New Waterparks, Updated Dining, Fishing Tournaments

It’s bound to be a busy March in the Chesapeake and North Carolina.

A $46 million waterpark is being constructed in lower Currituck County, North Carolina, three miles north of the Wright Memorial Bridge. The park is designed to accommodate up to 5,000 visitors daily and is scheduled to open this summer. Among the waterpark’s many attractions will be a 30,000-square-foot wave pool, a 90-foot-tall free-fall slide, a 500-foot Constrictor slide, and a 540-foot raft ride with a zero-gravity hump. The park will add employment and entertainment opportunities to the area but will also bring more traffic on roadways especially on weekends, which is another reason to visit the Outer Banks by boat.

Multiple food and beverage locations and a Wright Brothers-themed bar are planned. Up to 50 private cabanas with luxury amenities and guest services are included in the project. H2OBX developers include Jeff Malarney, a Manteo resident and a former Navy judge advocate general, who has been involved in the North Carolina vacation rental industry having recently served two terms on the N.C. Real Estate Commission. The park is scheduled to be open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Current plans will allow local residents access to the park in June. The park will cater mostly to visitors to the area through its rental company partners in July and August. Daily attendance will be capped at between 4,000 and 5,000 visitors to keep lines from becoming too long. h2obxwaterpark.com

Casual creek dining

Mack’s Barge is back on Knitting Mill Creek off the Lafayette River in Norfolk. After a smoky, dingy existence as O’Sullivan’s Wharf, the restaurant is now clean and completely remodeled, offering American grill-style cuisine along the waterfront. The restaurant, originally called Mack’s Barge in the 1970s, has added about 100 seats and expanded its outdoor deck. The docks can accommodate four or five midsize boats. Knitting Mill Creek is on the south side of the Lafayette, about 3 miles above the mouth, with a controlling depth of about 4.5 feet.

The atmosphere is waterfront casual with fishing rods and old signs on the ceilings. The menu concentrates on seafood and smokehouse selections along with biscuits and Southern specialties such as grits and jambalaya. Oysters Rockefeller ($8) and a bowl of she-crab soup ($6) are a good way to start. macksbarge.com

Get ready to fish

The Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland (CCA MD) is hosting its 17^th annual Lefty Kreh TieFest on Saturday, March 18^th, at the Kent Narrows Yacht Club. The event runs from 10AM to 4PM and will feature more than 30 fly tyers demonstrating patterns proven successful in the mid-Atlantic. Casting demonstrations, lessons and equipment manufacturers will also be part of the scene. An addition this year will be tying classes for kids and novice tyers.

CCA MD is also offering its final Angler’s Night Out of the season at the Boatyard Bar & Grill in Eastport on March 28^th. Beverages, appetizers and fish talk runs from 5PM-7PM before the feature film Providence is presented. The full-length, fly-fishing film chronicles a trip to Providence Atoll, where fishing for flats species include giant trevally, bluefin trevally, bumphead parrotfish, bonefish, Indo-Pacific permit, triggerfish, and milkfish. ccamd.org

By Christopher Knauss, Southern Boating Magazine March 2017

Watermelon Martini

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Chilling time: 20 minutes for the glasses
Serves: 6

12 oz. watermelon juice (made from approx. half a seeded watermelon)*
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. kosher salt
5 oz. premium vodka
4 oz. melon or orange liqueur
2 oz. lime juice
Lime wedges
1 c. fresh mint leaves
Ice

Chill martini glasses for 20 minutes before starting recipe. Combine sugar and salt on a plate. Rub rim with lime wedges and dip in sugar mix. Combine half the watermelon juice, vodka and lime juice in a cocktail shaker with several sprigs of mint. Add ice and shake well. Strain into chilled glasses. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

*To make fresh watermelon juice blend watermelon in a food processor or blender until smooth, and strain into a pitcher. Alternatively, muddle the watermelon in batches in a small pitcher and strain.

By Carrie Hanna, Southern Boating Magazine, August 2015

Delightful Dockside Dining

One great aspect of cruising on the Gulf Coast is the history and culture associated with waterfront dining at restaurants and watering holes. Tying up to the piers puts you in touch with a culinary tradition that dates as far back as 1859 at Bruning’s in New Orleans’ West End. Others such as the Fly Creek Inn in Fairhope, Alabama, were known haunts of writers and poets who were drawn to the unmistakable ambiance and connection to the food and drink that comes from being on the water in the Deep South.

Today, there are hundreds of great local haunts for everything from fried grouper baskets to the freshest oysters, and while this space is too small to list them all, here are a few great seafood joints from west to east to keep in mind when cruising the Gulf.

LOUISIANA:

Brisbi’s—New Orleans: West End was the home to seafood waterfront dining for over 150 years until Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Today, the restaurants are coming back and Brisbi’s is leading the charge. Tie up and enjoy the relaxed open-air oyster bar downstairs, or head upstairs to what many call the “Yat Club” for great New Orleans seafood.

Morton’s—Madisonville: On the deepwater Tchefuncte River on northern Lake Pontchartrain in quaint Madisonville, the staff is never in a rush at Morton’s—but neither are you while you’re there. With the best crawfish on the north shore, everything is always fresh, even down to the mirliton dressing.

MISSISSIPPI:

Trapani’s—Bay St. Louis: Located adjacent to the recently completed municipal marina, Trapani’s has been dishing out some of the best seafood and po-boys on the Mississippi Coast for 20 years. After lunch or dinner, stroll one of the cutest towns on all of the Gulf Coast.

ALABAMA:

JT’s Sunset Grill—Dauphin Island: Located on the western side of the island, JT’s is that sort of relaxed joint where you can get your fix of fried oysters and a side of fishermen’s tall tales. Slip space can get tight, so head over early for lunch or dinner.

LuLu’s—Gulf Shores: More like a destination, Jimmy Buffet’s sister owns LuLu’s, and it has the exact feel of the sort of place a sister of Jimmy’s would run. With a ton of adjacent slips on the ICW, eating at LuLu’s is more of an event with live music and volleyball, but always check out the daily specials.

FLORIDA:

Boathouse Oyster Bar—Destin: Sidle up to this waterfront joint and the staff will scurry out to help you dock. Inside this well-worn and casual joint are fantastic oysters prepared numerous ways. Call ahead and they’ll have fresh tuna steak sandwiches on French bread with chips in brown paper bags waiting for you on the pier.

Dockside Café—Port St. Joe: Fried grouper baskets, fresh oysters from next-door Apalachicola, and every type of rum drink imaginable await at the Port St. Joe Marina. It’s the ideal spot on St. Joseph’s Bay to watch the sunset and listen to lone wolf guitarists doing Jimmy Buffet cover bands.

By Troy Gilbert, Southern Boating January 2015