A Slice Of Heaven

Visitors to Ocean Isle Beach have always come looking for their own little slice of heaven. But beyond the beach lies something close to the real thing. Read more

A Great Winery At Ocean Isle Beach!

If you haven’t been there yet you need to check out the Silver Coast Winery. It is located just 15 to 20 minutes inland from the beach and is Coastal North Carolina’s premier producer of premium wines.

Silver Coast Winery is a working winery with an annual production of 10,000 cases. They offer tours of their wine making facility, from the vineyard to the bottle. Visitors learn about wine making step by step during a 20-minute tour that will takes you from the grapevines to the wine cellars.

The vineyard and winery are set on 40 acres, surrounded by lush woods. It’s the perfect place to learn about wines, share a peaceful picnic with friends or enjoy art by local artists.

You can visit the vineyard, tour the winery and taste the wines in their tasting room. They have wines available for purchase by the glass or by the bottle. They even have Wine Tasting Seminars every Tuesday and Wednesday at 1:00pm.

Wines are available for purchase in the wine shop where you’ll also find a collection of enticing gifts.

You can also enjoy art by local artists. Their exhibitions offer visitors a chance to view exciting works by numerous local artists.

Your hosts at Silver Coast Winery are John and Maryann Azzato who combine a passion for fine wine with a deep desire to share good wines with friends and guests. You can contact them by e-mail or call 910-287-2800. The Winery business hours are: Monday – Saturday from 11:00am – 6:00pm and Sunday from noon until 5:00pm.

Click here to visit the Silver Coast Winery website

The 2010 NC Oyster Festival is Coming!

October 16-17, 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of the NC Oyster Festival Read more

How To Build a Sandcastle (or A Tale of Two Families)

Annual Sandcastle Build Week is coming up!

Sixteen years ago a unique friendship between two families began at The Winds. For eleven years the Delgado and Morrison families coordinated their families’ summer vacations so that they could always be at The Winds simultaneously.

It all started when Bill Delgado, a printing and graphics teacher from Twinsburg OH, and his family began building a large sand sculpture on the beach.

Bill (as always) encouraged other children on the beach to join in.

In the midst of the project, the children of the Morrison family, from Detroit MI, introduced their parents, Lisa and Gordon, to the Delgados. They all became fast friends and the rest is history. The sand sculpture that year was to be the first of somewhere around sixty sand castles to be built by the Delgados and the Morrisons.

A couple of years ago the Morrisons decided that Ocean Isle was where they wanted to be year round so they bought a house on one of the canals and moved from Detroit to their own little slice of heaven.

This June the Delgados return to The Winds for another go at it with the Morrison family and any others that join in. 

In the past they have created such fantastic sand creations as a Mermaid and Anchor,  a “Charlie The Tuna” sculpture complete with a cigar, a giant sea turtle, a huge, an extremely hip Alligator with shades, a headset and backwards baseball cap as well as a beautiful rendition of The Winds Logo. 

The end of anyone’s vacation at The Winds is always hard to face but the Delgados and the Morrisons have always made it fun with an end of the week party. This tradition begins with the construction of a fairy tale sandcastle in the afternoon, followed by a cookout. The grand finale that night is the sandcastle festooned with dozens of sparklers lighting the evening beach.

This June’s extravaganza will be no exception as they create many more fantastic sandsculpture and castles. We don’t know how they can top their past creations but we know they will!

Kids of all ages (from 2 to 92) can join in the fun. Be sure to bring your pail and shovel!