Vacations on Holden Beach, NC

Fishing

2009-08-06T14:37:00.004-04:00

It is that time of the year when the SW winds blow almost constantly making the ocean full of small whitecaps with the summer sun pressing down on us. There are some fish biting if you want to hop on a day charter and go offshore for a few miles.

For those who are not aware, my dad and I fish on the S.K.A. (Southern Kingfish Association) Professional Kingfish Tour. We start in January in Key West, FL and make several stops up and down the east coast and Fourchon, LA with the Nationals in Biloxi, MS coming in November. The tour this year has about 65 boats that compete against each other down from about 105 boats two years ago.

A little over a week ago we had our 4th stop on the Pro Tour. We stopped for the weekend in St. Simons, GA. While we were doing the Pro tournament, they were have a local King Mackerel torunament. You can fish both tournaments if you like, you just have to pay extra to enter.

My 8 year old son has really become obsessed with fishing in the last year or so. I did not mention the possibility of him going to this tournament. I waited until the last day while watched the marine forecast really closely before asking if he wanted to go. The weather looked like it would be clear the day before we left so I decided it would be a great experience for him. He said "Yes!". Up until this past weekend he had only been offshore fishing once and that was about 5 miles off the beach. This time...it was going to be different.....way diferent.

We get up on the tournament days around 4am since we have to be at the checkin dock by 6:30am. We checked out and went to catch some live Pogy's to use for bait. After we loaded up, we headed offshore about 50 miles to find us a nice spot we had found on some charts and some past experience. The ocean was mostly calm with seas ranging from 1-3 ft with light winds and the temps hovering around 93 degrees. We did catch a few smaller kings weighing about of 12 lbs or so. This will not do you any good in a Pro tournament. To give you an idea, in the GA area or the NC area this time of year you usually need one at least in the mid to upper 20 lb range to even think about keeping the fish. Since the tournament is a 2 day event, you can only weigh your best fish each day to give a 2 day total weight. While fishing ran into a nice school of Mahi-Mahi. They started following the boat and started eating up our bait. Now...this is good for fun fishing but not what we want for tournament days. We caught a few Mahi-Mahi's and threw them in the boat to eat later for dinner. My son, got a nice one on and fought it with all he had in him. He had never caught anything really over a pound or two. So when this 20 lb Mahi-Mahi started screaming 200 yards of line off the reel in about 45 seconds his eyes really lit up! We helped him hold the pole but he brought it in all on his own. Finally...we got him to the boat and stuck the gaff in him.

Later in the same day, we kept picking through the fish one by one. Finally we landed a King Mackerel that weighed right at 20 lbs and got him to the boat quickly. You have to get the fish in fast because if you don't there is that chance that a large shark or barracuda could eat your fish. If you have a 40 plus pound King Mackerel on your line and it does get eaten or a bite taken out of it.....that could cost you losing the tournament which could pay up to $60,000 and more. There are serious stakes to be won. As the day ended, we had to be back at checkin by 5pm or you can not weigh your best fish. We got back, weighed in and went home to rest for the night.

The next day we began again at 4 am and got to the checkout boat at 6:30 am to head offshore. Again, we decided to make another 50 mile run to see if we could find the elusive "Big One" that we needed. The weather was better than the day before with seas being around 1-2 ft with very light wind. Most of the day was quiet until around lunch when we had a King sky on our live bait. It came out of the water about 8 feet before realizing we had him on the line. He peeled off about 100 yards of line in about 20 seconds flat then the line went limp. He bit through the line and he was gone. We were sick but there was nothing we could do.

About an hour later we finally had another good bite. Usually you can tell when you have a good fish on by how fast the line peels off and the sound of the "clicker" on the reel. Also, the larger fish head offshore to deeper water as soon as they realize they have a hook in their mouth. We got a good fish and we literally chased him down for about 25-30 minutes. You have to follow the fish as it is going offshore and reel the line in as fast as you can without allowing slack in the line. Finally...we got over him and put the gaff in his back. We pulled him in the boat and with a sigh of relief we were much happier. At the end of the day it was the biggest one we had on this trip. We headed back to the scales to see how we would do. We made it back to checkin with only about 2 minutes to spare. They stick to this rule! If you are 50 yards short of coming across the checkin line and time runs out...you can't weigh your fish.

Our fish on the second day weighed in at 34.45 lbs. Pretty dang good for these waters. We ended up in 8th place for the local tournament out of about 125 boats. I am not sure where we ended up in the Pro's but it was somewhere around 14th place out of about 60 boats. Right now, overall we are in 16th place out of 65 boats or so.

My son had the time of his life catching all these big fish and going out 50 miles. The next stop on the tour is right in our backyard. It will be in Little River, SC in October. Last year, we placed fourth and won a little bit of money. I can promise you...we spend more than we win as do most of the teams. If the economy keeps going the way it has, we may not be doing this again next year. Hopefully the weather will be nice and my son will get to join us again on our next quest for the "Big One".

That time of year again....

2009-05-20T12:24:00.012-04:00

I guess I am not the best at blogging and keeping it updated like I should. Of course many of you know it is hard to find time between your job, family, sports for the kids and all that. So.....I saw I have not updated this blog in a long while and thought it was needing to be done.

It is that time of year again that Spring is in the air and Summer is right around the corner. The weather has been great and the ocean has been calm. This weekend it is suppose to be 79 degrees! I can't wait for the water to get up to 80 degrees and then it will be even better. For those thinking about wanting to come to Holden Beach this weekend, give us a call as we have some great last minute specials that some homeowners have authorized us to do.

The spring beach nourishment program has finally been halted until after the summer season. The beach strand looks great!

Bluegrass music lovers will enjoy Saturday, May 23rd at 2pm at the pavilion under the bridge for a bluegrass festival. This is the first of what is hoped to become an annual event that will bring people here to enjoy all that Holden Beach has to offer.

In the fishing department, it has been excellent recently according to local boaters. Wahoo, Tuna, Dolphin, and bottom fish have been plentiful. Even Flounder have started biting inshore. If you are wondering if it is worth the trip to come down to do some fishing, you better get your plans ready and come on before they stop biting.

The sales market seems to beginning to be picking up for the most part finally. There are some really good deals in the area if you are looking for investment, or retirement or permanent home. You can find our sales site www.AtTheBeachNC.com and please check our daily surf report and live cam on our rentals site at www.HoldenBeachLive.com

We hope to see you here at Holden Beach very soon!

More Snow at Holden Beach....

2009-02-04T14:52:00.008-05:00

My wife and I got up this morning at 6:30 am to get our kids up and ready for school. I looked outside and saw that it was cloudy with the sun peeking out every few minutes...but nothing unusual. Then I turned on the weather on and it said we could see some flurries along with some high winds. Again, I thought nothing of it. We got the kids up and fed and left the house to take them to school which is about 10 miles away. We left house at 7:35 am. As we were returning back to the beach we noticed a few flakes beginning to fall. Within 20 minutes of leaving home the temperature dropped from 36 to 31 degrees. The wind started blowing a little harder and the snowflakes got larger and larger. By 8:30 am some acculmination was beginning to show on the car and on the ground. Slowly the ground was beginning to become covered. While it did snow pretty hard for about an hour it began to slowly let up as the morning passed. By 11:30 am the sun was out, the temperature began to rise and the snow began to melt. In all, I would saw we got a nice dusting of maybe less than half an inch. It was fun but wish the kids could have been home to play in it a little while. This is the second time it has snowed at Holden Beach in the last 3 weeks. However this is the most we have had in a good while. It was fun while it lasted.

We did get our 2009 vacation rental brochure available online for you to view and download to print out. You can also email the brochure to family and friends. Please take a look at our new sales site for RE/MAX at the Beach Of course you know there are some deals to be found on the island and mainland right now.

For those of you stuck in "real snow" now is the perfect time to begin planning your 2009 summer vactation to Holden Beach. While you are wrapped up by the fireplace, just think of those relaxing days of rubbing sunscreen on you legs and going to eat seafood at the local restuarants. Please give us a call now while there are openings available to rent a home for your vacation week.

Merry Christmas from Holden Beach, NC!

2008-12-19T10:03:00.012-05:00

First and foremost we here at Alan Holden Vacations and RE/MAX at the Beach want to send you and your family warm beach wishes this holiday season and to have a very Merry Christmas. We hope you get everything you need and are you are able to spend time with all of your loved ones.

These past few weeks have been really busy for us here at our office. We did get our new 2009 rental brochures mailed to all of our past customers. They were mailed about a week before Thanksgiving. If you did not get the new 2009 rental brochure, please give us a call and let us know and we will be more than happy to send one to you. We are working on getting the new brochure on our website very soon. Once we get it online, you will be able to view and print it out at home at your convenience. Please go to our "Request a FREE Brochure" page to see if the new brochure is online.

Also, we are FINALLY excited to report that our four RE/MAX at the Beach offices have our new website up and running. The fast link to the web address is RE/MAX at the Beach There are a few minor issues that are needing to be worked out but we wanted to get it up and running before the holidays. That way when you have your new computer at home and it is snowing outside, you can think of how warm Holden Beach is (it is 75 degrees outside now!) and start planning your trip back to the beach. Begin planning on looking at some of our real estate and vacation homes that are for sale. Of course there are some REAL steals on the island right now!

When your family has dates set and your beach house confirmed for your next trip to the area think of the great memories you are making! In order to preserve those memories I suggest you give John Urban a call. He is a local photographer who does family portraits, weddings and receptions and just some general photography. He is a great photographer and his rates more than reasonable. John does our family photographs every year and we have always been extremely pleased with his work. You may want to call him at 910.233.7420 or email John at Bskyp@hotmail.com if you have any questions. If you would like to see some of his work, please visit his website at Blue Sky Photography. If you are thinking of getting married here in our area...his wedding photos are amazing! Please set up an appointment for the week you are here to have your memories captured. John usually books up early due to the high demand of his photos. I suggest you choose a day early in the week you are here in case of bad weather. You know how those summer thunderstorms pop up in the afternoons!

Holden Beach is now becoming more bicycle friendly for families in 2009 with designated bike trails! These local trails really are just part of the roads and sidewalks but they will be marked by signs and brochures that will be available to the public. Follow the brochure routes to learn about more information and the history of the island. You can learn cool things about the old Holden Beach airstrip on the east end of the island and about the Civil War shipwrecks located within swimming distance of the beach. These trails will have varying distances the total trails are about 20 miles long. To see a local news story please go to WWAYTV3.com and please make sure you watch the video on that page along with the story.

Again, all the staff here at our office wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Tropical Storm Hanna!

2008-09-08T10:59:00.007-04:00

Well....we made it through T.S. Hanna with only a few scratches here and there. Mostly Holden Beach "weathered" it pretty well. In the beginning of tracking Hanna, she could not quite make up her mind as of where she wanted to go. When she got around the Bahama's she seemed to wander to the North, then back to the South, then Southeast, then Northwest. Finally, she decided to take aim on the NC/SC border. Holden Beach officials had a good grasp on how to handle the situation. Thursday Sept. 4th, Holden Beach Mayor and Town manager decided to make it a "Voluntary Evacuation" beginning the next day at 10am. Holden Beach town employee's, rental agencies, and local businesses began going into lockdown mode. The rental companies, begin calling all of the renters to notify them of the voluntary evacuation and how to get the latest updates from the town. During these phone calls we ask that our renters to please bring in all outdoor furniture and anything that can become blown around in the wind that might be dangerous. After the guests lock all of the windows and doors, most decided to checkout late Friday afternoon. After our guests leave, then we go to all of our rental homes and double check these windows and doors to be extra cautious for our homeowners.

After all homes were checked that evening, we all went home to wait on Hanna. My wife and I along with our three young childen decided it was not going to be much of an event and stayed on the island. The night went on as usual with the wind slowly beginning to increase just before dark. When bedtime came at 9pm, the kids were put to bed and we put the Weather Channel on. Slowly the rain began to fall and the wind picked up even more. I believe the wind really was at it strongest around 3am Saturday morning. My wife and I went downstairs to get something to eat....as usual. While we were eating, we noticed that a large 6ft pane glass in our living room was bending inward about 1/4 inch. It looked like it could go at any moment. The house was shaking and you could hear the wood in the walls bending and flexing from the wind. I tried to open the back door and I could feel a suction on the door and could hardly open it. This suction was actually from the eye of Hanna passing directly over us. I shut the door and we went back upstairs to try to get some sleep. We had just gotten to bed and then the power went out. So I got up and looked out the window and saw that the entire neighborhood was out as well. I knew this was not good.....because then the house starts getting hot inside and you can't open the windows. The kids were sleeping through this whole thing and never made a sound.

The next morning we had to go to work back here at the real estate office to take calls from incoming renters and our homewowner's. As we got out and were able to look at the island things looked pretty good! There were a few places that the ocean came over the dune and put some debris on a few lots. Also there many homes with shingles and siding off. For the most part, that was really about it. We escaped the wrath of the storm this time, but next time we may not be so lucky. We will keep our eyes on the Weather Channel for another few weeks.

Polynesian Show at Holden Beach

2008-07-27T12:05:00.004-04:00

Ohana
Originally uploaded by SurfHB

This island is a great place to meet all of kinds of different people from different ages, backgrounds, history and culture. About 2 weeks ago ago we had a Polynesian family that came and did a Hula show under the bridge on the gazebo. The name of the group is called "Ohana"....meaning "family" in Hawaiian. The family was Maila (the mother) on uke and drums, Bruce (the father) on uke and drums, hula dancer Emma (a daughter), another hula dancer named Dore (a daughter), a third hula dancer named Ainslee (a friend), Jarrard (a cousin on Drums), and a friend named Arnold on guitar, and another friend on Guitar. Even the children of two of the dancers were involved in the show!

The show was part of the Holden Beach Merchant's Association free Concerts on the Coast that occurs every Sunday night during the summer months. The show lasted about an hour and 40 minutes with a whole lotta shakin' hips, singing and just having a good time. The turnout for the show was really good, but it began raining during part of the show and we lost some spectators. Most of the people hung around long enough to see the entire show. The group performed songs and dances from Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand, Tahiti and other places. Most of this family had been performing professional shows for years until several of them moved out to live in the Holden Beach area. This show was special treat for sure. For more info on how to book the family for a show in our area (wedding party, retirement party etc.) please contact me at Shane@atTheBeachNC.com and I can get you in touch with the family. To see more photos of the show Click on this link/

Holden Beach on the Local TV News....

2008-07-02T10:07:00.007-04:00

The local TV station out of Wilmington, NC called WWAY TV3, who travels around our part of the state during the summer months doing a series called "Cape Fear Pride". It does a story on a town or island about once a week. This past week, we here at Holden Beach was chosen for this wonderful recognition. As most of you know, Holden Beach is known mostly for what we DON'T have. We do not have neon lights, high rise hotels, or any buidings over 35ft in height. The locals and town pride themselves as being known as "The Family Beach" due to our family atmosphere. Holden Beach has come a long way since it first got it's name. The island use to be nothing but farm land basically for my great great grandparents. There was a small "creek" or very small river that ran just behind the island. The Intracoastal Waterway is man made and was built in the very early 1930's. Before it was built, our family raised cows and goats and were allowed to roam the eastern part of the island. Then a few homes were built and sold. Holden Beach officially became a town on Feb. 14, 1969. Today Holden Beach is the permanent home to about 900 residents.

As for the story that was done by the local TV station, you can see the video here. At the 1 min. 16 second mark, you can get a quick glimpse of me talking with my father Alan Holden in the kitchen of our real estate office Alan Holden Vacations and RE/MAX at the Beach. The photos that were used in the story are from the book called "Holden Beach History", which was written by my grandfather John F. Holden. You can buy this book and others from our office. Just give us a call at 800-720-2200 and tell us which one you want and we will be happy to mail it to you. You can see other books we have on this page.

If you are looking for more stories on the development of Holden Beach, be sure to read his second book called "The Beginning and Development of Holden Beach" that is on the same page as the other books. To get a sneak peak of what is inside please read this quick story...

I thought the news story was great and reflected our family values here on the island. For all of you who have visited here before, you do not need a news story to tell how great the island is.......you already know!

Blah.... Blah.... Blog!

2008-05-20T11:05:00.004-04:00

I am just going to hop right into it today. Summer is coming on strong! I can see people out mowing their yards and trimming the bushes. People are swimming in the warm ocean in regular bathing suits (no wet suits anymore!) The reservations are picking up slowly but surely, and soon the weekly mayhem will begin. This past week was a good warm up to the full rush.

I hope the gas prices decide to go on vacation too. They are working way to hard and have a lot of over time. Maybe the "gas fairies" need a 3 YEAR vacation....since they are way ahead of schedule. The cheapest gas within 10 miles of here is right around $3.77 a gallon for regular 87 octane gas. Did you know, back in 1999 gas was only $0.89 a gallon here at Holden Beach? Talk about a pain in the wallet! I just find it ironic, that the cost of fuel keeps going up, and up and up. Then we see on the Nightly News that oil companies are profiting BILLIONS a year. I am not the smartest fellow at math I must admit, but I do know it does not add up.

On to more positive things......in order to help you find a few deals, we have been keeping our "Special's" page updated on our site. Some of our homeowner's have decided to try to help their fellow renters out. Several are offering money off to help pay for gas. Stroll on over to that part of our site, and give them a look. Please keep in mind that rental prices are set back in August or September of the year before.

Come on down to the beach to help relax and shake off those winter blues. The water temps are in the mid-70's and the air temps are averaging in the mid-80's and sunny. You can also keep and eye on the waves and surf report with our beach webcam. We look forward to seeing you!

New Website Features

2008-03-14T12:53:00.007-04:00

I know....I know. I have been really slack lately about updating this blog. It is honestly hard to find the time to do it at work. I have been thinking about some of the changes we have been making to our vacation rental site this year.

Let me first begin by saying that we have added a new webcam to our office that overlooks the wonderful and beautiful Atlantic Ocean. We have had tremendous success and such a positive response, that it has been one of the biggest highlights of our site. Our camera is run by EarthCam.com which is pretty much the largest webcam site in the world. You can see pretty much any large city you want....and that includes the huge town of Holden Beach, NC. So if you have time, stroll on over to Earthcam.com and take a look at some really cool places.

Some of the other changes we have made in the past year or so has been the addition of a bed linen program that is offered to about 75% or more of our rental homes. The first summer we tried to make it work was in 2007 and was extremely poplular. Now more and more homeowner's have signed onto the program for 2008. We hope to keep increasing the numbers of these properties that offer bed linens to make your rental properties more comfortable and enjoyable.

Another great feature that homeowner's have jumped on, is the offering of High-Speed internet. Due to the changing of times, more and more people are working while on vacation. This is also making certain homes more poplular for rentals. So if you need to check back in at home or at work, you might want to get a home that offers high-speed internet.

Where is Uncle Bruce and Aunt Maila going to sleep? Well.....that answer will get a little easier this year as we add floor plans to homes for this 2008 season. As of now (March 2008) we have about twenty-five homes that now have their floor plans on our site. We will keep adding a few more as the weeks go on. Due to the large amount of time it takes to do these, we will add more as time allows us to. You can find these floor plans on the property description page.

One last feature that we have been working on for a few months is the new search engine on our rentals page. The new search options should be on our webpage in the next few days. You will soon be able to search by price range and by certain amenities. Please be mindful that the more amenities you search by, the harder it will be for the system to find you a home. So it is best to only choose one or two amenities that are most important to you.

With the early Easter we will be having this year, we expect things to slowly increase in the rentals as the year goes on. We hope that with the gas prices and slowing economy everyone will still take their hard earned vacations as they have in years past. While you are here, please dont forget to get those rental bikes, kayaks, grills etc. Hope to see you soon.....because the warm weather is already here! It was 72 degrees today!

Funny Stories....

2008-01-21T12:02:00.001-05:00

Snow at Holden Beach
Originally uploaded by SurfHB

I was thinking about what to write about today. As I was looking out the window thinking (I wish is was about 80 degrees and sunny). Well....we have the sunny part down to a science but the air temps just don't cut it on the thermometer. The sun is shining and the air temp is hovering around 25 degrees. This got me thinking about the summer days and some of the funny things we have had happen in this business. I know that when a few of you read these things you will think "What is so funny about that?" And that is ok! But to people who have lived here our entire lives, it is really funny because these stories make us look at things with an entirely different viewpoint.

I promise not to use names (because honesty I don't remember them).

Back in the mid-1980's when Alan Holden Vacations was known as Alan Holden Realty, we had a lady come into our office that was highly upset about something. She came in and was telling us about how her North Carolina vacation was ruined and her views of the ocean were ruined etc. She never came out and said "My beach trip is ruined because....." She just went on and one about how she has waited her entire life to come to the beach and now it is ruined. To make a long story very short, she finally said these exact words,"My first beach experience is ruined because those shrimp boats offshore are ruining my view!" We tried will all our power to explain to her that the shrimp boats are "the view". She was not satisfied and wanted us to call them shrimpers and ask them to move out of the way." How do you explain that is does not work that way.....???

Another funny story is about mosquitoes. Everyone knows that in the dead of summer mosquitoes are sometimes annoying right before dark. Especially if there has been a lot of rain two or three weeks before. If there is not a lot of wind at night, we humans are prime hunting material for mosquitoes. This story happened many years ago also. We had a phone call from a lady who had checked in several days earlier and was upset. We asked her what was wrong and she complained to us that the mosquitoes were eating her up while she sat on the porch watching the sunsets in the evenings. She asked us if we could do something about them? If we could not, she wanted all of her rental money back. We explained to the customer that we can't control things such as mosquitoes. She told us to call someone to take care of the problem.

We had an instance of a renter who called before they came to the beach. He wanted to make sure that the house they had rented earlier in the year had "only low tide if front of it". His children needed a place to play in front of the house. But.....again we explained to him that the tides are a result of the gravitational attraction between the earth, the sun, and the moon. We at AHV do not control the ocean tides. We jokingly told him that he would need to talk to the man upstairs about that (we were referring to God). But the renter said, "Well....put him on the phone"(He was referring to Mr. Holden). Finally we explained how the tides work, and he understood then he laughed about about it.

One last quick story, is the customer who called and told us she was upset with her house location. She explained to us that her grandchildren went and bought boogie boards to ride the waves. However, when they got to the beach, the waves in front of their home were really small and unrideable. But, she did tell us that she could see children riding waves just down the beach. She asked if we could move the family to a different house that had waves in front of it. Again, we can not control the waves nor Mother Nature.

I have been surfing for about 25 years. If I could control the waves, I would never be at work. :-)

These few stories are not to make fun of anyone. They just bring smiles to my face when I think about all of the funny ones over the years. It seems working in this business, the days are never the same.....or even close.

I am sure that if us locals went back to your home state, we would ask questions as to why things are the way they are there. Why do your schools not close when it snows a lot?

(Now to make fun of ourselves here in our area...to make things even). Yes! It is true about when it snows here...or should I say "when it thinks about snowing here". In our area of the state, if the weather hints at a possible storm with freezing rain or sleet, the few salt trucks get on standby. To my knowledge, our county does not even have salt trucks. Anyway, if it flurries for a few hours in the early mornings, the school system either has a 2 hour delay or they shut the schools down all together. But if you look out the window that morning, it looks like just another day. Dore (my wife), who grew up is Utah laughs at the school system here. She told me that for schools to be canceled out there, it had to snow close to three or four feet in a day. Here......it seems like the weatherman says," We have a very good chance of freezing rain and sleet late tonight and into the early morning hours." Then the next thing we hear on the news is, "There will be a two hour delay for all area schools". The reason being..............us southerners CAN'T drive in the snow!" But....just to prove to everyone that the beach does get snow, just click on picture above and see for yourselves.

The latest news on the island....

2007-12-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to catch up on everything that has been happening here on the island in the last week or so.

The Town of Holden Beach signed a contract to tear down the Holden Beach Town Hall. It only took a matter of about 2 days and the destruction began on Monday December
10, 2007. The tractors and dump trucks moved in a steady line for a few hours. When it was all said and done.....the original building was gone. As I sit here and type this blog, I can hear another tractor leveling the dirt to make sure everything just right. It was really sad to see this building go since it has always been here my entire life of living on the beach. It was built in 1968 from old bricks that came from an old hosiery factory that was being town down in Wilmington, NC at the time. My grandfather and a few other men help clean up those old bricks to put the mortar right back on them to build our town hall. I went over there with my little truck and picked up about 200 of these old bricks to build a walkway at my house or a patio. I could just not let these bricks just go to the dump. They had so much history and meaning to me. I will surely miss seeing that building as I drive down the beach.

This past Tuesday was the induction of the new Town Commissioner's and the new Mayor. At the town meeting, everyone was sworn into office and afterwards refreshments were served! The new incoming leaders are Mayor J. Alan Holden and the five commissioner's are: Sandy Miller, Ray Lehr, Ken Kiser, Don Glander and returning commissioner Gary Staley.

Another talk of the town has been the GREAT weather we are having. Well......I guess it all depends on what your idea of what great is. For the last 4 days we have been setting heat records back to back. We had two days this week that we were hovering around the 80 degree mark. I know that it is Christmas, and I like it to be cold for the holiday's. But it is nice for the kids to get all of there toys from Santa and can go out and play in the yard. After all....I could say we are lucky that we are not haveing that terrible snow storm that has been moving across the US. That snow would really be fun...for about a day and I would be over it. It is suppose to get into the 50's on Monday and that should help cool things down.

We here at Alan Holden Vacation's and RE/MAX at the Beach wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year! Have a safe holiday as well!!!

Our new Holden Beach Mayor, our 2008 rental brochure

2007-11-27T08:40:00.001-05:00

Well.....it looks like winter is creeping up on us slowly. It is REALLY hard for me to believe that is is almost Christmas. I am still trying to recover from last year's! I guess I better get on the ball so I am not out on December 24th at 1opm looking for presents for my family.

We now have our 2008 rental brochure available to the public. If you are on our mailing list, you should have received it around Thanksgiving. We were wanting to get it to everyone so the families could sit down together during the holiday and find that perfect beach house for next summer. If you are not on our mailing list please call and get a FREE rental brochure. We are really pleased the way our brochure came out this year. We hope to have the new brochure available for download off our site coming very soon. It should be online before Christmas. The houses are filling up very quickly, so don't delay!

We want everyone to wish Mr. Alan Holden (owner of Alan Holden Vacations, and our four RE/MAX at the Beach sales offices) a congratulations! He became the new Holden Beach Mayor during our election back on Nov. 6th. Mr. Holden will be sworn into office somtime in the middle of December. Alan Holden's father, Mr. John F. Holden, was the first mayor and founding father of the town. We now kow that Holden Beach will be back on track to staying a true family beach.

It is that time of year again!

2007-10-22T11:41:00.001-04:00

I know....I know...I have been really slack on the blog front. I have to apoligize now and say "sorry". This time of year is REALLY busy for us. We have been working non-stop for the past few weeks trying to get our advertising and brochure stuff ready for the 2008 season. Also, in between those times, we have been doing a faily good bit of fishing tournaments as well on the weekends. So, there is where I have been :-)

It is now that great time of year that all the locals love so much. The air is warm in the afternoons, with a cool brisk whiff of fresh air in the mornings. The fish have been biting a good bit in the surf and the local beaches are empty.

I wanted to remind everyone that this coming up weekend (October 27th and 28th) is the annual Festival By The Sea. We have a parade, street vendors, kids games, a sand castle building contest for kids, lots and lots of great food to be eaten, a horseshoe contest and lots of other cool fun things to do. This festival has been around since the early 1980's and gets bigger and better each and every year. Bring some shopping money becasue you can buy some really nice things while you browse around. Most of the artwork is hand made or hand painted. That is what makes it all so unique! If you are looking for a quick and fun weekend, come on down the Holden Beach, NC this weekend and help us celebrate the Festival By The Sea! You can find some nightly beach rentals through our company here at Alan Holden Vacations. we have some great deals going on so come visit us!

Please remember 9/11 Victims and their Families

2007-09-11T12:27:00.000-04:00

Of course I don't want to keep drilling it into everyone's head about the 9/11 anniversary since the media will never let us forget.......and we shouldn't. Instead of remembering what happened that day, we should all remember the people that were involved and lost.

Think about it like this......If you read in the media the names of those that were lost it is sad no doubt. But if you read those same names and put it with a photo it strikes a different chord. It allows us to see that these people who died were just like us. They were husbands, mothers, father's, uncles, children, brothers, sisters, and they were children themselves. It really makes you realize that these people were just doing what they did every day..... and that is going to work. It is really hard for me to comprehend still the magnitude of lives lost and how they were lost.

I think back to that day of what I was doing. I had gone surfing to get some waves from Hurricane Erin up at Carolina Beach, NC. My friend Dean and I left Holden Beach around 6am to catch the ferry ride from Southport, NC over to Ft. Fisher. The waves were REALLY good that morning and the ocean was nice and glassy. I would say the surf was around 4-6ft with great conditions. I had to surf early and get back home by 10am to go to work. So we got out of the water and put our boards in the car and started to leave. I was not in the car longer than a minute when my wife called on my cell phone and told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in NY. At first I thought it was a small private prop plane....so I really did not think much of it. So I got off the phone with her and turned on the radio. The air waves were full of chatter as to what had happened. Still.....it was not known what kind of plane had hit the first tower. As we began to drive back home, out of nowhere a second plane hit the other tower. Now, I really became concerned. The radio began to start talking about a possible terrorist attack. After listening to this horrible story unfold, it became apparent that this was an attack. As these two buildings were burning, another plane crashes into the Pentagon. Reality had set in to me now.......when will it stop? Not after another plane gets downed in a field in Pennsylvania.

I got home after listening to this unfold on the radio and I ran into the house where my wife and my one year old son was waiting. I gave them a hug and turned on the television. It was worse than I had thought....if that is really possible. I watched it for several hours until I could not take anymore of it. I was mad, upset, and thankful that I still had my family and loved ones.

It still makes me stop and think about all of those lives that were lost and are still missing to this day. So please......say a prayer for those victims, the victims families and the survivors. GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

Extremely High Temps!

2007-08-12T09:43:00.001-04:00

temps
Originally uploaded by SurfHB

I think it is easy to say that the big topic over the past week has been this terrible heat. For the last 7 days or so, the heat have been hovering around 100 degrees. Then with the heat index the scales have tipped up to 112 to 117 degrees! Yes.....it has been a scorcher! It has been so miserable, that when you walk outside you glasses fog up for about 3 minutes. You can't see a darn thing! Another thing that makes it feel so bad is the humidity mixed with the heat. When you are outside, it is actually hard to breathe because of so much moisture in the air. It almost feel like you are suffocating in way. Southeastern NC has been breaking all kinds of records these past few days. One record stood for 128 years before it was broken a few days ago.
I tried to go out surfing in the middle of the week around 6pm and it was still unbearably hot. The sun and the heat would just cut right through you. The ocean did not even feel refreshing to me. The water temps are hovering around 84 or 85 degrees. Basically, it feels like a very warm bath. Since we are in desparate need of rain, the salt content in the ocean is very high. Just getting a slight amount in your eyes burned a lot. So, with the heat being so high, the warmth of the ocean, and the extreme salt content....... it was best to probably just sit in the house. But then again......that was not even comforting in most cases. Since it was so hot outside, the air conditioners could not even keep up with the demand. My wife and I have brand new A/C units, the coolest my house would get was in the upper 80's IN the house. Finally at night it would cool off just in time to go to bed. There were many of our vacation rental homes that had A/C issues due to them freezing up. This happens when it is really hot outside, and you turn the A/C down to low. The condensation sweats so much that it begins to freeze up on the unit and therefore the entire unit freezes up.....literally. Now, you have to wait for the ice to melt while the A/C is off. Then, while the ice is melting the temps in the house climbs.

** Rememeber this: As a rule of thumb.....no matter how hot it is, the A/C can only cool within 15 degress or so of what it is outside. Example: If the temp outside is 102 degrees, the coolest your house will likely get will be around 87 degrees. Please just bear with it and do not crank the A/C down further. If you do, the A/C will be fully out of commission for hours.

Please remeber these tips during these summer months:
NEVER leave children or pets alone in closed vehicles.
Slow down, avoid strenuous activity.
Avoid too much sun.
Plan outdoor games and activities for early morning or evening.
Avoid extreme temperature changes.
Stay indoors as much as possible; use fans or air conditioners to cool the air. Wear loose-fitting, lightweight, light-colored clothing that will cover as much skin as possible.
Protect face and head by wearing a wide brimmed hat.
Drink plenty of fluids, even if you do not feel thirsty, and avoid alcoholic beverages.

Thanks and hopefully things will cool off even more. If we can cool off down to 90 degrees, then that would be heaven!

Roasting Oysters

2007-07-15T14:12:00.000-04:00

During the winter months for those who have never had the chance to visit from Oct. 15th through March 15th there is something you need to do. My family tries to get together about once every week or two and roast oysters over an open fire outside over a drum or in an outdoor fireplace. We have some local connections to get them fresh by the bushel. I believe the cost last winter was about $33 a bushel. When I was a teenager, the cost was about $11 a bushel.

Some of you may say, "I have had them in the restaurants steamed." When cooking and eating them over an open, it is a unique experience BIG difference in taste experience. Here are some tips if you ever want to try it:
Get a bushel of oysters and an old oil drum the with bottom cut out. Stick a few bricks under the bottom edges to raise the drum a few inches. Put small blocks of wood, a few broken sticks and some rolled up newspapers in the bottom of the drum. Next, you need to light the wood and newspapers and get the fire really hot and wait for it to settle down some. Take the fresh, shelled oysters out of our the burlap bag and take a pressure washer or water hose and get all of the mud off to the best of your ability. After the fire backs down some and has burned for about 15 minutes or so, put about 35 clean oysters in a wire mesh rack to place on top of the drum with the oysters in it. As the oysters start cooking you will hear lots of popping, cracking and sizzling. This is the sounds of the oysters opening from the heat and the juices flowing out of them and falling onto the fire. About every three or four minutes you need to shake the rack to move the oysters around. Cook the oysters from about 10 minutes or so. Once the oyster shells turn an "ash" color they are likely done.

On the tables you have set up, you should have covered them with several layers of newspapers to absorb the juices. You then will have to pick though the oysters that have the shells open enough to stick an oyster knife in it to pry it open. Have a few different kinds of sauces ready to dip the oysters in. Things we like are vinegar, ketchup, horseradish sauce etc. Dip it in, and open wide!
Depending on how many people you have, depends on how many oysters you will need. Usually, we get a bushel and a half or so for about 6 or 8 people.

Due to the pollution in our rivers and waterways that have increased over the past few years, this practice of roasting oysters is slowly dying. Also, the over harvesting of oysters have really impacted the oyster population as well. Here is an interesting article that was in our local newspaper a few years ago. We all need to be aware that we do our best to help protect our water sources. The locals are all saying that in 10 years we will no longer be able to get fresh oysters out of our rivers. Let's be able to pass the tradition on for our children to enjoy.

Family comes to visit Holden Beach!

2007-06-29T11:38:00.001-04:00

Some of the kids.....
Originally uploaded by kamaluokalani

Some of you have e-mailed me and asked where my family and I go for vacation since we live in paradise. Usually we do not go far from Holden Beach, but this year was a little different than usual. My wife's brother, his wife and 2 kids came to stay 10 days with us at our house. Also, my wife's nephew, niece and their mom came as well. That came to a total of of 12 people (5 adults and 7 kids under the age of 7).
They came out from Salt Lake City on the "big bird" and landed in Raleigh all full of great cheer and to have fun at the beach. We were really all anxious to see everyone since we have not seen them in about 2 1/2 years. My wife and I took our vacation time this year to hang out and entertain everyone. We really did a lot of things. One of the things we did for the kids was to take everyone to the Dixie Stampede in Myrtle Beach, SC. If you have never been there it is really a lot fo fun for everyone. They feed you great food and they have lots of horse riding, tricks, jokes and much more and they do it while you eat. It is inside and they have a large arena type seating. Go if you get the chance, but please call ahead to make sure your get a reservation first.
Anyway, back to the family fun! We spent most of the time at the beach since we could easily just walk down the street. The kids did not go everyday, but they did go a lot. Some days it was just so hot, you wanted to stay indoors. Other times we did some eating....and more eating....and a little more eating. I think I need to go on a diet now. While the kids were either playing with toys or at the beach, Hagoth (my wife's brother) and I went and did our own things. One day we played 18-holes of golf at one of the local courses. We decided to play Lockwood Folly Golf Links. Now I will be the first to admit that he nor I are Tiger Woods....lol. I think we belong more on one of the local Putt-Putt courses. We did have a lot of fun making a few good drives and putts in between chasing and losing balls. I think I lost 5 balls on the first 7 holes or so. It is all about the fun (Insert sarcasm here)!
While we were out TRYING to play golf, the ladies took the kids to ride the Southport Ferry to Ft. Fisher to go visit the NC Aquarium at Ft. Fisher. My kids always love going! They got to see the sharks, turtles and pet the sting rays in the petting tank. If you have never been, please take some time to drop by one afternoon and see what wonderful things they have. When everyone got back from the aquarium and we got back from golf, we all were exhausted. Time to eat again!
The next day Hagoth and I had to pay the piper for our excellent golf game. We let all the mother's go and get pedicure's to help them relax for the long stressful day they had before. I think when they got back home with their lovely feet, we needed pedicure.....or something to help US relax...lol.
Well, the 10 days came and went fast and we did so much in so little time and we still never got close to doing it all. Hopefully they can come back to visit us very soon and stay with us again. We really enjoyed having everyone in our house and it is so quite now. If we could just get everyone in their family to move out here then that would be great!! By the way, after that long but fun 10 day break from work.......I think I need a vacation now to recoup :-) So there you have it folks. We love Holden Beach so much that we stay home for vacation.

Water Safety Reminder

2007-06-10T09:43:00.000-04:00

It is that time of the year again when Mother Nature wakes up more and likes to flex her muscles to show us who is TRULY in charge..lol. Since the hurricane season is getting more in gear now I wanted to remind our visitors of a hidden and silent killer that is just a few steps off the beach. I am talking about Rip Currents. Most people can not spot them with unless you have a trained eye. I just wanted to touch on what causes the deadly currents to form and how to avoid getting in trouble if caught in one.

These currents usually form when there is a Tropical Storm or Hurricane a few hundred miles off the beach. As these storms blow they send out swells well ahead of the storm as the storm pushes forward. Think of it pushing your hand though the water slowly and you will notice the small wave in front of your hand. That is how a storm sends good surf to the beaches. The storm is "pushing" water to the beach.

Now......when these swells cross over the sandbars and reach the beach the water from the waves gets caught or trapped between the beach and sandbars without a way to get back to sea. When enough water gets built up, the water breaks a small channel in the sandbar that is underwater and the water rushes back out to sea very rapidly. The "break" in the sandbar is what causes Rip Currents to form.

Things to remember:
1) Remain calm to conserve energy and think clearly.
2) Never fight the current.
3) Think of it like a treadmill that cannot be turned off, of which you need to step to the side.
4) Swim out of the current in a direction following the shoreline. When out of the current, swim at an angle -- away from the current -- towards shore.
5) If you are unable to swim out of the rip current, float or calmly tread water. 6)When out of the current, swim towards shore.
7) If you are still unable to reach shore, draw attention to yourself by waving your arm and yelling for help.

NOTE) Holden Beach does NOT have lifeguards on duty. Please be careful and swim at your own risk.

For a good demonstration of how a rip current works and how to get out of one, please visit this Water Safety site. Click on the "View Flash Presention" in the middle of the page and turn up your speakers.

Remember to come visit our website for information on Vacation Beach Rentals and our Beach Property for sale.

Thanks and please have a very safe vacation while visiting with us!!

Memorial Day Weekend is coming.....

2007-05-24T13:05:00.000-04:00

Well, it looks like another Memorial Day weekend is coming around again. It is hard to believe that another rental season is just beginning. The winter months here at Holden Beach go by so fast. Most people think that since it is in our off season, that we get a chance to relax and rest before the summer jumps right on us. Actually, we are extremely busy during these months of September all the way through March or April.

We start off not long after Labor Day getting all of the updated house information from homeowner's for the upcoming year. As these are coming in, we also must go out and retake new pictures of homes that have been painted, and had renovations. As this information is safely filed away into a brochure folder, we continue to help owner's make repairs and upgrades to their homes. We really get a lot of pressure to get this updated information to the brochure printers just before Thanksgiving since it takes a few weeks to get them printed. Our goal is to have our vacation rental guide in the mail in early December. Right after Christmas we have about 3 days to make corrections in our database of all the changes that each home has had since the end of the last rental season. This is a very time consuming and strenuous.

It seems that right after New Years Day.......the phones start ringing. Everyone who received a brochure, went and shared it with their families over the holidays. Now they have their lists of homes they want to rent. The phones never really stop ring until around Memorial Day. There is a slight break but only for a very short time. Then before you know it, it is SUMMER! The summer months are extremely busy as always and we never really get a chance to breathe. So you see......living at the beach is not just all vacations. But we do love living here and helping people like you make memories here at Holden Beach.

Please don't forget to remember what Memorial Day really means. Let's remember all of those who have died while serving our wonderful country. If it were not for them, we would not have our freedom. Thanks to all our veterans out there....

Some of my great memories of Holden Beach

2007-05-14T16:12:00.000-04:00

Wow! How things sure have changed here at Holden Beach during my lifetime. I was born in Wilmington in October of 1972. My parents were living here on the island then, in a house that they built on the east end of the island on Shrimp St. My Father (Alan Holden) was then teaching school in the local high school and coaching many sports at the time. My grandparents, John F. Holden and Johnsie M. Holden lived only about a block away from me so I could walk over any time I liked. You may have seen their house. It is the only one story brick home on the island.

Anyway, I remember going over the their house when I was about four years old and watching "renters" come to their front door to pick up their house keys. They did not have many homes to rent but only a handful. My grandfather actually built most of the homes that he rented out himself. They use to sit and tell me about all kinds of cool stories. Did you know that around the 200 OBE block of Holden Beach there use to be a very small air strip? There was no airport building or anything like that, but just a long field of grass for private planes to land on. I was not around then, but I have seen pictures of it.

One wonderful memory that I have, was the many times I walked down to the beach at night and watch the locals pull in their fishing nets. Some of the local fisherman had these little shacks build directly on the strand that had a small stove and some ice chests etc. Just the basic things that were needed by them to pass the time. There might have had some blankets, lanterns, fish knives etc. Most of the time there was a fire buring out in front of the shack. Near this fire was a small table about 4 feet high and about 2 feet square on top. On it, was a large powered winch that would pull in the nets that went far out into the surf for about 50 to 75 yards out. Usually it was at night when they would pull them in. Boy, when they powered up that winch there were all kinds fish in the nets. There were Spots, sharks, Mullet, and just about everything else. We would pull the fish off the nets and throw them into buckets as the nets were coming in. I was just a little fella, and some of those fish were kind of scary for me to handle. Usually for dinner, the adults would take a few of the fish and clean them immediately. Then they would put some batter on them and fry them right there on the beach strand along with some hush puppies. Talk about some GOOD eating.

My grandparents told me how hush puppies got their name in this area. I was told that the women would be making cornbread for their families and they would usually have a little bit of batter left over. So while they were cooking, the dogs in the backyard would always be barking and begging for something to eat. So the wives would fry up the left over batter and thow them to the puppies to keep them quite. So.....it was done to hush the puppies. Now you have hush puppies. So, the next time you are out dining at local resturants, think about the puppies barking for some food.

I never knew what good memories I was making back in those days. My, how we have changed the way we do things here. If you want to read about some other neat stories by my grandparents Holden Beach History has a lot of them. You can buy those books that were written by Mr. and Mrs. John F. Holden directly through us. He was one of the original founding fathers of this quite, "Family Beach" that we all love so much.

Day at the Docks Festival!

2007-05-08T13:28:00.001-04:00

Vendors
Originally uploaded by SurfHB.

Day at the Docks was Great!!

Day at the docks went very well last week. We had beautiful weather and lots of good times. There were fun things for the kids to do as well as for the adults. I am not sure how many people were here over the weekend for the festival, but the turnout was great.

My kids really liked the kite demonstration that comes every year. There were about 30 really cool kites flying and on display for all to enjoy. They were not your average kite though. Some were 15 feet long and had every color you could imagine. And the best thing about the festival, was that when you were tired of looking at the kites, you just had to cross the street from the beach to get to the nice arts and crafts that were on display to buy. Hopefully next year the weather will be just as good. Plan ahead now!

Holden Beach real estate and vacations!

Day at the Docks Festival

2007-04-27T12:37:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the new Holden Beach Blog sponsored by Alan Holden Vacations and RE/MAX at the Beach. We hope you find the information we put here to be insightful, interesting, informative, and entertaining. We will try to update this blog as often as possible.

I will make this first post about the upcoming festival this weekend here at Holden Beach. Day at the Docks is held every year in early spring. The dates are Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29 from 9am-4pm. This festival is a way for Holden Beach start off spring and the opening of beach season. There will be tons of the food, lots of crafts and entertainment. It is really a lot of family fun for everyone to enjoy.

The location is on under the Holden Beach bridge on the island side. So hop in the car and come on down and see us. Bring the whole family and stay a night or two! Find more rental information at Holden Beach rentals.

Welcome to Holden Beach! Our First Blog Posting

2007-04-27T10:26:00.000-04:00

The folks at Alan Holden Vacations are specialists in family vacation rentals at Holden Beach-- one of the top 10 family beaches in the US. After all, the Holden family have been here for a while. (Holden family ancestors bought the island paradise from England in 1756 for 50 shillings.)

We'll make regular postings in this blog to help keep you informed about Holden Beach and the surrounding area.

Please check back often as we tell you more about one of the best family vacation spots on the east coast.