A Tom Sawyeresque Moment from My Youth

A few days ago I was listening to the song “Thunder Island” performed by Jay Ferguson and reflecting upon my teen and early adult years living in Carolina Beach, North Carolina. I had a good time and the beach was truly a fun place to live. Sometimes I really miss living on the coast.

While I never “…rode the storm out there on Thunder Island”, I was present for a few storms on Pleasure Island (and evacuated for a few others). I also chased love there. I enjoyed swimming, bodyboarding, and bodysurfing as a teenager and young adult. Some of my fondest memories involve surf sessions with friends and days and nights spent at the beach. One particularly fond memory involved bodyboarding in a torrential downpour one morning. It was raining so hard that you couldn’t make out the approaching waves and had to rely upon the feel of the waves swelling beneath you. Prior to the rain, I remember that the surface of the water resembled a beautiful green pane of glass.

When I was seventeen, I also engaged in a Tom Sawyeresque moment by swimming across Corncake Inlet to Bald Head Island with a couple guys. I could certainly picture Tom Sawyer swimming or rafting across the inlet on a dare or as part of a scheme to court the attention and affections of one Miss Becky Thatcher.

I wasn’t particularly intimidated by the prospect of the swim, but I probably wouldn’t have given the idea much consideration had one of the other guys not brought it up first. I was pretty comfortable in the water, although I was most often in the water with a bodyboard and a pair of swim fins. At one point during my swim across to Bald Head Island, I was reasonably sure that the strong current was going to sweep me out of the inlet and into the ocean before I could reach the other side. As it was, I was probably fortunate not to encounter a bull shark, a tiger shark, or even a less aggressive species of shark hanging out in the inlet or just passing through it. But we came ashore without incident and enjoyed pretending that we were the first “explorers“ to set foot on that particular stretch of sand (which is pretty amusing when you consider the history of the area and our proximity to the former Confederate stronghold of Fort Fisher). Then it was time to return to the other side of the inlet and the waiting truck. Of course, this time we entered the water further up the inlet so as to compensate for the strong current.

Upon returning to the Fort Fisher side of the inlet, a fisherman proceded to tell us that it was the first time that he had ever seen someone swim across the inlet and that tiger sharks inhabited it. I never heard this particular tidbit about tiger sharks growing up in the area, but I do know that sharks can be found in coastal inlets. So who knows? I can say that we all felt a bit cockier hearing the fisherman express his “admiration“ and his dismay at our ”exploits.” I am surprised that we didn’t discuss swimming the English Channel in the future.

My understanding is that due to shoaling, the inlet no longer exists and now one can walk from the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area to Bald Head Island (see link to article below). It is a reminder, I suppose, that nature’s tricks are perhaps more impressive than anything a trio of young men might do in a moment of bravado and boredom.

https://www.myreporter.com/2009/06/can-i-walk-to-bald-head-island/

If you feel like taking a trip back to “Thunder Island“, your boat awaits (click link below). 🚤🌊🏖