thunderstorms at the beach

June, July, and August – not my favorite times to be at the beach. Too hot, too humid, too crowded. But we come anyway, to get away from the day to day routine, to relax just a little bit. And I come for the thunderstorms. The summer weather down here almost guarantees late afternoon or evening thunderstorms - monsoon rain, lightning that fries your retinas, and thunder that shakes the walls. Oh yeah, and the wind too – 30 to 40 mile an hour gales of cool air providing a short respite from the oppressive tropical heat. As soon as the clouds pile up and the wind starts to stir I like to sit on the porch and just watch and listen. Tourists scatter, and until the thunder booms you can hear them clattering over the bridge off the island, clogging the road back to whereever they’re parked for the week. The birds disappear, the frogs go quiet, and the gators go deep into their ponds and creeks. The golfers look for shelter and the bottom drops out.

Waves of rain blow down the fairways, the trees sway dangerously close to toppling over, and your ears pop with every peal of thunder. Strobes of lightning freeze the scene, only to be replaced a few seconds later by a new one. Other people talk about nature’s fury, but for me there’s peace in the chaos of wind, rain, light and sound. The only thing better than an afternoon thunderstorm is a nighttime storm.

Because of where we live down here once the sun goes down, if we turn off the lights our porch is almost pitch black dark. You sit in the dark, only able to guess at what’s going on around you. Then the lightning bursts across the sky, and you’re surrounded by literally millions of tiny sparks as the raindrops reflect each bolt. It’s almost like looking into the night sky from the middle of the ocean, the only light coming from he raindrops and lightning.  I can clear my mind and just listen and wait to for the next flash.

The storms are too short, usually less than 30 minutes. But each one is completely unique tiny vacation. There’s not a lot of reasons to come to the beach in the summer in my opinion, but 1 good storm can make the entire trip worthwhile.

photo – more sunset beach

By now it maybe becoming obvious that I like Sunset Beach, NC. For a lot of reasons, but mainly because it’s one of the few non-commercialized beaches around. So it’s quiet, family oriented, and a great place to go to just relax. It’s also extremely scenic. At the east end of the habitable part of the island is a great view of the marsh between the island and the mainland. This is shot from the back of the dunes into the marsh from the last beachfront house on the east end.

photo – Sunset Beach

This shot was taken by my wife – from the pier at Sunset Beach NC. This is almost a mandatory photo to take if you visit here, but I haven’t seen many turn out quite this well. Her eye is obviously better than mine!

 

photo – the Intra-Coastal Waterway

Shot from the single lane swinging bridge in Sunset Beach, NC. This is low tide on a still, clear January afternoon.

Photos – Long Bay Inlet

On the way from Calabash to Sunset Beach in North Carolina, the one road in crosses over part of the Long Bay Inlet. Keep following the inlet east and you’ll end up in some golf communities (Oyster Bay and Sea Trail Plantation). Follow it west, and if you know where you’re going you can end up headed out into the Atlantic. If you don’t know where you’re going you’ll end up either grounded in the mud in the marsh, or cruising down the waterfront in Little River SC, on your way to North Myrtle Beach and points south on the Intracoastal waterway.

During the drive from home to the shore there are 2 mileposts for me. The first is Darlington Raceway in Darlington SC. Not because I’m a big NASCAR fan, but because passing that track is about halfway between homes, and it’s the place where my mind shifts from working to relaxing. The second is this inlet. If it’s late afternoon on a clear day the view is at least this good, usually better. If there’s no breeze and it’s just about between tides there’s no current and the water is like a mirror. There’s few homes and little traffic, so I almost always stop for a few minutes and sit on the guardrail overlooking the edge, just taking in the view and looking for the first birds of the trip. The tang of the breeze from the marsh, the silence, the inlet, and the luxury of just being able to sit and take it all in for a few minutes is the perfect way to start decompressing, whether it’s for a few days, or a few weeks.

I have many different shots of this same view of the inlet, but this one is my favorite. I think it’s the late winter angle of the light, I’m not sure. Anyway…