This event is being organized as a fundraiser for the Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce.  Following the prize structure of the Chamber’s very popular U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament, the all cash guaranteed prizes totals $5,300.

The entry fee for the Cape Fear Flounder Classic is $100 per boat with an optional $50 TWT.   Tournament participation will be limited to boats and all fish must be taken on a rod and reel.  No Check-Out.  No boundaries with the exception of restricted areas such as Sunny Point and Progress Energy intake wall.

Registration for the Cape Fear Flounder Classic will be held at the Chamber Office at 4841 Long Beach Road on  Monday thru Friday from 10am-4pm beginning Friday, July 9th thru Friday, July 30th  from 10am-4pm.  There will be additional registration on Friday, July 30th from 5pm-7pm at the Southport Marina.

A Hot Dog Dinner for the participants will be held at 6pm on Friday, July 30th and Saturday, July 31st.   Fishing hours will be on Saturday, July 31st from 7am until 4pm with the scales open from 3pm-5pm.   The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, July 31st at 6pm.
For more information contact Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce at 910.457-6964 or email them at events@southport-oakisland.com

Louis Moore Bacon, who now resides in London but was born in Raleigh, has purchased almost the entire 5,000-acre property – including the historic plantation house and its famous gardens – from the Laurence Sprunt family who have owned the Brunswick County landmark since 1884.

The Plantation and Gardens will close indefinitely on May 31st while plans for the future and other renovations are made. Hurry to see this incredible place while this years gardens are still available to you!

Current Orton manager David Sprunt, will retain that position, said the family has kept the land around the plantation’s pond.

He said he’s excited about the plans for the plantation, but it is hard for the property leave his family’s ownership after all of these years.

A press release states that Bacon is directly descended from Roger Moore, who built the original Orton residence in 1725. Bacon’s mother’s family has strong ties to nearby Wilmington.

Many are relieved to hear that Mr. Bacon has a reputation for buying historic properties such as Orton Plantation and keeping them in their natural state. Also the N.C. Coastal Land Trust holds conservation easements covering much of the Orton property. The executive director of the Land Trust states that Bacon is noted as a conservationist and a supporter of numerous environmental organizations.

Forbes magazine notes Bacon, age 53, is a native of North Carolina who manages several hedge funds and now resides in London, and the London Sunday Times notes that that he is the richest hedge fund manager in Britain having a nearly $1.7 billion fortune.

Orton Plantation, which recently opened for the 2010 season, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the gardens. Extensive renovations were made in the gardens to open up panoramic views to the Cape Fear River, remove competing vegetation, redesign and enhance the flower beds and restore and preserve the colonial rice fields.

Among the predominant species in the garden are live oaks, camellias, azaleas, flowering fruit trees, daphne, hydrangeas, crape myrtles, dogwoods, and colorful spring and summer annuals. Lawns and water gardens lend variety to the lush vegetation.

Plan to come spend a day at Orton Plantation! The gardens are in their glory right now! The historic landscape designed around the 1735 mansion and colonial rice fields overlooking the Cape Fear River and 20 acres of secluded walking trails surrounded by hundreds of acres of rice fields make Orton Plantation Gardens a wonderful place to visit.

One of the oldest plantations on the Lower Cape Fear and the only one with a manor house still standing, Orton has become a privately owned tourist attraction, celebrated for its elaborate gardens. In recent years, the plantation and its grounds have served as locations on a number of motion pictures.

The house and grounds are located at 9149 Orton Road S.E., Brunswick County just off N.C. 133, close to the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site.

Get directions click here!

Hours are 8am to 5pm March – August and 10am – 5pm September – November (except they close for Thanksgiving Day).

This, the second in a series of historically accurate and lushly illustrated pirate books, relates the incredible lives of some of history’s most infamous pirates.

Each pirate ’s story features a unique illustration of the pirate. Visit MillerPope.com to see more and purchase his books!

Stede Bonnet, “The gentleman pirate”
Stede Bonnet was the most unlikely pirate of them all. He had been an army major before becoming a wealthy sugar plantation owner and he was among the best society on the island of Barbados. For some reason he left all this and bought a ship, hired a crew and embarked on a career of piracy.

In pirate circles it was unheard of to buy a ship instead of just stealing one. He recruited about seventy destitute seamen from the taverns and grogshops of Barbados.

Bonnet was a landlubber with virtually no knowledge of the sea. He explained that he had purchased his ship for pursuing inter-island trade and for several days his ship remained at anchor. But one night, he raised sail without a word to his friends or his wife and slipped out to sea, bound for the Virginia Capes. There he captured a few vessels.

The first of these were only plundered, but the last ship named the Turbes was burned. From then on every Barbadian ship taken by him was burned, as if he wanted leave his mark.

Bonnet captured more prizes off the New England Coast and returned to the south. Meanwhile however, the crew, were slowly becoming hostile because of Bonnet’s inexperience. During this time of increasing hostilities Bonnet anchored his ship, the Revenge, in the Bay of Honduras. There he encountered the Queen Anne’s Revenge under the command of Edward Teach, nicknamed “Blackbeard”. The two pirates quickly became friends and this odd duo, consisting of a veteran and an amateur, decided to join forces.

This was a big mistake for Bonnet because when Teach became aware of Bonnet’s inexperience, he invited Bonnet aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, where Bonnet became almost a prisoner.

Teach tried to convince Bonnet that he would be more comfortable in the spacious quarters of the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Teach told him that a man of his education and mannerisms, should not undergo the rigors of commanding a ship like the Revenge. Soon one of Blackbeard’s lieutenants assumed command of the Revenge. Bonnet could do little about the matter. The Revenge’s new master gained the crew’s confidence quickly stifled any threat of mutiny by imposing stern discipline.

Bonnet eventually convinced Blackbeard to allow him to assume command of the Revenge again. The two parted company soon after that.

Bonnet sailed his ship to the town of Bath and turned himself in to the Governor of North Carolina, Charles Eden, as a reformed pirate. Despite this act however Bonnet still had a yen for Piracy and resumed scouring the sea for prey until his capture at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, near a quaint little town called Southport.

A narrow road that parallels the river heading north from the town center crosses a small creek after a short distance.

Beside the creek, almost unnoticed, rests a small marker with a metal plaque bearing the following inscription:

“BONNET’S CREEK . . . Stede Bonnet, the ‘Gentleman Pirate’ used the mouth of this creek as a hide-out for his vessel, the Royal James formerly called Revenge. Here on September 26, 1718, the great Battle of the Sand Bars was fought between the pirates and the men sent to capture them under the command of Col. William Rhett aboard the Henry and Sea Nymph. After a twenty-four hour battle there were nineteen men killed, twenty-three wounded, and Bonnet, with the remains of his pirate crew, surrendered. On November 8,1718, twenty-nine pirates were hanged in Charleston, S.C.’”

A few weeks later, Gentleman Stede Bonnet holding a cluster of flowers in his manacled hands, met the same fate as his crewmembers on the gallows.

If you enjoyed this excerpt click here to read more about Miller Pope and his other books. You can purchase his books right at the website: MillerPope.com

This past Wednesday area Turtle Watch and Turtle Patrol groups held “Big Turtle Day” at the Community Center on nearby Ocean Isle Beach. The day’s event was an opportunity to raise awareness and to raise money for these non-profit orginizations dedicated to preserving these endangered sea creatures.

The highlight of the event was a visit by “April” the Green Sea Turtle. April is a baby sea turtle from the Sea Turtle Hospital at Topsail Beach. There was a silent auction and children’s activities.
Video of live Green Sea Turtle

The Ocean Isle Beach Turtle Patrol, is a non-profit organization staffed entirely by volunteers and they are always short funded. They need your help to continue the fantastic work they do to save and preserve these endangered sea turtles. Please consider a donation – no matter how small (even its just $1 .00) .

Please send your donations to:

OIB Turtle Watch
PO Box 5172
Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469. Please include your name, the name of your nest and your mailing address.

This small maritime community has celebrated our nation’s independence for over 200 years making this one of the oldest 4th of July celebrations in the country.

From colonial times when ships lay anchor in her harbor shot their cannons the celebration has grown to today’s festival where 40,000 to 50,000 people come each year to soak in the richness of spirit commemorating Old Glory.

Incorporated as the N.C. 4th of July Festival in 1972 the festival committee strives to keep the focus of the festival on honoring our nation’s birthday with a little fun thrown in.

Festival highlights:
• Over 100 handmade arts and crafts on display
• The delightful aroma of fair food permeates the air
• The Cape Fear river serves as a backdrop for Main Stage Entertainment – best beach, top 40’s and country bands each evening.
• The most patriotic parade representing main street USA and televised on WECT TV6 “Where News Comes First”
• A Naturalization Ceremony that will move you to tears
• Veterans Recognition – ceremony honoring the sacrifices of our armed service personnel who have served and paid for our freedom
• Flag Retirement Ceremony – a ceremony that allows residents and visitors an opportunity to properly dispose of their USA flags

• Beach Day – highlighting the activities popular at Southport’s neighboring beach community Oak Island – volleyball and shag contests to mention a few
• Freedom Run & Walk – runners and walkers enjoy an organized event encouraging a healthy America

• Children’s Entertainment & Games – Remember the good old games including sack races and watermelon eating contests? We do.
• Fireworks – What 4th of July festival would be complete without fireworks?

Each year, between 9,000 and 15,000 breeding pairs of white ibises, nearly all that nest in the state, as well as hundreds of breeding pairs of herons and egrets, descend on the Sanctuary to nest and raise their young. The island has always been vital to North Carolina’s wading bird population and, recently, was designated as “globally important” for the great numbers of white ibises that nest on the island every year. (Approximately 12% of the global white ibis population nests at Battery Island.)

In 1996 the Cape Fear Garden Club of Wilmington, NC stepped forward to officially adopt the sanctuary and assist with the protection and management of the island. Since that time, the Cape Fear Garden Club has donated more than $20,000 in support of this Audubon Sanctuary.

Battery Island is posted and patrolled throughout the year, and is off-limits to visitors. Protecting the island, the nesting birds and their habitats is essential to conserving wading birds in North Carolina. The Cape Fear Garden Club offers a guided boat tour of the sanctuary every spring, check their website for more details.

Generations of locals and tourists travel to the historic property with its beautiful antebellum plantation house. Azaleas, dogwoods, camellias and various annuals bring a splash of color to the riverside oaks and pines.

One of the oldest plantations on the Lower Cape Fear and the only one with a manor house still standing, Orton has become a privately owned tourist attraction, celebrated for its elaborate gardens. In recent years, the plantation and its grounds have served as locations on a number of motion pictures.

When a cousin of the Sprunt family was seriously injured in an automobile accident In the late 1930s. Family members decided to open Orton plantation as a public garden for a long weekend to raise money for his medical bills, .

Visitors so enjoyed the gardens and grounds that the family continued to keep them open to the public. These days, the gardens are open each year, March through August and September through November.

The house and grounds are located at 9149 Orton Road S.E., Brunswick County just off N.C. 133, close to the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site.

Get directions click here!

Sign up to participate in online fun – as a Beach Club member you’ll receive special offers, discounts and be able to participate in special events, special savings and fun online contests to win valuable prizes – from Winds Beach Club T-Shirts to Dinners at local restaurants to Free Vacations at everyone’s favorite beach resort – The Winds. We will never share your information with anyone else! There’s absolutely no cost – to sign up just go online to: http://thewindsbeachclub.com.

When you sign up you will automatically be registered to win a free 3 day/2 night vacation at The Winds for Two!

Because of people’s fascination with these plants, they collected many of them and they became endangered. People in the Brunswick County area are lucky, in 2004, the Boiling Spring Lakes Nature Trail was completed, allowing visitors to walk through the trail and see the delicate plants first hand, while still protecting the Flytraps natural habitat. With over six thousand acres in size, The Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve is located in Brunswick County, NC in the city of Boiling Spring Lakes just off Highway 87. The trail begins at the Community Center. Visit the Nature Conservancy online at www.nature.org or calling the Nature Conservancy’s Wilmington Office at (910) 762-6277.

The leaves of Venus’ Flytrap open wide and on them are short, stiff hairs called trigger or sensitive hairs. When anything touches these hairs enough to bend them, the two lobes of the leaves snap shut trapping whatever is inside. The trap will shut in less than a second. The trap doesn’t close all of the way at first. It is thought that it stays open for a few seconds in order to allow very small insects to escape because they wouldn’t provide enough food. If the object isn’t food, e.g., a stone, or a nut, the trap will reopen in about twelve hours and ’spit’ it out.

When the trap closes over food, the cilia. finger-like projections, keep larger insects inside. Fold your hands together lacing your fingers to see what the trap looks like. In a few minutes the trap will shut tightly and form an air-tight seal in order to keep the digestive fluids inside and bacteria out.

Dionaea muscipula (Venus Flytrap) with the carcass of a partially digested insect. The exoskeleton of the insect can not be digested by the flytrap, so it remains when the leaf reopens.
If an insect is too large it will stick out of the trap. This allows bacteria and molds on the insect to thrive. Eventually the trap turns black, rots and falls off.

The trap constricts tightly around the insect and secretes digestive juices, much like those in your stomach. It dissolves the soft, inner parts of the insect, but not the tough, outer part called the exoskeleton. At the end of the digestive process, which takes from five to twelve days, the trap reabsorbs the digestive fluid and then reopens. The leftover parts of the insect, the exoskeleton, blow away in the wind or are washed away by rain. The time it takes for the trap to reopen depends on the size of the insect, temperature, the age of the trap, and the number of times it has gone through this process.

If you feed a Venus Flytrap something that doesn’t move, e.g., a dead insect, it will not close tightly over it. You need to squeeze the trap and move the food around so it imitates the action of a live insect.

The lobe manufactures digestive juices and an antiseptic juice. This keeps the insect from decaying over the few days it is in the trap and purifies prey that it captures.
carnivorous plants – Drosophyllum-4

People still do not understand fully how the trap closes. The Venus’ Flytrap does not have a nervous system or any muscles or tendons. Scientists theorize that it moves from some type of fluid pressure activated by an actual electrical current that runs through each lobe.