Photo: Timothy A. Gonsalves, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Here is a secret every family with young kids should know: the beach at nine at night is a different planet. The sand is cool, the stars are out, and the whole beach is alive with ghost crabs. Our guests who try it once make it a nightly ritual.
The ghost crab hunt
Ghost crabs are pale, fast, and mostly nocturnal. During the day you see their burrows, neat holes with a fan of sand outside. At night they are everywhere, skittering sideways at the edge of your flashlight beam. The game is simple: walk slowly along the wet sand, sweep the light ahead, and count them. Most kids stop at fifty. A red light is kinder to the crabs and, in turtle season, required on the beach; a red light app on a phone works fine.
Catch and release with a bucket if you must, gently, and put them back where you found them. They can pinch, so handle them gently.
Turtle season rules apply
From May through October, this is a nesting beach. No white lights, no flash photography, stay well away from any staked nest, and if you are lucky enough to see a female nesting or a nest hatching, stop, sit down, and let it happen. Read our sea turtle guide before the first night walk.
The dark sky
There is no boardwalk on the north end of Topsail and very little lighting, which means the Milky Way is visible on clear moonless nights, something most of our guests have never seen from home. Lie back on the walkway benches or the rooftop deck at Up On The Roof and give your eyes fifteen minutes. August brings the Perseid meteor shower; the nights around the new moon are the show.
Bioluminescence
On some warm late summer nights, the surf glows faintly blue green where it breaks, from tiny plankton. It is unpredictable, but if you are on the beach anyway with the flashlights off, you may catch it.
The grown-up version
Once the kids are asleep, the deck: fire table on, ocean loud in the dark, and the kind of conversation that only happens when there is nothing else to look at. That is the whole point of the beach house.
Quick answers
What are the crabs on Topsail Island beach at night?
Ghost crabs. They are harmless, fast, and come out after dark. Walking the wet sand with a red flashlight and counting them is a favorite activity for kids.
Can you see the Milky Way from North Topsail Beach?
On clear, moonless nights, yes. The north end has very little artificial light, and a rooftop deck or the beach itself gives a wide dark sky.
The beach is out the back door, day or night
Our beach houses have private walkways and fire tables. The rooftop decks at Up On The Roof are the best stargazing seats on the island.