Gretchen

I would add that another way to judge a beach is by its width. The beaches near Wrightsville are are steeper--and therefore the surfing is better if that is of interest. The beaches further down the coast are wider and less sloping. At low tide, there is a LOT of beach. At high tide, not so much. Ocean Isle did have a HUGE renourishment and it is still on going to restore the beach. It does make for very sharp sand. I don't know about Holden and Oak--I know Holden was washing badly a number of years ago.

GeorgeW

I have been going to Topsail Island for over forty years, since I was eight. I love the place and if I thought I could make a decent living there I would move immediately. Very uncrowded; one traffic light on the island. Lots of space to roam. Some of the better restaurants were sold off during the great real estate run-up of 2004-2007 but there are still a few decent places to eat on the island. Wilmington is only half an hour away.

rego

Gretchen your preference of SC beaches is not a problem, but what you offered to Sgriffin is just ridiculous and also inaccurate. For one, Atlantic Beach is about a hundred miles north of Wilmington and second of all, you have not mentioned one beach North of Wrightsville. Litchfield is nice, but you need to be fair and not so blatantly bias. You only mention other beaches that promote your beach and you seem to be avoiding making any comparisons of Litchfield Beach with the Outer Banks. Seriously, you are going to justify naming Southern NC beaches to sgriffin AFTER he had mentioned he has been to Ocean Isle?

Gretchen

Geez, I apologize, What is the beach that is just south of Kure. I thought it was Atlantic. I don't know anything about the Outer Banks so why would I offer ANYthing about that. Why don't you offer something about OBX.
I have been to the beaches at Wilmington and OIB, NMB,MB, and then south. I am not making up their mind for them. I am fine with people going wherever, but if people don't know how close the SC beaches are to NC , then a little education about the geography may be helpful.
I have NO reason to promote anywhere monetarily, and actually, more traffic isn't what we want. It's just very pretty. have you been?
AND once again, I will point out that I was answering the ORIGINAL POSTER, not griffin who interjected OIB. There seem to be two topics going on.

SAnParis2

The least crowded of the Brunswick string is Holden, then Sunset. All of those islands had erosion problems due to dredging by the Army Corp of Engineers started back in the 70's (I believe), against the advice of the residents of those islands, Mr. Holden especially. Those islands are particularly at risk as they face South, not East. That has since been drastically curtailed. At one point, in my youth (pre-dredging) you could literally walk between islands @ low tide (but you couldn't make it back). That also destroyed a lot of oyster beds, sand dollar & other habitat that lay essentially between those islands. If you can still find it, this book is an excellent little history lesson re: one of my favorite islands - http://www.holden-beach.com/Content/book.asp

Gretchen

YES, at OIB it is a bit disorienting to look out AT the ocean at sunrise (should be due east, you think) and see the sun coming up to your exact LEFT. (If I have this exactly backward, forgive me--but I saw it when we were there last!!)
Sunset has its new bridge. It's a nice beach.
The dredging/renourishment has its prices to be paid if and when a big storm/hurricane/nor'easter hits. Where they filled those inlets for the developers, Mother Nature will reclaim her land and take it ALL back.