot. It is a pleasant mix of warm and cool weather with plenty of outside festivals to keep us busy. We have visitors just long enough to make us feel festive.

Join us in the coming year if you have never been or you can't make it down for the 2012 holidays. If you need to relax and find the real you once again, we are a good place to start looking. More information is available on this welcome page.

Fall on the Crystal Coast

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 02:40:00 +0000

We're lucky along North Carolina's Crystal Coast. Fall sometimes is the most gentle time of the year. It is not unusual to wake to cool mornings, but by the time you get moving around after a cup or two of coffee, the air temperature is already quickly warming. With little humidity, a bright sun, and cloudless skies, you cannot complain about the weather, especially the beautiful brilliant blue skies. By late morning, it is usually warm enough for shorts and a tee shirt. Fall in 2011 has been just such a year.

The weather is so good that it is easy to forget the work that needs to be done. In the last week, I have boated, walked the beaches, kayaked, biked and fished. Saturday afternoon, November 12, I was so tired from paddling around the river, that I couldn't help myself from a little napping.

It was one of those perfect naps where you are still aware of what is happening, but your mind is resting peacefully. The warm sun was shining on me, and my interest in football was so little that napping seemed much more important.

This summer we were on a roller coaster of weather. Fall, however, has been pretty amazing in comparison. There are times that I have suggested that the weather was good enough to bottle. At the same time, we have had more moisture than we did during the summer. The fall plants have been gorgeous. We still have some beautiful geraniums and our hydrangea has some great blooms on it.

Unlike the bluegrass and fescue yards of the Piedmont and mountains to the west of us, our centipede yards have been dormant for a while. No grass to mow just gives us more time for the important fall things like fishing. We have also managed to plant our fall snap dragons and pansies. We will enjoy their blooms all through the winter.

The week of November 7, 2001 has been the best week that I have had for fishing in a while. I have fished three times this week. One day my fishing was just a few minutes, and the other two days, I fished for a couple of hours. I caught fish each time, and on November 12, I caught a nice 20" trout that weighed 2 lbs and 3 oz. The trout was the perfect size for dinner for two. It is nice to have fish in my backyard. This week it didn't seem to matter whether I was in my kayak or skiff, I was catching fish.

Water access here along North Carolina's Crystal Coast cannot be beat, and in late fall, there are no crowds. If you want to get on the water, there are plenty of places to do it even with the Cedar Point Wildlife Resources Ramp being closed for a month, it is still easy to find a spot to launch. Even if you just want to walk the beaches, there are plenty of places to do that. It is also cool enough to walk the trails at the Cedar Point Croatan Access.

I watch a couple of the beach areas, Emerald Isle's Third Street and the Point, pretty closely, and it is not unusual for the beaches to change from day to day even in the fall. We were at Third Street about a month ago, and were surprised to find a huge amount of sand had disappeared. About a month later, the waves put the sand back.

On Thursday, November 11, I walked about 2.5 miles along the beaches at the Point on Emerald Isle. I wore shorts and a tee-shirt, and I was very comfortable even wading in the water at times. While the water is cool, it isn't bone chilling like it is in early spring.

The only problem that I have this time of year is that there isn't enough daylight left to do everything that I want to do. I have to pick and choose my activities, which is okay since I would rather have too much to do than not enough.

It you have never visited the Emerald Isle-Crystal Coast area, there is no better time to do it than fall. The annual Christmas Parade in Emerald Isle is coming up soon on November 26. This is a movie of the 2008 event. The town always loves to have visitors. Without lots of visitors during the parade, there is always a risk that there will be more people in the parade than there are watching it.

When you drive across the Emerald Isle bridge this time of year and look out at Bogue Sound, it is hard to not be impressed with the beauty of the scene, the blues, greens, and golds are never prettier than they are now. The view like many others in the area will renew soul and stretch your imagination.

If you need some quick information on the area, visit my website and download the PDF of interesting things to do and places to eat. It even has a map. While the brochure was done for summer many of the activities are still on my fall list.

High water at the dock

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:09:00 +0000

The more that the out of doors is part of your life, the more attention that you pay to the weather.   Yet each place you live usually requires paying attention to different things.

Not many in this generation of Americans have the experience of spending most of their lives in one area. I have some family members who are living within ten miles of where their grandfather and great grandfather were living in 1910. I have some friends in Canada living in a settlement not far from where their families first put down roots in the late eighteen hundreds.

I never got the chance to walk the banks of the long gone millpond where my mother grew up with her family. My grandfather and the millpond were gone before I had a chance to learn about them, but I did get to visit the site of the old dam once. I still remember the walk through the woods.

I can imagine that if you were living on a millpond, dependent on water flow in small stream, when and how much it rained would have been very important. However, the first public weather forecasts did not show up until 1925. My mother and the family had moved away from the millpond by then.

The early years of my own life showed a strong taste for wanderlust. I moved to Saint Croix Cove on the shore of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, and only marriage stopped me from giving Newfoundland a try. When we lived in Nova Scotia one of the most important things in weather during the summer was fog.   A partner and I were trying to farm with a few head of cattle. Making hay in the "summer" was how we got feed for the cattle in the winter.

We lived on the north mountain of the Annapolis Valley. The mountain sloped rapidly down to the Bay of Fundy. The scenic beauty of the area and the charm of the old farm were undeniable. Yet the almost inevitable fog during the summer made it really hard to make good quality hay. As so often has been the case in my life, there was no real local weather forecast. The only way to figure out the fog was to become a keen observer of the signs which were often followed by fog.

We eventually moved to just north of Fredericton, New Brunswick. We happened to end up in Tay Creek, which was know locally as a "snow belt." Our first year there, I measured twenty-three feet of snow. Once again it did not take long to figure out that the only real local forecasts would have to come from us. Fredericton, which is the capital of New Brunswick was twenty miles a way and much lower in elevation. I came to learn that Fredericton could easily be eight degrees Fahrenheit warmer than Tay Creek. In a Maritime climate that makes a huge difference in how much snow you receive.

As we went through our city phase, living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Columbia, MD and eventually Roanoke, Virginia, it was easier to find forecasts that matched reality until we moved to Roanoke where we ended up living on a high mountain above the city. Sometimes the weathermen would call for rain, and we clearly got snow. While living on the mountain was great for getting beautiful sunrises, it made getting an accurate weather forecast challenging.   Once again, we had to learn how to watch the signs and predict our own weather. Fog also came back into our life. There were mornings when the fog made the rest of the world invisible.

Now that we are living on the North Carolina coast, I think we might be in the most complex weather area of our lives. While we have a number of reporting weather stations very close by, it is rare that they can accurately forecast our weather. When I see a long range forecast I just chuckle knowing that the odds of it being right are very slim.

Yet here at the coast, weather is a huge part of our lives. We have to get ready for events like Hurricane Irene, and often what we are hearing from the weathermen is more focused on other areas than our spot just off the White Oak River. When Irene visited, I took to issuing my own forecasts to a number of neighbors. It was helpful to me and them. Things are a lot different than in the days of the millpond. Much of the information needed for a forecast is there, you just have to know were to look and how to interpret it.

It is October 11, and for days we have been hearing about a tropical low that forecasters were guessing would dump up to three inches of rain on our area. Three inches of rain doesn't mean a lot to our area which has seen some extreme precipitation over the years. However, the forecasters were also calling for high winds and tides. I knew to watch the morning tide to see if I needed to raise my boat a few inches. Sure enough, at about 11 AM, I had to raise my boat little. However, so far the rain total is only eleven hundredths of an inch at 1 PM and the sky is significantly lighter than when we got up this morning. I suspect that my feeling that most of the rain was going to miss us is going to play out accurately.

Snow, heavy rain, and fog might not be problems here, but high water and winds can make us pay close attention to the weather. The attention we pay is not much different I suspect than how my grandfather watched for rains around the millpond. I would love to know if he got some great weather suitable for bottling just like we have recently seen.

A perfect beach day is always around the corner

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:39:00 +0000

Few people on the east coast would disagree with the statement that "This has been a hot summer." There are also plenty of folks in the southwest that are still being slowly baked. The middle of August uncharacteristically has turned out to be a lucky time to be on North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks. August certainly doesn't have a history of being a time when we have our most pleasant weather.

However, the one thing about living at the beach is that you get to hang around until the weather turns perfect for a beach trip even if it is in the middle of August.

July 2011 was the hottest July that we have seen in our five years of living in the Crystal Coast portion of North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks. The Crystal Coast is often defined as the area in Carteret County from Emerald Isle to Atlantic Beach sometimes including Beaufort. For all practical purposes, the area runs from Swansboro in Onslow County to the east to Beaufort in Carteret County.

Usually in our little piece of paradise, July can be a relatively pleasant month. Sometimes we have have our windows open at night and in the morning through early July. This year things warmed up quickly, and the heat was almost inescapable except for a few nights in July when we were able to have our windows open.

The heat of the 2011 season has been compounded by a stubborn drought which started in early May and is still clinging to the area. With the drought came some wildfires which were started by lightning in some large natural preserves. Three have been three of those this summer, and we have had some days when we needed to escape the smoke. You know it is dry when the swamps are catching on fire.

Since we live near the beach, we go to the beach a lot especially to escape the heat. This spring, I walked all the beaches within the town limits of Emerald Isle at least three times. That is a lot of beach walking. I am approaching 100 miles of beach walking for the season. It is not unusual for me to go for a noon beach walk over on the beautiful sand at the Point. However, when the heat is on, even I avoid the beaches.

In July 2011 and the early part of August hotter than normal temperature that kept me away from the beach more than I like. Even our evenings were warm, and the area waters heated up so quickly that there was little relief from the day's heat even at night. It was still more pleasant at the beach, it just wasn't pleasant enough to lure me out regularly.

So when the middle of August 2011 rolled around and our high temperatures dropped to the upper eighties from the low nineties, and we had some lows in the sixties, I knew it was time to get back to the beaches.

I boat several times a week during the summer, so I am acutely aware of the winds. I will often take our skiff down to the marshes on the other side of the Intracoastal Waterway at Swansboro. It is a good way to know what the water temperature is doing and how the winds are blowing.

On August 16, my morning boat ride told me that the White Oak River had cooled to slightly under 80F which was a drop of almost eight degrees in a week. I also found some steady winds from the north. In my mind, that along with the day's beautiful blue skies, set up the possibility of nearly perfect beach conditions.

We had some errands to run early in the afternoon which was fine since low tide wasn't until 4 PM. I enjoy the beach on a falling tide or even right at low tide. It is the best time for a beach walk. It didn't take us long to finish our chores, and head across the bridge to the beaches of Emerald Isle.

This time of year when some of the larger beach areas can be crowded, it doesn't take much to convince me to drive east along the beach for a few miles. Somewhere just before mile marker 12.5 we usually turn right off of Emerald Drive and then left onto Ocean Drive until we get to Third Street Beach. It is one of our favorites. It is rarely crowed, and there is a nice picnic table with platform where my wife can relax if she doesn't want to get her feet wet.

I almost always want to get my feet wet, and August 16 was no exception. While I didn't go on one of my long beach walks, I did stand knee deep in the surf and enjoy what I thought was nearly perfect water with just the right amount of breeze under a wonderful blue sky. There was just enough heat in the air to make the water pleasant. August 16 was a perfect beach day, and I am glad that I knew enough to head over to the beaches and grab a taste of it. This is a YouTube video that I made while standing in the surf.

I am hoping it is just the first of many this season since we are headed slowly but surely towards fall which is often the best time to come to the beach.

Fourth July 2011 on the Southern Outer Banks

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 03:13:00 +0000

The beach and boating season is here. It has been a challenge to enjoy the last couple of weeks. Finally as June departed we got a taste of our blue skies which have been hidden a number of days by smoke from North Carolina's two large coastal wildfires.

We have been prisoners of the fickle winds which control whether or not we have blue sky and sun or just smoke. It has been been strange waiting for the smoke to go away so we can get out on the water. We have had enough bad mornings that I was happy recently when I figured out that we were having a fog event instead of another smoke attack.

Our preparations for the Fourth always include some early grocery shopping. One of the things you don't do on the Southern Outer Banks if you are a local is go to the grocery store on the Fourth of July weekend for any significant shopping. You might sneak in for a few items, but a major grocery trip is not a good idea. If you happen to live actually on the beach at Emerald Isle, it is unlikely you could find a parking place at Food Lion even if you wanted one.

The other option would be to leave the island, but then you would have to come back across the bridge which can take a long time. Most holiday weekends leaving the island if you are a resident or visiting the island if you are a local main-lander is not a good idea, but this July 2 was even worse than normal. Some of the longest traffic backups since 2005 were seen in the area according to some knowledgeable locals whose opinions I respect.

I did have to go out to place some real estate flyers on Saturday, July 2, so we rode down to Swansboro. If you have never been to Swansboro, Front Street is a something of a challenge even when there is little or no traffic. The main street is a two way street with parking on both sides of it, but unfortunately there is only room for one lane of traffic. Locals tend to operate by the rule of the biggest vehicle gets the right of way. With the holidays, we have a lot of folks who have no idea of the way things work. They often refuse to yield on Front Street so it doesn't take much for the whole system to fall apart and gridlock to take over Swansboro's main street. We were close to that yesterday for a short while. It is a good thing Front Street has a high quotient of cuteness with lots of little shops.

Fortunately we lucked into a great parking spot at the far end of Front Street, I went to deliver the flyers to the tourist office while my wife checked out the crafts fair by the new Pavilion where the Fourth of July concert will take place on Monday, July 4..

Afterwards we had lunch at Church Street Deli. The sandwiches were delicious but at $8.95 each they were a little pricy for what we got. My wife's Reuben was the best choice. We should have gone across Hwy 24 and eaten at Trattoria like we usually do. There a split cheese steak sub is more than enough for the two of us and the meal is five dollars cheaper. After lunch we headed back towards Cape Carteret with the plan of dropping some clothing off at the local consignment shop. We never made it to that stop.

Traffic was backed up in both lanes of Highway 24 all the way from the bridge to Walston's Hardware so we took a back way through Marsh Harbour over to old Highway 58 and then VFW Road which brought us back to Highway 58 North and the way home to Bluewater Cove.

Later I had a form to deliver to our real estate office so we headed out again at around 3 PM. Unfortunately traffic was even worse. After getting the form to the office and making some copies of a flyer, we took the long way once again and went home for good.

Still it is great to see lots of people here. I am willingly yielding my home turf for a few days. I was at the beach July 1 and out on our boat on June 30 so I am happy to wait until July 5 before venturing over to the beach or dropping our boat into the water again. The local businesses need the traffic to survive the quiet season, but I do wish people wouldn't drive like idiots.

I had a car full of youngsters zig zag around me at close to sixty miles per hour after I pulled out of the real estate office. The speed limit by the office is thirty-five, and usually anyone driving over forty-five will get a quick ticket. Yesterday my only satisfaction was they got caught in the mess at the intersection and had to wait to pass me yet again another mile down the road.

We get the privilege of living here all year so sharing the beach with tourists for a few days isn't much to ask. Our area is a little off the beaten path. That is one of the reasons we chose the area. It has always been my experience that the easier the beach is to reach, the higher percentage of bad tourists that you get.

Fortunately you cannot take an interstate highway directly to us. We are a location which takes a little work to find, and I think that the people who come here in general come because they love the area. They often come year after year and mostly treat the area like their home. Of course there are always exceptions, but I don't think we have as many exceptions as some of the more convenient beaches. It doesn't hurt to have Emerald Isle's very efficient police department either.

So I welcome those who come for a visit and want the area to stay as nice as it is now for their children's children. The world needs more people like that, and I am proud that we are the vacation spot for many of them.

I have a webpage with quick links to information about the area. There is a link on the page for a downloadable PDF map for those who would like a visual aid for my narrative. Or if you are in the area, you can pick one up at the local tourist bureaus.

A May to remember on the Southern Outer Banks

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 02:26:00 +0000

While summer has been elusive to many people in the Northeast and Canada, it has found us along the Crystal Coast of North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks.

Anyone who is worried about not having enough warmth along the beaches in late spring of 2011 should immediately banish those thoughts.

On the last day of May 2011, the temperature along our coast soared into the upper nineties. Those temperatures are rare any time of the year here, and almost unheard of in May. With all the warm air, the water temperature along the beaches of Emerald Isle has been pushed to 80F.

While some places above the Mason-Dixon line have been straining to see the sun, we have seen no significant rain since May 7. The skies have been blue, and sometimes clouds have been completely absent. And for the most part, we have had steady breezes to keep us relatively cool in the warmth.

Unfortunately our winds died down somewhat on May 31 which I'm sure will turn out to be the hottest day we have seen in a long time. If I heard the forecast correctly, the winds are coming back later in the week.

Stunning is perhaps the best way to describe most of our May beach weather. Even with the weather being fantastic, we have just seen our first crowds this Memorial Day weekend.

One of my many beach hikes took me to Emerald Isle's Point at lunch during the week before Memorial Day. The beach was almost empty. With so much great weather, it has been challenging figuring out the best ways to enjoy the area.

All the water at our doorstep tends to push me towards boating and kayaking with some fishing thrown in for good measure, but this spring, I have spent a lot of time hiking the beaches.

In addition to beach and water time, the weekends have been filled with things to do. If you mix the local festivals with great water access and some fantastic weather, you get the essence of the Crystal Coast.

2011 has been a great spring to be on the coast, and if you are thinking of moving, there is no better time to start checking out potential homes or cottages.

April at the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:45:00 +0000

Lots of folks think the only nice time to be at the beach is after the middle of June. While it is true that the ocean water is warmer in mid-June, there is a lot to be said for an April beach visit.

One of the nicest things about coming to the beach in April is that there is so much space that you will think that you own the beach. Most people don't swim in the water anyway, so if you are just looking to relax on the beach, is April really a good time to visit North Carolina's Crystal Coast.

As it is with much in life, the answer is "It depends." The only way that you can count on beach weather is to live here and never leave. Then you will be assured of finding some great weather. You can, however, find some great weather in April along North Carolina Southern Outer Banks which tend to warm up faster than the more famous beaches of Nags Head, Duck, and Manteo. Still whether or not you beach visit will be a great one does depend on the weather, and that varies from year to year.

April 2011 through April 20 has been a stellar month with mild temperatures and very little rain. While we have seen our share of wind, it has mostly been wind that could be ignored. We can have wind here that is very hard to ignore, but so far in April 2011, the wind hasn't kept me off of the beach very much.

So if your April beach trip is somewhat dependent on the short term weather, it means that you might be better off waiting until the last minute to book your trip. Actually for most of April that will likely work. Easter weekend which this year is April 23 and 24 might be an exception. It is late enough in the year to give people some hope of real warmth, so I am guessing that we will have a good crowd especially since we have some eighties in the forecast. But even if we have a good Easter crowd, it will be nothing like a 4th of July crowd.

On Emerald Isle almost everything stays open all year, so even in early April you can find all the area restaurants and services open. The only thing missing this year at Easter will be our McDonald's in Cape Carteret. The restaurant is being rebuilt. There is also a new Dunkin' Donuts being built in Cedar Point, but it won't be done until summer.

An April beach visit often means that you can get a great deal on accommodations even at the last minute, and still have plenty of space on the beach for yourself. With one or two exceptions, you will likely be able to walk right into most restaurants without a wait.

As of mid-April, the water temperatures are already in the mid-sixties and climbing. I went surf fishing earlier this week, and standing in the water was not a problem. I did see some people out in the water, and not all of them were youngster. However, I figure for the most part that they must be Canadians or New Englanders seeking any hint of ice free water since most locals usually wait until June before they dunk their whole bodies in saltwater.

April weather is certainly nice enough for kayaking on most days as long as the wind hasn't kicked up. I have already been out a couple of times myself. So far it has been a little windy for a whole afternoon of fishing from a skiff, but the wind can stop at any time. You can't enjoy those rare moments unless you are here. I managed to get one short skiff fishing trip in during March but that has been it so far. There will be plenty of time for more fishing as the water warms.

So if you want some pure relaxation, fewer crowds, and lots of room on the beach, come visit us in April. One of the hidden benefits is that in April the weather is so nice that we often sleep with our windows open. It has been nearly three weeks since our heat pumps have run.

I have been walking the beaches regularly, and I can assure you that they are in fine shape for those beach hikes.

And if you need one more reason, the local strawberries are ripe, and as usual, they are delicious. Produce is starting to come to the stands, we had new potatoes and local asparagus for dinner on Tuesday night. There is nothing like fresh produce and some fresh fish with near perfect strawberries for dessert to make you certain that spring is here, and summer is on the horizon.

This is my Emerald Isle Travel Guide to help you plan your trip. You can find out more about the Southern Outer Banks at my Crystal Coast Life Blog.
Here are some pictures that I took on my most recent hike along the beach.

Learning to take the weather in stride

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:44:00 +0000

Most of the US has seen a pretty tough winter with temperatures colder than normal. Here in Carteret County the rumor is that this was the coldest winter in the last 100 years. For the most part the rivers did not freeze over, and our one big snow storm of four inches disappeared within hours of arriving without any shoveling.

However, our weather recently has been so nice that it has been easy to forget that we are in spring and that cooler weather is never far away. Wednesday, March 23, was so nice that a friend and I managed to sneak in an early spring fishing trip. Earlier in the month, I managed to explore all the new sand over at the Point at Emerald Isle. A week later, I even managed a much longer walk on the beach.

All of this was accomplished in shorts and temperatures ranging from the upper sixties to the eighties. It should not surprise anyone that we assumed that spring was here. Even the plants got into the swing of things. Our Bradford pear blooms only lasted a week. The daffodils didn't last but a couple of weeks. Recently we have seen some tulips, wisteria, and even dogwood trees blooming. I even put my tomato plants in the ground the same day that I went fishing.

The pelicans, great blue herons, and white herons that have been hanging around the water behind our home headed off for bigger waters. There were a couple of days when the bluebirds were so noisy that I was sure that spring was entrenched here on the Southern Outer Banks. Even the bait fish in Raymond's Gut which runs out to the White Oak River could hardly stay in the water. They were swarming around our dock and jumping all over the water as I idled my boat out to the river. I even wrote a post talking about figuring out the puzzle being near the water in Carteret County.

Mother Nature sent a warning shot across my bow on Thursday night. I managed to go on my first White Oak River kayaking trip of the 2011 season. It was late in the day when I left our dock, but the temperatures were in the upper seventies. By the time I got back only a little over an hour later, the temperature had dropped to the middle fifties, and the water taken on an appearance not nearly so inviting. The picture at the top of the post was taken about when I figured about that a front had just gone over me and taken away all of my warmth.

Still the next two days weren't so bad. We managed to get into the upper sixties each day. Then came Sunday, March 27. It was a cold day with temperatures in the middle forties when we got out of bed. They actually drifted downwards during the day to the low forties. Areas to the north and west of the Crystal Coast haven't even made it into the forties. Snow has been reported in West Virginia mountains, and the mountains in southwest Virginia and North Carolina are likely to get some snow during the evening of March 27.

It just goes to show you that you cannot count on the weather. While it appeared spring was with us for good, we now have a slight bump in the road. We will have to worry about those blooms on the strawberry plants and my tomato plants. The cold temperatures stretch well into South Carolina and Georgia so we are not alone. However, that is not much comfort. I was hoping for another long beach walk this weekend, but it will have to wait.

It appears that we will be back in the fifties and sixties by the end of the March. I guess we will have to dream a while about the return of those eighties. That is not a problem. This time of year I am used to dreaming about summer days.

Oh well it is nice to see our great blue heron buddy back behind the house for a last visit before spring.

Close to the weather and even closer to reality

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:38:00 +0000

It is something of a local sport listening to weather reports and guessing how long it will take them to catch up with the reality of the local weather.

Living along the coast in the middle of a string of small towns is a lot different than living in a compact urban area under the microscope of a number of weathermen. Urban areas like Northern Virgina, Washington, and Baltimore are only a fraction the size of the coastal area that our weathermen deal with when trying to come up with a forecast.

Carteret County would be about half the area of the combined Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. The problem is that the weathermen looking after our area cover about fifteen counties of which we are only one. Our closest weatherman is three counties away and pretty far inland.

On top of that our weather changes radically depending on where you are in relation to the water. Then there is the little fact that weather systems can form or intensify off our coast. So how many times have you heard the phrase "a low will form off the North Carolina coast?" That would be our area.

Friday morning, February 11, we got a second dose of seeing how difficult it is to come with an accurate forecast in an area as complex and large as coastal North Carolina.

When we listed to the forecast on Thursday night at 11 PM, we were told to expect a few morning showers followed by clearing in the afternoon with a high temperature of around 50F.

Friday morning we even heard the same forecast which was strange since I awoke to blue skies. Unfortunately the blue skies did not last very long. Before nine AM, we were seeing rain showers which not only did not stop but continued until almost ten PM Friday. On top of that our temperatures never got out of the upper thirties much less to 50F.

I would class that as a miss almost as big as our last "snow storm" when we were supposed to get maybe an inch, and we ended up with four to seven inches of snow.

Of course I don't blame the weathermen, it is just difficult to try to guess the weather in a large complex area intermingled with so much water. All it takes is a system moving two or three miles closer to the coast, and our weather is totally different than the weather just a few miles inland.

What happens is that residents stay close to the weather forecasts, but they also have to use some common sense. It you see a line of storms on the horizon, you pay attention to them even if there are no storms in the forecast.

It is not a bad way to live, much of what we hear and see on the television and Internet could use a little more fact checking just like we give our weather forecasts.

Coastal NC, An Interesting Mix of Old and New

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:03:00 +0000

I recently ran into a tide table dated 1969. It came from a restaurant in Morehead City. It is likely that my uncle Austin and I picked it up on a fishing trip that summer nearly forty two years ago.

In those days what is now called the Southern Outer Banks or the Crystal Coast was a pretty undeveloped place. We drove across the bridge at Morehead City and eventually cut over to the beach when the roads disappeared. We managed to drive down to the Point at the end of Emerald Isle.

The Point is a much different place today. The area is filled with homes, Coast Guard Road, and in the summer, a fair number of people. I made a recent visit to the Point to take a picture of snow on the beach and gather material for a post on the colder than normal winter that we have endured this winter of 2010-11.

The previous Saturday a snowstorm had come about as close as you can get to snowing us in down here on the coast. It brought back some memories of years and blizzards in Canada, and even got me to decide that just maybe being snowed in isn't so bad even on the North Carolina coast.

Having a day to contemplate things and fix our computer network gave me a chance to contemplate what an interesting mix of life we have along the North Carolina's beaches.

One the one hand, ancient birds like pelicans are our everyday neighbors. We live in area rich with wildlife. Just today, I have enjoyed herons, pelicans, and hooded merganser ducks, and I have not even walked more than 100 yards from my house. There was also a grey fox that I caught sight of this morning. Having 158,000 acres of the Croatan National Forest on one side and the fifty-six miles of the Cape Lookout National Seashore does not hurt.

Yesterday as I took my afternoon hike, I had to marvel that I was recording my hike with my Android based Droid phone. After I got back I was able to send the GPS track of my hike to my Google maps.

Having 3G phone service here on the edge of the continent is not that amazing given the reach of technology these days. Of course 3G service doesn't come in a lot of flavors down here. If you are an iPhone lover, you might be out of luck. However, Verizon does do a good job here so I guess you could switch carriers if you just cannot live without your iPhone.

Several years ago I wrote a post about the Instant Economy and how easy it is easy to find the services needed to start a business. I was living in Roanoke, VA at the time, and it is a much more populated area than the Southern Outer Banks.

After being down here over four years, I cannot see much difference between the technology I find on the Crystal Coast and what I find in Roanoke. It might be easier to get a Macintosh computer repaired in Roanoke, but that is about the only thing that I can see.

In fact my cable modem service provider is a little more reliable here on the coast. Where our home is in Roanoke, it is still impossible to get Internet phone service through the cable provider. We can do that here on the coast and save a few dollars by bundling television, Internet access, and telephone services.

Winds, storms, and water have a huge impact on our life here at the coast. We are close to the land and sea. We pay attention to the weather, but at the same time, we have all the conveniences of modern society like grocery stores, shopping malls, restaurants, health care services, good schools, and very good roads.

In fact you might say that we get the best of both worlds. Our services and stores end up being over built to handle the short influx of visitors that we have during the summer tourist season. In the winter, late fall, and much of the spring, we are here by ourselves. Our stores and roads are uncrowded, and everything moves to a slower pace. It is not a bad way to live.

We have almost the best of the Internet world in a place where there are still farmers' markets along the roads, and you can still buy local fish fresh off the boasts. It is a little like a wired paradise.

We enjoy the visitors in the summer. They bring some hustle and bustle to a normally very quiet area. Other than crowding the grocery stores some on the weekends, there are almost no challenges that come from our summer visitors. We are blessed with a tourist area made up almost exclusively of single family homes. While there are a few condo complexes sprinkled around, the density of housing for our summer visitors is very low, so we just don't get the crowds that other places have.

It does not hurt that we also have four lane roads coming at the area from two different ends, and that we have the Northern Outer Banks to handle many of the tourists who often have never even heard of our area. Myrtle Beach also helps us by drawing off the golfers, and Wilmington picks up many of the day trippers. We have our own little niche, and in this case it is not so bad to be a niche player.

So while many of us feel very close to the sea and the creatures that swim in it and fly over it, it is very possible to be a person immersed in technology here. You can twitter and post to Facebook just as easily as you can in more urban areas. You might even be more likely to actually know the people online than you would be in a city. While you might not have access to Verizon FIOS, you can probably survive quite well on the technology that you find here on the Southern Outer Banks.

Few people may have heard of Foursquare, but you might find it easier to get to know a real mayor. In fact if you come down and buy a beach house from me, I will make it a point to introduce you to the mayor of Emerald Isle. He is a very nice guy and much more accessible than your average mayor.

I have not seen any limitations that come from living in this beautiful area. That is one of the reasons that I am proud to help people find homes in this special spot. It is a beautiful area, and I am excited to wake up here every morning. You just never know what you might find in the Gut behind our home.

You might even get to do some heron noodling.

Winter Storm on the Horizon at the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 03:28:00 +0000

Here it is the heart of winter. We are supposed to be seeing January average temperatures in the mid-fifties with lows in the mid-thirties.

January 2011 is not turning out that way. We started warm, and it brought some crowds to the beach, but we are going to have to wait until the middle of the month for our next nice weather. We are lucky in that there are four days supposedly on tap in the mid-sixties.

Four warm days could definitely put a dent in winter, but first we have to get through the impending winter storm.

Winter storms are serious things even at the beach. If we are lucky we will just get some cold rain and winds. We could get sleet and freezing rain. With freezing rain comes the danger of power outages.

Of course you don't have to live at the beach to face the threat of power outages because of freezing rain. If I had to bet on those places facing the most impact from freeing rain in this next storm, I would guess a few miles inland all the way to Greensboro and maybe even in to South Carolina.

Looking at this storm in particular, the Greensboro to Raleigh area might be the sweet spot. I have faced plenty of iced up roads in Virginia and Atlantic Canada. Ice in my opinion is never nice. I even have some chains for my feet. They are indispensable when things get really icy on the mountain. Unfortunately they won't me any good hanging in the garage in Virginia.

I doubt that we will not face a situation like the one depicted in the linked pictures. While ice is bad in the flat country of coastal Carolina, it can be deadly in the mountains. Anyone can go up an icy hill, only someone with a divine guiding hand can make it down safely. I am thankful for the absence of hills and mountains in Coastal NC.

Actually I don't even have a snow shovel down here at the beach. Going into our fifth winter, I have yet to see the need for a snow shovel. I hope it stays that way.

While we had good crowds a week ago, yesterday things were quiet almost everywhere including the beach and sound. A little more of this winter weather, and we will have to kick off our annual visits to the museums of the area.

We are about to run out of football to watch, but fortunately the warm Carolina sun should start making itself known fairly soon. Then we can start thinking about gardening and boating. I have to get my tomato plans started very soon.

The first of the week January storm is going to bring us a taste of winter, but as usual I suspect we will come through it in fine shape. I have not heard any predictions of damaging winds or surf.

I can't wait until there are people on the beach once again.

Winter at the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 07:44:00 +0000

While winter is not the most desirable time to visit the beach, there are still things to do and beautiful scenery to enjoy. Sometimes finding a good day for a beach walk becomes something of a challenge, but there are times that Mother Nature will smile upon you.

You can luck into some great winter beach weather. The winter of 2008, I kept track of temperatures during the month of January. We only had 19 hours below freezing for the whole month, and we managed 11 days when we hit 70 degrees or better.

While I did not keep track during January 2010, I know it was much colder. Every year has it cold spells and warm times on the beach. The temperature reached 75F on February 9, 2009. It prompted me to write an article about the great weather.

That day was just a couple weeks after a late January dusting of snow along the beach. Winter time at the beach is actually a huge war between warm and cold air masses. You never quite know which one is going to win.

While in the late fall, we often have the benefit of warm waters to protect us from the cold. By the middle of December, our area waters are cooling off just at the time Canadian air masses often invade the US.

This year, the whole east coast has endured early cold weather that is much colder than normal. Normal December temperatures for the Crystal Coast in December are 58F for the high and 35F for the low. The first week of December 2010 we saw a couple of days when our high temperature barely made it to 35F.

We have seen a year when we did not have a day when the high temperature was lower than 40F.

Considering parts of Maritime Canada were higher than ours last week, the weather the first week of December was a little upside down.

We have not let the cold weather get us down. With a gas fireplace, it takes only a few minutes to warm up a home to the point of it being very toasty. The cold weather is always a great time to get a bowl of stuffed pepper soup from Mike's on the Island or some of the delicious chowder at Nicky's of Swansboro. One day last week, we had a great bowl of vegetable beef soup from Yana Mama's in Swansboro.

Even during this most recent period of cold weather, we have had plenty of sunshine. With the power of the Carolina sun, all you have to do is find a spot out of the wind, and you will likely find some heat.

Even this week, I managed to stop at one of the many beach accesses and take a few pictures of the waves to go along with the ones that I had of the icy gut behind our home .

I had planned to do more than take pictures this weekend, but rain fell all day Saturday, December 11, and we are supposed to have showers all day Sunday. Our Sunday temperature of 61F likely would normally tempt me to run down the river in my boat, but a boat ride in the rain at 61F is not very appealing even at the beach.

Still there are things to do besides boat rides. This is a great time of year to watch some of the birds. Today we had a great blue heron fishing in the gut behind our house. He was very successful. I think he managed four fish in just a couple of minutes. When the rain stops, and we get some warmer days, it will be a great time to hit area trails.

People often fail to consider some of the wonderful indoor activities that are always available here along the Southern Outer Banks. Three of the most popular are the Maritime Museum at Beaufort, the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, and the Core Sound Museum on Harkers' Island.

So while it might not be a great time for a beach walk, a boat ride, or some fishing, winter is still not a bad time to visit the beach. There is plenty of easily accessible scenery. Most of our businesses and restaurants are still open, and you certainly won't have to wait in line. Even our department stores are not as crowded as you would find in a large city. We recently had visitors who did much of their Christmas shopping in Morehead City.

When you come to the beach in the winter, there is no question the weather is a gamble, but it is highly unlikely that you will run into a blizzard, and you might just luck into one of those 75F days. A few of those and winter seems a lot shorter.

Standing Tall in Adversity

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:08:00 +0000

Even the most fortunate of us go through some tough times. Sometimes it seems like you cannot win for losing. Yet it is in those most challenging moments that we actually find out who we are.

My wife and I are very fortunate, but since my exit from Apple in 2004, I have worked far harder for less money than I ever have. I feel no bitterness for having to work hard. I actually feel great pride in my ability to work long hours. I am proud deliver creative work that makes a positive contribution to the world.

My first career after college was that of cattleman selling purebred bulls and cattle to others raising cattle. I long ago learned that your reputation was worth far more than any quick sale. I have never tried to trick anyone into a sale. I have always prided myself in walking away from potential business if the business would not be a good thing for both parties.

Over the years of selling farm equipment, computers, email services, ultra high speed networking, and real estate, I have seen no reason to change the way that I do business.

I try to help people achieve their needs. If you have people's best interests at the forefront of your mind, then you really do not have to worry about having enough business. People will find you eventually even in tough times like today's real estate downturn.

We recently had clients who commented that I was unlike any real estate agent they had ever worked with in their lives. They were surprised that I did not try to pressure them to buy a particular property. They were very pleased that I tried to present all their options objectively and without bias.

That is the way I operate, but there are plenty of others who treat people just like I do.

I sometimes feel sad that people distrust sales people. When I am trying to buy something, there is nothing that I would rather have than a really good sales person who knows their product inside and out.

The last four years have been very tough for real estate agents. Even the well established agents have felt the pressure. I have found that getting a real estate career going during a down period in an area where you know few people is almost an impossible challenge. However, I have never let the near impossibility of it stop me from trying or from doing an outstanding job.

I have managed a few real estate sales in each of first few years, but I also supplemented my income by writing a blog for a real estate company. I had to be very careful to not draw clients to me personally. The pay that I received was about what I needed to cover my real estate expenses.

This summer the company made the decision to discontinue the blog. It was an immediate loss of income to us, and perhaps a fatal shot for my real estate career. However, I made the decision to buckle down and work even harder.

I had been working extremely hard to deliver Internet traffic to the company. I had links from all of my many websites flowing to my company. When they gave up on my blog, I pulled all the links and focused them on delivering traffic to me.

Three months after seeing the blog cut, I am getting more leads than I ever got when I was writing the blog for the company. I have resurrected the blog on my own site, and I finally feel like I am on the way to building some momentum in real estate.

What appeared to be a fatal blow has turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me. I could have moaned and complained, but I just refused to let the bad news pull me down. I have worked harder than ever, and the results are beginning to show.

I think it was Dennis Waitley, a famous motivational speaker, who once said, "Bad news is opportunity riding a dangerous wind."

I have taken the position that I am responsible for my own success or failure. It will be my efforts that lift us back to success.

It helps to be living in a wonderful place like the Southern Outer Banks where the weather and the people make life much more enjoyable than it would be in a big city. I can draw strength from my natural surroundings and the people around me.

A bad day never seems as bad after a boat ride on the river or a walk on the beach.

Firmly believing that who you are is much more important than what you are or how much stuff you have will pave our road to success.

Fall Pleasures on the Carolina Coast

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 15:04:00 +0000

Living on the coast is a wonderful experience.

That is especially true in the fall of the year.

Fall, which hardly seemed to be on the horizon ten days ago, is now in sight.

I love fall and will readily admit that Fall is great season almost anywhere.

The Roanoke Valley where we lived for years can be especially beautiful. However, there is nothing like the wonderful warm days and cool nights that you find on the North Carolina Coast in October.

Like other places, the weather can be variable, but we have just finished a near perfect first week of October, and from the forecast, it looks like we have another two great weeks in store. Beyond two weeks, it is anyone's guess.

Living along the coast has some challenges, but there is no other place that I would rather be. With water right at my back door, fall is the best time of year to enjoy it. We are passed the heat and humidity of summer, and we usually do not have the winds of spring. It is just a great time to be outside and enjoy the beach and area waters.

Even the fall chores like getting my yard ready for winter are a pleasure in the fall. I enjoy working in the yard with a light breeze and a warm sun on my back. Our centipede yards stop growing early so usually that works out to give us some extra time for fall fishing.

Of course the beaches are less crowded, and during the week the waterways are almost empty except when the spots are running. This boat ride we took one evening this week is a good example of how beautiful the area can be. The clear skies of fall provide us with some wonderful sunsets.

On top of that we have our fall festivals. This weekend is the 56th Annual Swansboro Mullet Festival, and we are headed off to eat some Episcopalian Lobsters for lunch.

This evening I will be posting new pictures and a review on my Crystal Coast Life Blog.

August on the River

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 02:38:00 +0000

Each summer has its own pleasures and challenges. Years ago, I spent an August camping in the mountains of North Carolina. Another August just before I graduated from college, I was coming back from a summer long cross country trip to Alaska.

In the summer of 1971, I bought a farm on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. I moved there in August of that year. I spent many nights camping in a tent along the shore and feasting on steaks cooked over driftwood.

This August has been different, while we have walked the beaches over on Emerald Isle when the opportunity presented itself, we have not spent as much time on the beach as we normally do.

Some challenges have conspired to keep our beach trips down to only one or two a week. Many people would consider that lots of time on the beach, but when things are right we usually are over on the beach four or five evenings a week.

A hotter than normal summer, and my wife not feeling so well this summer were the main culprits.

Last summer we spent a lot of time in our skiff wandering around the ocean just outside of Bogue Inlet. This year Bogue Inlet has proved to be something of a challenge so we have stayed on the inside of the Inlet.

Fortunately we live in a world of dazzling water so if one avenue to the water is closed off, there are still other options. In our case water leading to the White Oak River is just by our back door. That easy access presents an opportunity is hard to resist. In fact I don't try to resist. I take advantage it whenever I can.

It has taken me a few years to learn the White Oak River, but now I am pretty comfortable with it. That turns out to be a good thing, since this summer the White Oak has been the water that I have enjoyed the most during the month of August.

Even on the warmest of days, an early morning ride down the river can be like a breath of fresh air that sustains you all day.

My most recent trip was one of the nicest. I managed to be on the river before sunrise, and I was back home by 7:30 AM. There is nothing quite like seeing the river smooth and quiet in the morning.

In early summer, a sunrise ride down the river can be a chilly enterprise. This week, the warmth of the river water took away any thought of chilly air. It actually felt good to get moving, and even the 30 mph that I hit on the trip to Swansboro felt just like a nice summer ride.

One of my favorite rides down the river I call Mackerel Morning. I did not give my most recent trip a fancy name, but it was right up there with my favorites. You can check my recent August 2010 trip out at my Picasa Web Albums site.

I was even out on the river a recent evening in my kayak, but the water was a little too warm for my taste. I will save my kayaking energy for September.

Spending more time on the river has helped keep my beach lust in check. I am sure the pendulum will swing in the other direction one day soon.

Summer in Full Swing

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:48:00 +0000

There is no doubt we are in the middle of summer. All along the east coast, you can find heat and people seeking ways to cool down.

I took this picture just east of the Point at Emerald Isle, NC. It is one of the places you can almost always find a breeze. In the winter time there is more of breeze most days than I want.

While we are in the middle of summer here on the Southern Outer Banks, we are actually on the downhill slope for beach visitors. In three or four weeks, those visiting will drop sharply as school children and college students head back to school.

There will be a wave of folks without children and with children too young for school. Then we will see the fishermen for a couple of months, and by early November, the beaches are mostly empty except for hardcore fishermen.

This has been an exceptionally warm summer in a number of spots. I have grown much more tolerant of the heat since we moved to the US from Canada in 1987. When we were fresh out of college and living on farm in Nova Scotia, it was neat to hardly ever see temperatures above 75 degrees. I did not even mind the cold winter temperatures of Atlantic Canada.

Now I much prefer the warmth of coastal Carolina and the eighty degree waters off Emerald Isle to the Bay of Fundy which seemed to hover in the mid-forties for much of the summer. Summer is about heat, and I like to absorb as much of it as possible.

There have been a number of what I like to call Crystal Coast days. Those are days when you get to fully savor summer by doing everything you love like biking, swimming, boating and walking on the beach. To make those days even more special, we have seen some days this summer when the water is indescribably beautiful. There is nothing like visiting the beach and being mesmerized by the colors of the waves, water and skies. Each season at the beach has it's special pallette of colors. The emerald waters of summer are the ones that sustain me through winter.

These days only when the temperatures climb past the mid-nineties do I feel some pain and wish that I was wading in ocean waters. Most of the time wading in ocean waters is a desire that I can fulfill with a short trip to the beach from our home in Bluewater Cove. This particularly hot weekend I am in the slowly simmering mountains of Southwest Virginia at least six hours from the coast.

It is a time when in past years I would be logging into the Bluewater Rentals site to see what deals are available for a few days of ocean relief. I can remember many wonderful escapes to the beach over the years.

By the time I get back to the beach sometime in the next week or so, you will just be able to see fall on the horizon. For the last couple of years being on the road has been part of my life in July. Getting back to the beach in August gives me just enough time to contemplate my approaching favorite season. Fall is a magnificent time to live at the beach. The waters are still warm, the humidity drops rapidly, and the fish are biting.

While I love a nearly perfect July day on the beach or even better on the water, time on the water in September is truly special. The holiday crowds are long gone, and we mostly have the waters to ourselves until some of the fish start running.

Most of us at the beach do not mind our summer crowds since our economy depends on them, and for the most part, if you can time your grocery store shopping trips, and stay away from the bridge during a couple of short periods on the weekend, you will hardly notice our visitors. Usually even during the summer, our world of dazzling water is empty except on weekends.

While visitors might stand in line for meals on the island in the evenings, usually places on the mainland are much less crowded, and we natives can usually get almost immediate service at some of the lesser known restaurants.

Having summer in full swing and some crowds at the beach actually give our area a very festive atmosphere for a couple of months. The ice cream shops are busy, the beaches have some people on them, and for the most part everyone is having a good time.

Sometimes it seems like the peak of summer is a fleeting kiss that comes but once a year and too quickly dances away until next year. I will certainly miss summer, but we likely have some more heat waiting for us in August and even September.

By February, we will all be dreaming of summer once again, and hoping that we get another fleeting kiss that will warm our souls and bodies.

That first hint of summer

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:57:00 +0000

There is no doubt that as you get older the years speed up. Sometimes it is hard to comprehend how fast time flies.

There is one exception to that rule. Time moves slowly when waiting for that first home grown tomato of the season. Of course the wait is a lot longer in some places than it is others.

I have grown tomatoes in Canada's Maritimes, in Virginia's mountains, and in few spots in North Carolina. In Nova Scotia, we were lucky out on the shores of the Bay of Fundy to get tomatoes by the end of August. The inland Annapolis Valley did much better at tomatoes. In New Brunswick on our farm north of Frederiction, we could expect to see tomatoes in early to mid-August.

Moving south, we found that our tomatoes in Roanoke, Virginia would ripen sometime after the Fourth of July, but they often did not make it until the second or third week of July. My mother grew many tomatoes in North Carolina's Piedmont. There you were considered a good gardener if you could produce a ripe tomato by the Fourth.

When we moved to the Carolina coast the equation changed drastically. On June 1, 2008, I recorded a ripe tomato and easily crushed my fellow competitors in the annual tomato contest. Last year, it took a little longer, but we still had tomatoes before the first week in June was out.

This year I took a risk and put my tomato plants in the ground on March 24. Yesterday I was rewarded with my first ripe tomatoes. They are the cherry type, but what this has taught me is that I should probably move the location of my early plants so that they get more sun.

I am still expecting to have ripe sandwich size tomatoes in a week or so. That is about three months early compared to Nova Scotia. Of course a lot will depend on the weather. If we get some good hot days, we will be in good shape.

This time of year hot weather is a good thing. It allows us to get out on the river, walk the beaches, and grow some great homegrown tomatoes.

Disappearing Footsteps

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sat, 01 May 2010 02:21:00 +0000

By the time you reach the age of sixty, you probably have long ago decided how to live your life. I am not exactly sure in which decade that I found my life plan.

It likely happened before I went to work for Apple Computer in the eighties so I have been mostly on course since then.

I did not sit down one day and decide to start living a certain way, I suspect that I had been living that way for a long time and only managed to put the pieces together over time.

What dawned on me was that if I could leave the places and people that I touched a little better off than they were before I touched them, my life would be richer. It would be even more rewarding if I could do so without leaving a lot of traces.

If my footsteps could disappear and people were better for my having passed their way, it seemed to be a good way to live.

I knew people who were fond of burning bridges, but I have learned that life has enough twists and turns, that it is hard tell what bridge you might have to cross in the future.

Having decided to follow my own golden rule, I have tried to not leave any unhappy relationships in the past. It has turned out to be a noble but impossible goal. Some people it appears are just happier when they are miserable.

Giving them a chance to bury the hatchet is often giving them another chance to bury it in your back. Still I have found it important to make the effort to make peace.

If you have extended the hand of friendship, and it is rejected, there is not much more that you can do except move on with your life.

At a certain point in your life, you look back and take stock of your mistakes. We all make mistakes. Some impact others and are quickly forgotten. Other mistakes fester and cause hard feelings. It is those that are nice to heal.

I sometimes wonder how executives at large companies manage to sleep at night. When you look at the lives they have changed and turned upside down, I am pleased to only have a couple of people whose relationship to me is in need of repair.

Even correcting a few mistakes makes you play the game of what if with your life. It can be an interesting diversion, but the future is happening so fast that it is hard to spend much time in the past.

The older I get the better I get at not stepping on the toes of people around me.

I enjoy it almost as much as I do watching the seasons change.

Life near the beach

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:53:00 +0000

A lot of folks go through life with the hopes of retiring near the beach. It is a dream that gets under your skin.

You feed the dream by going on vacations to those same beaches. When retirement gets near, you start looking and trying to figure out if that summer love can become a year around one.

We managed to make it from the dream to the reality. There are some things that we have learned which everyone should consider before making a permanent move.

Is you dream beach home area so different that you will end up making major lifestyle adjustments?
Are you willing to roll with the punches as your favorite beaches become everyone's favorite beaches during the summer?
Does your chosen area have the services and shopping to keep you happy?
How do you feel about making new friends?
Can you find enough to entertain yourself after the novelty of walking the beaches wears off?

I often recommend that people visit their potential homes during at least three of the four seasons. Life at the beach is more seasonal than it is in many places. You need to understand those seasons, and how they might impact your life.

Some beaches almost close up shop during the winter. Then there are beach communities with significant year around communities. Make sure you know what your community is like in January and are happy with those winter differences.

Some beach areas have a lot of traffic in summer. Others have very manageable traffic. If you have been visiting the same beach area for years but have only gone in June, you should make a trip in July just so you can see the traffic and people at their peak.

Residents usually appreciate the visitors since they keep the economy going. Along the Crystal Coast where we live, for a half dozen weeks during the summer, we avoid doing our major grocery shopping on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

We also tend to eat out at unusual times in order to avoid crowds. Beyond that our behavior changes very little. We usually hit the beaches later in the afternoon. Most visitors have headed for the showers by then.

When we decided to move to the Crystal Coast, we had already looked at some areas where shopping required driving long distances. We knew we did not want that. We wanted competitive grocery shopping and at least the basics of shopping available within a twenty minute drive. We found that in Carteret County.

We also came to our new area determined to make some new friends, and we have. It is always an effort when you move, but it is well worth it. We have seen couples move and end very unhappy because they have not reached out to neighbors or found activities to occupy their time.

Before we picked this area, we knew we wanted a place to boat, fish, hike, bike and walk the beaches. We clearly understood that this area was no Myrtle Beach. It actually was exactly what we wanted. We were not looking for night life beyond beach walks.

Life at the beach can be a lot of fun. You end up being much more aware of the weather since it impacts your life so much. Our move from Roanoke, Va. to Cape Carteret, NC has been a successful one. Any move has challenges, but we have managed to work our way through them.

I highly recommend beach life to those who want an active life in beautiful surroundings.

Igloo Snow in Southwest Virginia

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:52:00 +0000

One of the important tools for life that I had before I met my wife was a snow saw. We have been married for over thirty years, and she maintains that I have never used it even in our many years living in a snow belt in Canada.

Being a very practical lady she has never figured out why I needed a snow saw, but I am certain many fellow adventurers will agree with my decision to have a snow saw before moving to the Canadian wilderness for ten years. It might have been used as much as my felt lined boots, but one never knows when the right tool will be needed.

Perhaps my wife is exaggerating, but those of us who have been married over thirty years know better than to seriously challenge any of our wives' long held beliefs. Given the challenge to my credibility , this most recent snow offered an opportunity that I could not pass up.

Any readers living on the east coast north of North Carolina, probably would agree with my assessment that much of that area, especially Virginia, meets the definition of a winter wonderland. Snow is everywhere and has taken on qualities not often seen in these parts.

In describing the snow that has been on the ground in Roanoke, Virginia for the last several weeks, I have recently used the term igloo snow. I came to that description after a lot of moving snow which involved cutting blocks of snow and then shoveling it.

Yesterday my wife mentioned that my allegedly unused snow saw was downstairs if I needed it in my snow removal efforts. This morning I decided that the time had come to put to rest the unfounded rumors about my snow saw's work history.

Since snow is everywhere in Roanoke, all I had to do was open our deck door and cut a block of snow. I will admit to using a dustpan to extract it, but that perfectly sawed block of snow is still a fine block of snow which I am sure could be used as a first building block for an igloo.

If my granddaughter happened to be here for this adventure, I might head out into the front yard and start cutting blocks two through one hundred. I have no doubt that we have plenty of snow for the job.

So let it be recorded officially that on February 17, 2010, nearly forty years after its purchase, there is conclusive photographic evidence that my snow saw has cut a block of snow.

With this being a winter where snow is even being seen on North Carolina's Crystal Coast, I hope that these unusual conditions are not part of a global cooling trend. However, if that is the case, I have the right tool for the climate change. Be sure to click on the image for a better view of my snow saw.

The desire to work

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:44:00 +0000

Wanting to be productive in society is part of the nature of most of us. I have grown up with people who keep being productive long after they have supposedly retired. In these challenging times, it is often no longer an option but a necessity for many people.

I have always enjoyed working with people and trying to help people achieve their dreams. Usually if I could help someone get closer to their dream, it ended up being financially rewarding. Sometimes in companies politics get in the way, and it is hard to find win-win situations, but being customer focused has almost always helped.

I am proud that working hard is part of my nature. I have spent the last three years trying to be the best real estate agent that I could possibly be. I have become an expert at helping people find the right kind of property near water on the NC coast. I have written countless articles and viewed literally hundreds of homes. I have become a boater who enjoys the local waters, and it has helped me to really understand the needs of my clients and also catch my fair of fish.

I have built a substantial Internet presence which starts with my Southern Outer Banks site, includes my Crystal Coast site, and a site designed to be an electronic town square. Of course I have a real estate site and a few more Internet presences including Crystal Coast Living, a blog which I am paid to write.

A lot of what I have done is area promotion. I have done travel guides for several spots including Emerald Isle and Beaufort. Through my writing and Internet sites with lots of pictures and area information, I have tried to make it easy for people to decide if the Crystal Coast of NC is the right place for them. Many people have written to thank me for all the information.

On top of that I have been successful in attracting people to the area. Some have packed up and moved without even seeing the area other than through my eyes. Others have come and found that what I have written and shown with my photos is a reality that is appealing to them. Unfortunately with the challenging real estate environment, a number of people who have wanted to make the move have been unable to do so.

My three years at real estate have proved to be a great learning experience, and I recently paid my dues for another year. However, with the continuing inactivity in the market, I am beginning to look for something to keep me busy until this real estate slump ends.

I love technology, photography, and writing. I am not sure what the order of my passions should be other than I am determined to keep family first. Real estate today is tremendously high tech which is one of the reasons I enjoy it. The amount of information that can be provided to a client is truly amazing.

Finding new ways to help people learn an area from a distance has intrigued me for a long time. I have recently starting using GPS and trip mapping of photos to help with the process. This trip from Bluewater Cove to Swansboro and Emerald is a good example. By taking the 3D view, you end up flying along in Google Earth with added pictures that I have taken.

Sometimes it possible to innovate your way out of a slump, but real estate has contracted so much that even many of the very established players are finding it difficult to survive much less innovate.

As I move forward in the next year, I expect to work hard. It will be interesting to see if real estate ends up recovering enough to eat up my time, or if I find another challenge which might be more rewarding and could possibly steal me from real estate.

As always time will tell the story, and the journey will be a substantial part of the reward. I can also count on the beach still being there when I need it.

The importance of small things

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:25:00 +0000

As I walked onto the beach today, I noticed how far out the ocean happened to be. It was also apparent that the slope of the beach had changed slightly since I last visited a couple weeks ago.

Just as I was about to descend to the beach, I looked behind the beach grass line and saw three or four fairly new sprouts of grass advancing into some sand on the backside of the dune.

It dawned on me how important those new sprouts might be some day. If the waves are driven over the dunes, and there is no grass there, it will be easy to lose that sand. If grass is anchoring it, then it will be much more likely to stay.

On a beach it is pretty easy to get overwhelmed by the big picture of sky and water and forget about the small things.

Often in dealing with a group of people it is far too easy to forget the individuals. We used to have some "friends' who we would run into back in the day when we were members of the local country club. We had joined so our kids and I could have a place to swim. These friends would often strike up a conversation with you, but if someone walked by whom they viewed as more important, you would be dropped like a hot potato. It was not exactly a great way to build a friendship. I have had managers who would be talking to you, and completely stop in mid sentence if an executive wandered nearby. I had to wonder where their heads were.

We had our real estate sales group holiday brunch this morning. Real estate as most people know is a tough business right now, so our last two parties have been potluck events which is fine with me since the group has some great cooks.

I have worked with a number of different companies, a very big one, Apple, and some at the other end of the spectrum. Apple was a place where there was very little effort expended making people feel welcome. The general idea was that you were lucky to be working at Apple so don't count on any warm and fuzzies. While I had some great friends and wonderful moments with the team that worked for me at Apple, beyond my immediate manager that I had for several years, there were few who made you feel really welcome.

Apple is stark contrast to the group of people I work with today. There are some very talented individuals in today's group, and some people that I value as friends. As I walked into the room for our party this morning, I saw an area associate that I had briefly worked with in another office. We talked for a moment, and then each of us wandered off talking to some others. Our group is heavily weighted toward the ladies. I think there were six of us guys there today and about eighteen ladies.

I have been with some of the people in the group for three years, and I can say without a doubt that I feel welcome and a part of the group. A lot of faces have changed over the years, and no one is having it particularly easy. The president of the company sat down beside me for a few minutes before he had to leave. There was no bitterness in his assessment of the state of the market or the company. He could have blamed his real estate agents for not bringing in enough business, but he has the business intelligence to know that we are not the ones at fault.

In fact I got the feeling that he was proud of those of us who were making personal sacrifices to hang on through a tough market. None of us have made very much money, and in fact most of us have never worked harder for so little money.

There are some little things in this whole scenario that are worth mentioning. First of all at Apple, area associates, were never considered part of the sales team. In spite of much lobbying from their managers, the corporation thought they had little value in the sales process.

In our world of real estate, it is completely different. The administrative people are considered the first people to touch the customer and as such are valued greatly for their ability to engage the customer and quickly direct the customer to the right person. It might seem like a small thing, but its importance is huge. We do not hide behind impersonal telephone trees.

Another small thing is some balance when evaluating performance. At Apple and some places I have worked. Market conditions did not matter. Whatever performance goal was thrown at you was expected to be met even if it was impossible. In fact you could be doing exceptionally well in growing your business far over the industry or company average and still lose your job.

At Apple, you could miss your number because the company could not deliver product in time, and it was still your fault.

Both Apple and one of the other companies where I worked really cared more that you did not rock the boat than they did about how good you were at doing your job. If you could stand back and look at both companies, you would wonder why management and sales were at odds with each other. I actually had one high level executive tell me that the only way to get anything out of sales people was to threaten to take something from them.

While the idea that management and sales are in the same boat might seem like a small thing, it also turns out to be a hugely important thing if you want to build companies where people enjoy working and give it their best over time. I remember when times got tough at Apple, they had to start throwing bonuses at people to keep them from leaving. Given the current management style at Apple, I wonder how many people would hang around if things were no so rosy in Cupertino. Loyalty might be an outdated concept in most of the business world, but I have to wonder what we have lost in jettisoning it?

I like to think living here on the Crystal Coast gives us a chance to be a little different since we live in place where the scenery often soothes your soul. Perhaps it is harder for people in pressure cooker metro areas to see these small things, but they certainly can make a huge difference in people's lives.

Picking your battles wisely

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:25:00 +0000

All it takes is one teenager living under your roof to convince a person that you need to let some of the small stuff slide and save your energy for the big battles. If you have three teenagers like we did, that becomes a necessity.

Life at Apple reinforced the view that you just need to accept some things and be willing to fight for some others. I cannot imagine telling Steve Jobs that he needs to start sharing secrets with employees.

This afternoon I got confronted over on the Point at Emerald Isle by a somewhat crazy lady. But before we get to that story, you need to understand that living and driving on the North Carolina coast where we live demands attention to the speed limit.

In the off season, when there are not enough tourists to watch, the police have little to do except catch speeders. The consequence of this is that you learn to drive very close to the speed limit, or you end up with a ticket.

I try really hard to stay below the speed limit because if you do not and end up with a ticket, your insurance rates go up. I have managed three years down here without a ticket, and I drive a lot. I am also knocking on wood as I write this.

Today we spent a few minutes talking to the Mayor of Emerald Isle. The town's new administrative office had used a number of my prints for decoration, and we had stopped by to see them. I asked him about the recent flooded streets, and after talking, we decided to go have a look ourselves.

So we drove down Coast Guard Road, and we found more water than we expected. Driving through water as deep as we found requires driving slowly unless you want to stall your car, so we were driving especially slowly since my wife does not like axle deep water.

We finally got to where Coast Guard Road runs into Inlet Drive. I stopped and made the turn to head to the corner where you can access the Point. Less than halfway there we passed a "lady" walking a dog which tried to take a bite out of my car. Instead of walking on the shoulder of the road facing traffic as the law requires, she was actually walking with her back to traffic in the middle of the lane where I was supposed to be driving. I moved over to the other lane, and as I did not think it was any big deal, I went on down to corner, turned around, parked, and walked up the ramp to shoot a few pictures.

It only took a few minutes, I got back in my car and headed out except the "lady" was blocking my way. I rolled down my window, and she said she wanted to remind me the speed limit was 25 mph because I was flying through the neighborhood and two children lived there.

About that time her dog jumped on the door of my car, I pointed at her dog, and told her to drop it. I rolled up my window, and we left. As we were pulling away, I asked my wife what speed she though I had been doing. She ventured that I might have been doing 25 mph, but that she doubted I could have been going any faster since we passed the lady so close to the stop sign.

Tonight I used Google tools to measure the distance between the stop sign and where I pulled over to take pictures. It is around 1685 feet. Assuming I had traveled less than half the distance when we passed the "lady," I had gone less than 800 feet. If you have ever ridden with my wife, you would know she is not a big fan of fast starts. That being the case, I do not do them.

So why was my accuser so upset? Perhaps her dog being upset when we drove by carried over to her. I suspect that when walking down the middle of street, anything driving by you appears to be flying. While it is the beach, it is also a road which my car has as much right on as our walker and her dog. Actually I believe she is supposed to walk on the shoulder of the road and not take up my driving lane, but like I said, it is the beach so we yield to people walking in the road.

However, to get back to the point of my post. You do need to pick your battles wisely. I have probably been down that same road 200 times in the last few years. I have passed literally hundreds of walkers, many with dogs, and more than I can count with small children. No one has ever blocked my exit and accused me of flying through the neighborhood. That is because I do not do it.

So here we are on an Island with strictly enforced speed limits, and we have someone blocking the road to complain about someone who was likely doing the speed limit or very close to it. I could have chosen to argue with the walker, but long years have taught me that she was the type where you can never win a logical argument. Her perception, right or wrong, is all that she would ever believe. She was definitely one of those, don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up people. Picking a battle would have been a waste of my time. She had already wasted hers.

I started thinking the walker could have used her energy more wisely by complaining about some much more serious problems to people who might actually listen to her.

Before we had stopped by the Mayor's office, we had visited with the folks at Reel Outdoors. The talk there was of the damage that gill nets are doing to the fish and turtle populations.

It is a serious problem, and one that bothers many of us. Then there is the problem of beach access. Our walker apparently lives along the road to the Point. There are a couple of very nice beach accesses there, but the only parking which is a good distance off on Coast Guard Road is often full in the summertime.

Many of us who would like to take advantage of all the state funded CAMA accesses would love to see some parking on Inlet Drive so that people who want to fish the Point do not have haul their gear so far. I suspect our walker would oppose that, but I know that some additional parking would be very popular with a lot of the population that does not happen to have a home on Inlet Drive.

I hate to point it out, but the beach below the tide line belongs to the people of North Carolina and eventually the majority might rule in the case of beach access.

Beach access and banning gill nets are both battles worth taking up, but I think speeding on Emerald Isle is pretty well under control

Unconditional Love

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:06:00 +0000

I consider myself one of the privileged few whose life has been touched by a number of wonderful animal friends. Today, Percy, one of my favorite friends of all time passed away.

Percy was a rescue cat with the smallest feet that I have ever seen on an adult cat. She also had the biggest heart of any cat that I have ever met. She never saw a lap that she did not try out. I think she was convinced that all humans loved her as much as my daughter, Erin, did.

After being an outside barn cat living somewhere near Harrisonburg, Virginia, Percy was rescued by our Roanoke area vet. When I first met Percy, I knew a cat who enjoyed being cuddled that much would be perfect for my daughter whose other two rescue cats remained a little aloof.

The name, Percy, seemed to stick to the little cat whose sometimes grumpy look had nothing to do with the love she radiated to her human friends. She was also pretty good at soaking up love just like a sponge.

That first trip years ago when I took Percy to my daughter's house in Northern Virginia was just one of many that Percy made. She was a traveling cat. She loved to go wherever my daughter went. Though she would have preferred to sit on someone's lap the whole trip, she did agree to being comfortable in a seat as long as her litter box was not too far away.

Percy had no trouble winning over our Lab, Chester. She even was the only cat that ever managed to withstand the intense scrutiny of my other daughter's two big dogs, Dozer and Byerly. Still she preferred the company of humans to that of dogs or other cats.

Percy did not ask for much in life except a regular dinner and a soft spot for her naps. She got that in spades from my daughter who made sure Percy always had a lap and a warm bed. Percy's daytime bed in my daughter's room was an electrically heated one. Because the two other cats often picked on her, Percy often got a personal escort to the litter box. At night all the warmth she needed came from cuddling with my daughter.

We are going to really miss Percy. Her unique personality touched many people including some known dog lovers. Some of my best memories of Percy are from when I was working at Apple in Reston, Virginia. I would often be the first at home, and I was not above taking a nap before dinner. Percy was always glad to see me. I can still remember how she would drape herself around my neck. My daughter kept the thermostat in the sixties, so a warm bundle of cat fur felt pretty good as I dozed through the national news.

Percy enjoyed her meals. While some cats are picky eaters, I think Percy knew how lucky she was to have Fancy Feast every night on her own plate. She also had a great talent for finding a ray of sunshine and soaking it up. We never knew Percy as a kitten, but once in a while she would play like one. It was far better entertainment than television.

Percy regularly made the trip of seven hours to our beach house. She loved the wide windowsills there. She always acted like it was her home. She would walk right in and expect to have dinner, and then she would go off exploring to make sure we had not moved anything.

When she visited us in Roanoke, she had a special hiding place in our basement. Still the best surprise that she ever gave us was one Christmas morning. We had looked all over the house trying to find her. Eventually we found that she had made her way inside the large dollhouse in Erin's room. You will find her in the second picture in this post.

While Percy is resting in peace, my memories of her will stay fresh especially on a cold winter evening when I could use a little cat fur around the neck to keep me warm.

Social Networking the Marshes

noreply@blogger.com (David Sobotta) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:48:00 +0000

I have been a fisherman since I was old enough to hold a pole. That has been a very long time, and I have learned much about fishing and life over the course of my life long love affair with the sport.

I have fished for native brook trout in Canada and for Grayling in Alaska, but mostly I have fished the state of North Carolina from the mountains to Cape Hatteras.

There is one golden rule that I have learned with fishing. You will never catch any fish unless you put a line in the water. You cannot catch fish by standing on the edge of the water and just looking at the water.

It occurred to me this afternoon that fishing is a lot like social networking. In social networking you have these rivers of information like Twitter or great pools of fish like Facebook. It is unlikely that someone can stand up in front of you and really get across the essence of social networking.

The opportunity that social network offers has to be balanced against the challenges that it places on information gathering and decision making.

Social networking is a logical expression of the changes that have happened to our society. Fifty years ago when I was growing up in the small town of Lewisville, North Carolina, there was no need for social networking. We were a small town world. While there was some mobility in our towns, but it was nothing like what we have seen since the turn of the century. People were born in a community and often died there.

You met people at church, at school, at work, or someone introduced you to them. Ancestors from our family had lived within twenty or thirty miles of where I grew up since not long after the revolutionary war. We lived on a street named after our family not far from another road named for the ferry my great grandfather used to run.

There are not many people who have the luxury of growing up in an environment like that these days. Jobs take people all over the country if not the world. Children are lucky if they start school in the same town as where they were born.

In the days before the Internet, if you wanted information you mostly wrote letters, and you had to judge the person on the other end by the quality of the letter you received in return. Telephone calls could be very expensive even if you were able to figure out the right person to call.

In 1971, I ended up buying an old farm in Canada. While the project started with letters to a real estate agent, it eventually required a couple of trips to personally evaluate the agent and the land. What I found out about the area came from books and visiting the area. There was no Internet for research. In the end the decision was mine based on what I had learned the hard way. There was no supporting cast of people in the area to tell me that the North Mountain of Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley was a good place. I had to take a gamble.

Actually I am not certain that the purchase that I made in 1971 would be as easy today. Nowadays there is always a risk that your decision making can end up overwhelmed by too many opinions and too much information. In 1971 too much information was not a problem.

As the geographic ties that held many families together have dissolved, more and more people have faced a world where they do not know their neighbors or their neighbors change so often they do not have enough time to know them.

Distant corporations email, online forums, and instant messaging loosened some of the bonds that made the person next to you less important than the person 3,000 miles away with whom you exchanged messages.

Then there is the whole generational issue where many younger workers communicate more with their friends than their colleagues. It is pretty easy for this to become a distraction at work so it comes as no surprise that social networking starts with something of black eye in most corporate circles.

In that we find the most interesting paradox, those companies which could benefit most from social networking often show great resistance.

If you look at the marsh and the waters in the picture accompanying this post, most people would understand that there is very complex web of life at the boundary between the marshes and open water. The afternoon we fished there, we caught a wide variety of fish in that one spot.

Had we not taken the time to anchor and fish there, any speculation as to what might be there would have just been speculation. We fished there, now we know what to expect the next time.

Social networking done right can provide a tremendous amount of information about market trends and customer preferences. Becoming part of a social network interested in your products or services is like being part of the largest customer focus group possible.

On top of customer information, social networking can also be an amazing learning opportunity. You can see first hand how people respond to certain messages. It is the ultimate testbed for marketing campaigns.

Even just watching the information flow on Twitter is like sticking your hand in a river and understanding the currents.

Certainly every business hoping to grow should have an active social networking strategy.