This post was originally written in late 2006.
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Fall is pretty glorious on the east coast. Recently we were enjoying some great late fall weather in North Carolina's Crystal Coast area. We had a very enjoyable breakfast at Yana's Ye Olde Drugstore Restaurant on Front Street in Swansboro.
We ran a few errands and decided to go over to Emerald Isle for a walk on the beach since the weather was so warm. We were surprised to find a fair number of cars in our usual parking lot, but there turned out to be very few people on the beach.
We headed off down the beach for a leisurely walk on the firmer than normal beach surface.
It pretty hard to describe how nice it was on the beach. The pictures
can actually do a better job than my words. The water had just enough
coolness to provide a pleasant contrast to the warm sand. The surf was
pretty quiet and there was just a slight breeze.
We kept watching the schools of small minnows swimming in the surf. It was amazing how many we could see. It was about then that I started wondering if I had stumbled on the reason the Crystal Coast is called the Crystal Coast.
The clarity of the water was pretty hard to believe. I spent a few minutes trying to capture an image that would adequately show what I was seeing. I finally got the right small wave and snapped the shot below and to the right.
The picture doesn't do the water justice, but I'm just excited that
there is still water around this clear and so full of marine life.
I hope that we can preserve the wonderful waters of the Crystal Coast for the next generation. If my guess is wrong about the "Crystal," in Crystal Coast, I would be interested in hearing the real story.
I have more area fall pictures at this website. These are some of my favorite beach pictures. Of course sunsets and sunrises are worthy of their own album.
Find out about area events at this Crystal Coast website.
