If you're the kind of person who'd rather paddle a canoe than careen about on a jet ski, there's a vacation destination designed with you in mind. And even though you don't have to travel halfway around the world to get there, it is an extraordinary departure. Barely two nautical miles off the southeastern tip of North Carolina is a semitropical island with a lifestyle as refreshingly novel as its name, Bald Head Island. But the distance is measured in more than miles. Steeped in history, flavored with legends, and brimming with natural beauty, it's about as far removed as you can get without a passport. With views that stretch from sunrise to sunset, over dunes and beach, river and ocean, maritime forest and a vast salt marsh, it's a setting that blurs the distinction between fact and fantasy. As a matter of fact, Hollywood has discovered this ready-made movie set over the past few years, and it isn't uncommon to see the occasional celebrity tooling about the island on a bicycle or an electric cart. And that's just one of the many charms of this idyllic place. Since no bridge connects Bald Head Island to the mainland, residents and visitors leave their cars at the island's mainland embarkation point in Southport, 30 miles south of Wilmington, NC, then board a passenger ferry for a 20-minute cruise across the historic Cape Fear River. The ferry ride provides a delightful transition to the leisurely pace of electric vehicles that are used to travel the island's winding lanes and seaside drives. If you happen to own a boat, you may choose to travel the Intracoastal Waterway, or the seaward way, to the mouth of the Cape Fear River, where you'll have direct access to Bald Head Island's Harbour Village. Entering the harbour, you'll see the island's only high-rise, an 1817 lighthouse, towering above the maritime forest canopy. Affectionately known as Old Baldy, the state's oldest lighthouse has earned an enduring place in the history of the lower Cape Fear region, and still stands as a symbol of the island's seafaring heritage. As homeport to the island's fleet of passenger ferries and with floating docks for all shapes and sizes of pleasure craft, the picturesque 10-acre harbour is about as bustling as it gets here. There's usually a flurry of activity around arriving and departing ferries, the bed and breakfast inns, and shops and restaurants that rim the basin. However, the pace of island life slows considerably once you and your luggage are loaded aboard the tram that will take you to your accommodations. After all, when you're traveling in an electric cart and the speed limit is 18 miles-per-hour, it's hard to be in a hurry. But the speed limit isn't the only thing that slows the pace of life here. The island's natural beauty and serenity pervade the atmosphere, and the sounds of surf and wind become a mystical incantation that soothes the spirit. For information on Bald Head Island vacations, please call 1-800-432-RENT or visit www.baldheadisland.com. For real estate information, call 1-800-888-3707.