Last week was our daughters’ spring break so we road tripped down to my parents’ house in Wilmington, North Carolina for some R & R. We had a week of amazing weather and, in addition to getting that R & R we all needed (sleeping until 10:00 while my mom feeds the kids breakfast = bliss!), we fit in golfing, tennis, biking, shopping, movies, and of course some fun at the beach. We also took a day trip to Bald Head Island, which we last visited in our pre-kid days. We weren’t sure whether or not it would be a hit with our girls but it turned out to be a great time for our whole family. Since there isn’t a lot of info online about visiting Bald Head Island with kids, I’m going to go a bit off-topic today and tell you about our day trip there – hopefully you’ll either find it useful for a future trip or at least enjoy seeing pictures of all this little island has to offer.
If you’ve never heard of Bald Head Island before, it’s a small North Carolina island located at the inlet between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean. The only way to get to and from Bald Head is by private boat or passenger ferry. We took the ferry, which leaves from Deep Point Marina in Southport, N.C. (ferry schedules are posted online {here}. The 40,000 square-foot ferry terminal is a beautiful newly constructed building with comfortable indoor and outdoor waiting areas and a galley where you can grab some drinks and snacks while you wait for your ferry:
After buying our round-trip ferry tickets (which were more expensive than you might expect), we hung out in the comfortable outdoor waiting area that overlooks the marina with views of the Cape Fear River.
The ferry boat arrived right on time. It has both indoor and outdoor seating and is a smooth 20-minute ride over to Bald Head Island. Upon our arrival at Bald Head, we went directly to Riverside Adventure Company, which is located within a short walking distance of the ferry landing. There are no cars allowed on Bald Head Island other than service/delivery vehicles so the main forms of transportation are bicycles and electric carts. At Riverside Adventure Company we rented an electric cart for the day (they have both 4-person and 6-person carts) and paid an extra $20 for their GPS scavenger hunt. The GPS scavenger hunt was the key to a fun trip for our family – the GPS comes preloaded with 12 destinations and a clue sheet. It’s not the type of GPS that we’ve all become accustomed to – it doesn’t tell you when and where to turn but instead is more of a high-tech compass that shows you the distance and direction to your destination. After reading each clue, you set your GPS to the destination, and head off on your electric cart seeking the answer. By doing the GPS scavenger hunt, we saw parts of the island that I’m sure we would have otherwise never seen and the girls thought it was great fun. Most of the clue answers were pretty simple but others involved getting out of the cart and taking a short hike to the clue destination or taking multiple wrong turns with our cart before finally finding the correct road to lead us to our answer. UPDATE: CART RENTALS ARE NOW THROUGH CARY CART COMPANY & UNFORTUNATELY THEY NO LONGER OFFER THE SCAVENGER HUNT
Near the beginning of our scavenger hunt, we found ourselves near Old Baldy, which is North Carolina’s oldest standing lighthouse. There is a small fee for admission to the lighthouse, but it’s worth it for the spectacular view of the island that awaits you after climbing 108 steps to the top.
After climbing Old Baldy it was time for lunch so we headed to the harbor which has several restaurants to choose from with beautiful views:
After lunch, we continued on our scavenger hunt across the island, driving along gorgeous tree-covered roads:
Along the way, we stopped at the shops on Maritime Way, including the Friendly Fox Toy Shop, Coastal Urge Bike Shop, Silver Peddler, and my favorite – Room Service, which has great mix of new and vintage home furnishings, accessories, and gifts.
Another stop on Maritime Way that you can’t miss if you’re there with kids is The Ice Cream Shoppe, which is located on the right-hand side of the Maritime Market. As our scavenger hunt continued down to the east end of the island, we also stopped at Turtle Central, which is a cute gift shop with clothing, jewelry, books, and toys.
I bought this great Navy Geo Essential Tote there with the double benefit of (1) snagging a stylish bag with a waterproof lining that is perfect for the pool and beach and (2) helping to fund the Bald Head Island Conservancy, which receives the proceeds from all purchases at Turtle Central.
The Bald Head Island Conservancy has a mission of fostering barrier island conservation, preservation, and education. Bald Head Island is nationally recognized for its sea turtle nesting activity and one of BHI Conservancy’s roles is to coordinate and sponsor a Sea Turtle Protection Program. I learned that the Conservancy offers some great Family Adventure Programs such as Crabbing & Cast Netting, Kayak the Creeks, ECO-crafts, and a Maritime Forest Hike – we didn’t know about these programs before our trip to Bald Head but will definitely look into doing one on a future trip.
Over the course of the rest of our scavenger hunt, we came across some stunningly beautiful beach homes,
a gazebo perfect for dancing,
and a gorgeous beach with shoreline waves that were made for jumping.
I don’t want to give away any scavenger hunt clues by showing more pictures 🙂 but trust me on the fact that we made some serious tracks around the island and had a lot of fun doing it. A little over five hours after our arrival to Bald Head Island, we turned in our cart and our clue sheet (on which the girls were excited to receive a 100%) and hopped on the ferry heading back to Southport.
Overall, it was a fun-packed day that we all enjoyed and would recommend to other families without question. For those without kids, Riverside Adventure Company has a more challenging GPS scavenger hunt that I’m sure would be a blast too. I’d love for anyone else who has been to Bald Head to leave a comment about other island activities they enjoyed because I’m sure that on some of our future trips to Wilmington, we will go back to this fun little island.
Anonymous says
thanks for all the info !!! big help, heading that way next week and always wanted to go there . Have 4 kids and sounds like alot of fun…:)
Kris @ Driven by Décor says
I’m jealous – have a great trip! Let us know what other fun things you find to do there!
Leigh Ann says
Thanks so much! Were taking a day trip Saturday with 2 kiddos 🙂
Kris @ Driven by Décor says
You will love it! Have a great time!
Nicole Mosher says
Came across your page looking for bald head island info. Im surprised to see there isnt much info about this place. Your page really helped me plan me and my daughter’s day adventure there. Thank you very much.
Kris Jarrett says
I’m so glad you found it helpful and had a good trip there. We are hoping to actually get back there for a day or two this summer!
Britt says
I’m going to bald head tomorrow (Just my husband and I) for a day trip. 7 months pregnant with our first but it’s my birthday so we are doing something different. How long would you say to carve out for the whole day before getting back on the ferry in order to get all the sightseeing in?
Thanks!
Kris Jarrett says
I’m so sorry – I’m just now seeing your comment! Hope you enjoyed your visit there!
Angela says
Great review and very helpful since we have 3 kids under 12! We always stay in Carolina beach and always take the ferry from Fort Fisher to South Port for the day. I’d like to try Bald Head for a day trip! I’m wondering if we can rent a golf cart from Carolina Beach and take it on the ferries?!?!?!?!?!! Any thoughts? Thank you!
Kris Jarrett says
I think you’d love a day trip there! You can’t take golf carts on the passenger ferries but there’s a golf cart rental right where you dock on Bald Head so I would just reserve one there!
Makenzie says
Wow! Thank you so much for this! I’ve always wanted to go to BHI but never knew what to do when I got there, especially with kids. I’m excited to go now!
Diane Hueske says
Your web site about Bald Head Island is awesome. I have company coming and I want to go there for the first time. This helps me so much. I will give you a report afterwards, which is in about 2 weeks. Thank you for the information.
Diane
Dawn says
We just went to BHI (4/28/2018) and Riverside Adventure gave us the Cary Cart Co. number for Golf Cart Rentals. When I questioned them about the scavenger hunt they indicated they no longer rent golf carts and Cary Cart Co. said they didn’t offer the scavenger hunt. We were disappointed, but still had a great time for a day trip to BHI. I am sure we missed some neat things, but hopefully we can get to go back to explore some more.
Kris Jarrett says
Thanks Dawn – this post was written a few years back so I appreciate the updates and have made a note of it in my post!
Jules says
Hey sounds great! Thanks for joining us!! We’re glad you enjoyed your visit! We’re no longer MoJos – but we appreciate the shout out! We’re Jules’ Salty a Grub & Island Pub now! See you again!!
MLN says
Thank you so much for this blog piece. I assume you visited before COVID. We are planning a day trip later this month and could not find any info on what do for a day trip. The tips you have to renting golf carts and places to visit are fantastic.
Veronica says
Thank you for all your great information. Since it a day trip was there places to use the restroom and did you have access to a changing table?
Patricia Blue says
Thank you for this helpful information.