Hubert

Our next stop after South Carolina was north to visit our nephew in Hubert, North Carolina. He is a Marine based at Camp Lejeune, so this is why we picked this stop. Our first choice of using a Coast to Coast park a short drive away did not happen as they were not accepting any Coast to Coast reservations. So we stayed at Deep Creek RV Resort, which turned out to be a bit closer, so it worked out. The park is nice, it appears to be mostly full-timers – they have long-term rates. They also offer Good Sam discount so it was reasonably priced. The site was back in, but good size. They had full hookups.
Swansboro
The park is in Hubert, between Jacksonville and Swansboro. Swansboro has a small little historic area which we decided to check out. There are a few cute little stores and boutiques, and these cute little ducklings were hanging out there also. We ate a late lunch at Saltwater Grill on the balcony overlooking the water – great food!
Emerald Isle

We took a drive on Emerald Isle, just outside of Swansboro. It is one of the islands that makes up the southernmost part of the Outer Banks. It was a beautiful drive, but it was surprising the lack of access to the beaches, and the houses are on the beaches. We did finally find a great access point at the end of the isle at Fort Mason State Park. They didn’t charge for parking or access, and it was a great beach with easy access as they built handicap-accessible ramps over the dunes.
The park even has a big covered platform to sit and watch the beach just before entering the beach. It was neat to see during our visit a senior center was visiting and it made it so much easier for the seniors to get close to the beach. And our biggest surprise was the number of unbroken shells on the beach. There were a lot of broken ones, but we were able to gather quite a few whole shells for our collection.