Customers at my Flip Flops Donut shop are always asking me why I moved here to Emerald Isle? My response is always the same: I got tired of being like Clark Kent. I wanted to feel a bit more like Superman or, in my case, an EI-Man. Stick with me to learn how I accomplish this transformation on a daily basis. My name is Denis Raczkowski and I am the mild mannered baker/broker behind Emerald Isle Vacation Home Specialist. The key to this transformation is getting outdoors and the secret sauce is the weather here along the southern Outer Banks. Thanks, in part, to the warming Gulf Stream located just off the coast and the cooling ocean breeze that flows constantly from the southwest, we experience far more sunny days and far fewer rainy days than all other parts of North Carolina. Summer temperatures rarely break 90 degrees and winter temperatures rarely dip below freezing. Suffice to say, the weather here is a four season magnet that draws me out of my sedentary, indoor existence every day! The weather is my anti-Kryptonite.
OK, then, now that I am outdoors, how and where do I transform into an EI-Man? Decisions. Decisions. I become EI-Man as I stroll down the deck from our house and walk along the beach for an hour or so. These walks are usually quiet pursuits, interrupted only by the sounds of waves crashing on the beach, birds calling and pleasant greetings from a fortunate fellow walker. No cars, no crowded sidewalks, no smelly trash, and definitely no ugly views to interrupt this glorious experience. The beach not calling to you? This EI-Man sometimes can be found walking the trails in the unique, untouched maritime forest located in Emerald Wood park between Coast Guard Road and Bogue Sound.
Cycling is a lifelong passion of mine. I started out on tricycles but soon moved on to the harder stuff. Bicycles with balloon tires, bicycles with a banana seat, road bikes with steel-frames, racing bikes with carbon frames and, now, a recumbent bike. What is it about cycling that finds me on a bicycle for many hours and, in some events, many days? It has everything to do with “Play.” As a child, I played ball, played marbles, played hide and seek, played tag, etc. But, what I really played at was riding my bicycle. As I grew into adulthood, life got in the way, priorities flipped and play ended up getting kicked to the attic or tossed in the garage. We wake up one day and find ourselves depressed, bored and/or obese. I get it. I am as guilty as the next person. But, now, living as I do in Emerald Isle, I can always grab my bicycle, sit in the saddle, clip in and become an EI-Man for an hour or so and play like a child, again. Cycling is my personal fountain of youth, if you will. And, here, in Emerald Isle, unlike where I used to live in the Triangle, motorists RESPECT cyclists and THERE. ARE. NO. HILLS. Save one. The invisible hill called ‘the wind,’ that same cooling breeze I told you about earlier in this video.
This EI-Man can also be found jogging, not running, along the beach at low tide where I enter a serene world experienced by few on this planet. At high tide, I may opt to jog along the more stable 13 mile Emerald Path that parallels Emerald Drive.
Now, one of the BIG adjustments to living where I do is realizing that I am usually no more than half a mile from a body of water, be it the ocean, a sound, a river or a lake. A most pleasurable way for me to change into an EI-Man is to swim in the ocean just beyond the breakers, a sweet spot of calm, where the water is too shallow for sharks and not deep enough for boats to bother me. As an added bonus and at my age I’ll take every advantage, the salt water makes me more buoyant so I swim faster than a ….nah, I’m not going there. Another benefit is no turning! And, in winter, I put on a wetsuit and I am good to go!
Free swimming in the ocean? Too daunting you say? Listen to old Albert Einstein here who said, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” Recently, I discovered a new way to change from mild mannered Denis Raczkowski into an EI-Man. It’s called prone paddle boarding. Historically, prone paddle boarding was a way for surfers to stay in shape when the waves were not cooperating. Unlike the squat and wide body board used for riding waves, the prone paddle boards are extra-long, with the shortest ones being around 10 feet. These prone boards are also very narrow with a sharp-pointed tail. To be sure, it takes some practice to learn how to stay on the board. But once you master it, you feel like you ARE swimming faster than a speeding….Michael Phelps or Mark Spitz, depending on your age. Visit South Swell Surf Shop in Emerald Isle to get all the low downs on this fascinating way to transform into an EI-Man.
As I grow older, I may find myself spending fewer hours in the water or on the roads. But, not to worry as I can still turn myself into an EI-MAN by embracing the paddle sport of pickleball. Played on a smaller court, four pickleball courts fit inside a regulation tennis court, pickleball players hit a hollow plastic ball riddled with holes, using a lighter and smaller version of a tennis racket. Emerald Isle has several regulation sized pickleboard courts behind the Police Department as does the Crystal Coast Country Club over in Pine Knoll Shores. As we have an older population here, better reserve your pickleball court a couple of days in advance. One last observation. I haven’t even touched on the number one and one A ways people can transform into EI-Men and Women here along the Crystal Coast: Boating and fishing!
Since moving here permanently in 2016, and transforming into an EI-Man, I’ve lost 30 pounds, my blood pressure and cholesterol are within normal ranges for my age and my energy level is off the chart. I sleep better and my vitamin D levels are above normal, despite all the slathering on of sunscreen. Getting outdoors and becoming an EI-Man makes me incredibly happy and that shows in my relations with my family and in my donut and bagel baking at my Flip Flops Donut Shop. As the Father of Western Medicine, Hippocrates, once said, “Nature itself is the best physician.”
For more information on living the dream on Crystal Coast, please go to www.EmeraldIsleHomesforSaleNC.comand sign up for my blog. Explore the video tab for my weekly uploads to myYouTube channel, Emerald Isle Vacation Home Specialist. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and receive free donuts at my Flip Flops Donut shop. Ready to become an EI-Man or Woman? Call me at 919-308-2292. Text your email address to 919-308-2292 and subscribe to my newsletter.My book, "Live Where You Vacation" is available onAmazon.com or at Kindle. I post weekly blogs and videos, on real estate, on personal improvement and life here along the Crystal Coast. Thanks for reading. See you next week.
I am living the dream here in Emerald Isle. You can too.