#6 - I’ve Never Been to a Lighthouse

When people think of North Carolina Beaches, I am sure many people also think of lighthouses. Because they are such a big tourist attraction in the state, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit one during our recent beach trip. We were visiting our friends the Blevins family and Anna was good enough to schedule us a tour to the top of the lighthouse.

I was very nervous about this! I am not really scared of heights so that was not a problem. I was however, concerned about movement in such a tall structure. I have really bad motion sickness so sometimes these types of things can get to me. (I’ve gotten queasy on the Empire State building, balconies in theaters, and I couldn’t go out on the piers at the beach either.) Being confined in a concrete tube in 90 degree weather at such a height was making me claustrophobic and dizzy just thinking about it! And lets be honest, I am not the most athletic person in the world so I was a little concerned about just climbing that height to begin with!

So once we arrived Mike, myself, Mark, and the Blevins’ friend Shannon signed the release forms and were ready to roll. Anna stayed behind with the girls saying she would have plenty of opportunity in the future to do a tour. The tour guides take you up one flight of ladders to a small landing and give “the talk” about the lighthouse. Did you know the Oak Island lighthouse is one of only two lighthouses to have ladders instead of a spiral staircase? Did you know it used to be the second brightest lighthouse, but they found out with the curvature of the earth the extra brightness didn’t matter so they cut back on the bulbs? Did you know every lighthouse has it’s own signature flash, with OI having four one second flashes and then a six second pause? Did you know the colors of the lighthouse were poured into the concrete so it never had to be painted? Did you know they poured the concrete continuously for 7 days so no weak spots formed?

With all of that out of the way, we started climbing! There are 8 ships ladders to climb in order to reach the top. To be honest it really wasn’t bad! We all took it slow because of the heat and before I knew it we were at the top! What a view! The ocean is gorgeous from up there, but my favorite was looking to the intercostal waterway with all the marshy areas. I had a grand time up there! Mike and Shannon however were clinging to the wall like starfish! I managed to pull him away from the wall long enough to get one picture!

We spent some time just hanging out at the top of the lighthouse seeing what there was to see. We spotted Anna and the girls down below coming back from the beach! We waved and yelled, and later they said they could hear us like we were standing right next to them!

The climb back down the lighthouse was actually more difficult than the climb up. You had to look down at your feet to make sure you were placing them correctly on the next step. It was just a bit more tedious and slow, but we all made it back safe and sound. I’m not sure it is something I will ever need to do again, but it was fun to see that I could do it! And of course I had to get a souvenir T-shirt that said I climbed the lighthouse!