Has anybody done Oak Island, NC? What are your favorite things to do around there?

[PeterPan]

Someone has offered to let us stay at their place on Oak Island. Any favorite things to do or places to eat there? I've been looking at TripAdvisor, but it's not totally clear to me. I see there's the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Is it good and worth going to? And the Bald Head Island sounds fun but is there anything to do with their learning center closed? I saw a place that does kayaking tours, which I thought sounded fun.

My dh thinks he wants to go out fishing one day. Is the fishing really fun there (pull 'em out constantly, the only speed I would like, like Alaska) or is there something else I should do on land? 

I guess I'm not really sure I want to go. It sounds like we have to take our own bedding, cook, clean up after ds. It doesn't really sound like a vacation for me, just a ton of work. So throw your best at me for why in the world I want to go there! Oh and this is a very ADHD group, so he'll want like THREE things to do every day. There won't be any sit on the porch and look at the beach while sipping coffee. Nope, just let's go, let's go.

This is why I cruise. No cleaning, no cooking, no stress. And I can get there with a 2 hour flight vs. a long (11-14 hour) drive. So I'm open to any ideas, because right now I'm not feeling it. Only the kayaking sounded good to me.

[Pawz4me]

Oak Island is beautiful, but activities there certainly center on the beach. It's a fairly laid back place, so I don't know how it would be for a very active group. I'm not as familiar with it as I am other NC beaches, but you'd probably want to do the lighthouse and the aquarium. I haven't been to that one but the other NC aquariums are well worth the visit. The town of Southport is a neat little place to walk, shop, eat. Fishing charters--I guess it depends? The ones I'm most familiar with go out to the gulf stream. It's not a long drive to Wilmington. USS North Carolina is well worth a visit, and the downtown/riverfront area is great for shopping and dining.

[mom2scouts]

We were at the Fort Fisher Aquarium recently. It's not huge and some of the interactive exhibits were closed, but we enjoyed it. We had to register in advance (as they are limiting the number of people), wear masks, and wait a bit to get closer to some exhibits. There was an outdoor walk and a playground. There's also a Civil War museum nearby and you could take the ferry.