The Frying Pan Tower, a former U.S. Coast Guard light station turned ocean bed and breakfast, is up for auction.

The auction for the tower, which is about 25 miles southeast of Bald Head Island, began Thursday with a starting bid of $10,000, bid increments of $3,000 and a $5,000 deposit required. The tower is only accessible by boat or helicopter.

"It's time to go ahead and pass it on to somebody else," said Richard Neal, owner and operator, who purchased the tower in 2010. "I am almost 60 years old. I'm in great shape; don't get me wrong...but it is really something that I think a younger guy with more time can jump right into and go crazy with."

Neal, a Charlotte resident who also is a software engineer with a separate full-time job, said he feels the tower, which stands about 80 feet above the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, has proven itself as a survivor of storms and an adventurous bed and breakfast. It has survived several hurricanes since Neal has owned it, and hundreds of travelers have stayed there, he said.

"It has high-speed internet, hot and cold running purified rain water, has solar and wind energy captured into a battery storage bank and redundant backup generators. With triple redundant communications capabilities, underwater, helipad and internal motion detection security cameras, it is a very private and secure OFF THE GRID location," according to the tower's auction page.

Neal said when travelers come, he or one of his helpers has to be there to operate the place, including when the swtich from solar to generator power is needed, and to ensure the safety of guests.

"We've only booked it as much as we wanted to, but we've had a wealth of people want ot use it and sometimes we say no," he said.

Neal said guests are still booked through the auction process.

"My thoughts are that probably by the time things are complete [with the auction], we'll be through with June anyway and I'll be helping the new guy or gal [owner] figure it out. They may want to continue it for a while," Neal said of the bed and breakfast operation.

He said his guess is that the price could reach six figures, and after two bids Thursday, "it's working its way up there already."

The online auction will be conducted over a period of several weeks as determined by bid activity, according to the website.

"The date for receipt of final bids will be announced with three days prior notice on www.fptower.com. The auction may continue beyond that date as long as registered bidders submit higher bids," the website says.

The Coast Guard at one point considered demolishing the Frying Pan Tower, which was built in the 1960s, and relocating part of it as an artificial reef after the advent of GPS made its function as a guide obsolete by 2004. Six years later, Neal purchased it in a sealed bid auction for $85,000, according to Neal's tower history page online.

He turned it into a bed and breakfast facility in 2012, which drew statewide and national attention because of its unusual location.

A three-day, two-night stay there, called the Frying Pan Tower Adventure Vacation, is advertised on Neal's website for $598 per person.