Ocean color in NC SC, Ga and FL eta PHOTO

[american_mama]

kure beach.jpg

My family and I were recently on vacation in Wilmington, NC and were surprised how pretty and blue the ocean was. We saw this at two distant beaches on different days. I commented on that to someone I met who just moved to my state from Wilmington, and he said he thought the beaches are clearer and bluer there than anywhere on the southeast coast until you get to FLorida.

Can anyone confirm or deny? I've not been to SC or GA beaches. The St. Augustine, FL beach (northern Florida) was indeed blue when we were there last year. Are beaches in the Outer Banks of NC blue and if so, what parts? Wilmington is much further south in NC, only about an hour from the SC border.

eta: The NC ocean seemed very blue to us, but I didn't mean it was clear. See photo at top of Kure Beach. I am not talking super, aquamarine blue like in the Caribbean - but pretty blue rather than dark or murky or grayish. Then again, I just saw a photo a friend posted of a beach in Ontario, Canada that also looked very blue.

[gymnbomb]

We go to the beaches in the Charleston, SC area fairly regularly (not every year, but a lot of years) and while I love the area for many reasons, I do not think of it as a beautiful blue/clear water type of place.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

Isn't it mostly a combination of sky (clear vs cloudy) and how shallow it is?


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[marymoo86]

What? I live in NC and would never describe the color as "clear" or blue. If you are standing on a high deck it looks somewhat blueish but at sea level it is generally murky.

I was recently at a SC beach and was bowled over that one day we could actually see to the bottom of about 2 feet of water.

I can't imagine the water at Wrightsville nor Kure Beaches anywhere near blue as in the Caribbean.

I would think this is characteristic of NC/SC beaches

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[mmsmom]

There has been a phenomenon going on this summer causing the water to be very blue. I know it was in NJ and maybe it has been more widespread. The ocean in NC/SC is usually greenish brown.

http://www.news-press.com/story/news...ical/87040100/

[WatchingThemGrow]

Yeah I wouldn't describe the water near Wilmington (or south of) all that pretty blue, but it may have been more so this year. The gulf coast of Florida is usually clear/light greenish blue and oh so warm. So very different from the pacific we touched a week later?


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[Tinkerbell313]

We were down in Hatteras on the Outer Banks during the last week of June 2016. The water was pretty clear...you could see far out as well as down to your feet touching the sand. It is my understanding that that is unusual. But it was a nice surprise. Here is an article from a local paper there talking about wind direction and its effect on the ocean. Those pictures that you see are just like what we experienced. However, only this year. In years past we have not experiences such clarity.

http://www.villagerealtyobx.com/blog...er-outer-banks

[barkley1]

We were down in Hatteras on the Outer Banks during the last week of June 2016. The water was pretty clear...you could see far out as well as down to your feet touching the sand. It is my understanding that that is unusual. But it was a nice surprise. Here is an article from a local paper there talking about wind direction and its effect on the ocean. Those pictures that you see are just like what we experienced. However, only this year. In years past we have not experiences such clarity.

http://www.villagerealtyobx.com/blog...er-outer-banks

We had the same experience this year at the Outer Banks. One day, we were at Cape Lookout on the inside (protected from the "big" ocean rough waves), and it was literally like a lake. And so clear, I reached down to pick up a shell and my face unexpectedly went in the water, it was that deep. I grew up vacationing there, and while it has always been bluer and more beautiful than places like Hilton Head, Charleston, Myrtle, etc...it was unusually clear and blue this year.

[SASM]

I've been noticing the bluer waters too recently which is kind of atypical. It varies on the currents/winds/sky. One day last year my husband stood in the waist-deep water and could see down to his feet...very atypical. That was the day he saw a 5' shark about 3' away!!😉 I know they are always there but YIKES!! IMO Kure is very different from Wrightsville, which is about 20 miles north and farther from the Cape Fear River. Southport seems to have more brown/copper water whenever we go...I think it has to do with the positioning (more south) and the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Kure is also near the opening of the Cape Fear River but not nearly as brown/copper because of its positioning (more east) on the coast.