Met at the Beach

The visitors to Topsail beaches are just as nice as the locals sometimes. David Merkle and Dean Farley were recently out early one morning on North Topsail Beach. With fishing poles stuck in the sand, the two friends were hoping for some mullet. 

"We haven't caught anything but sunshine!" said Farley.

Merkle and Farley were attending a family reunion of sorts - the 80th birthday of Farley's mother-in-law. Farley said it was his mother-in-law's wish to one day get the whole family together for a beach vacation. Her wish came true in a big house on North Topsail-rumored to have belonged to a former wife of a famous Hollywood star.

Though Farley said it was his wife that made all the arrangements necessary to bring the twenty-seven family members and friends together all the way from New York, Merkle played an important role. 

"I was the ‘carry-the-suitcases' guy," he admitted. "The one who has to figure out how to fit everything into the cars."

The friends have been trekking to Myrtle Beach for years. The search for someplace less commercial brought their group to Topsail. Besides the birthday party, a surprise for Farley's mother-in-law, Farley and Merkle had plans to explore some of Topsail's attractions. The Sea Turtle Hospital and the Missiles and More Museum were must-sees.

And the beach itself was revealing its treasures. Farley said his wife had found a palm-sized shark's tooth in the sand. He and Merkle were also looking forward to just spending time on the beach.

"It is fantastic; beautiful and clean," he said. And Merkle agreed. "It is a very nice beach."