Posted on 02/01/2009 10:11:43 AM PST by forYourChildrenVote4Bush
Sorry for posting this, but the family is planning a vacation for July and we were wondering the nicest beaches. Between Florida (where in Florida?), Ocean City (Condos are very old) or North Carolina...
We have been to Orlando, Ft Lauderdale, Miami and OC in the past (and other beaches but those sucked and not worth mentioning)
so, i was wondering if Anyone can recommend NICE, clear beaches in Eastern/Southern US
Thanks in advance
HA, I was going to say the same thing...
Most of Marthas Vineyards beaches are free, there’s a paid beach on Chappy and a couple of town beaches on the Vineyard but everything else is park on the side of the road and walk to the ocean.
Pretty much all beaches in New England are tied up so you have to pay a fee to touch the water.
The Wrightsville Beach area is very nice. Kure Beach might be the prettiest beach north of Florida, but I recall that for the most part swimming is restricted because of undertows.
My favorite beach in the eastern USA is Captiva. Being on the Gulf, it gets those amazing sunsets over the water.
Clearwater is better than St. Pete.
My current favorite is Emerald Isle, NC. Lots of native flora, yaupon trees, live oaks and such, the island seems hilly due to all the dunes, some covered with trees. Beachfront houses are actually atop the dunes in many areas. The prettiest and most desireable area is down by the point, but not right on it. The NC barrier islands do move, being glorified sandbars as they are. Enough shopping, restaurants and such to provide a minor distraction, but not crowded. If you want to go to “town” from there, it’s Morehead City.
Some beautiful houses available for rent there, many recent. Kid friendly and dog friendly, so family friendly. Not so much on hotels or condos, though. It’s a place to rent a nice oceanfront house and hang out there, grill out oceanside on your deck, walk to the fishing pier. Quiet, for the most part.
Hilton Head, S.C. You’ll thank me later! :)
One problem is that July can be occasionally be chilly and rainy in New England.
I remember as a small child being afraid of the "under toad" in the water at Kure Beach and Carolina Beach. They both have built up quite a bit in the past decade, pretty upscale now. They were once regarded as the blue collar beaches, back in the fifties and sixties, cheaper accomodations, cheaper restaurants.
Virginia Beach. Stay in the old, renovated Cavalier, built in 1931, looks like something out of the great gatsby.
Beaches on the Atlantic are sort of touch and go, as far as water clarity and nice sand. It really depends upon the direction of the coastline and how close you are to sand being deposited, or washed away as the case may be.
The keys didn’t do all that much for me, but it’s an individual thing. The people who love the keys really love the keys.
Gulf beaches struck me as too flat, too hot, shallow water with very little in the way of waves compared to the Atlantic. But, many of them have blindingly white sand and very clear water. Preference, again. A beach without waves roaring in the backdrop isn’t a beach at all, to me. It’s more like a lake. Many like that, though.
I went to the Keys during March a few years back and it was trending towards hot. I was told by locals you have to be insane to go there in the summer. Key West is brutal then and NO breezes.
“...(much nicer than the Outer Banks),..”
Just curious, why do you think it is nicer? I live on the OBX, just love it.
How come you didn’t like Maine ? Weather related ?
I live in Virginia Beach and I loved the OBX until the mid to late 1980s, it’s just too overbuilt for my tastes now.
I still like Duck and Corolla okay, but I can’t stand Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and KDH.
I will add that I HATE Virginia Beach and won’t go down there in the summer if I can avoid it.
Ferget all that take the next beach down from Emerald Isle and Holden Beach and go to Sunset Beach. Last beach town before N. Mrytle about 20 mi. away. Cross the quaint one way bridge and stay ‘right’ [southerly heading actually] where the house end and pure beach begins. No one is out there and its pristine beach. Walk to to Bird Island which give use another mile of beach front; now a nature preserve. You can stay right off the causeway at SeaTrail a nice resort with plenty of Condos for rent.
Emerald Isle on the Outer Banks of N.C. is nice. That’s where we go. If you want, PM me and I’ll get with my wife to get the details of who we went through for the house and all. We liked it because it was a lot of “old people”, and was quiet and peaceful. :-)
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