Sunday, September 20, 2009

A few seconds of Pawleys Island


Just a few seconds of Pawleys Island from yesterday as my daughter, Miss Wiggles, and I stroll the island. Despite predictions all week of bad weather from both seriously crappy weather guys the day was just about perfect. The salty breeze, bright sun, and warm ocean was a welcome change from the daily rat race back home. Sorry about the less than helpful narration, this is my first time trying this and I was just making it up as I go along.

One sad thought I had during my visit is that Pawleys use to be the hang out for people from Georgetown. Being just 15 miles from town it was far easier to break away and spend time there than try to make it all the way to Myrtle Beach, which for many people was viewed as a special treat with its amusement park and other special attractions.

For Georgetown families Pawleys was not only the place just to hang out and relax but to met and socialize with others. I am told that before I was born nightly camp fires on the beach with food and drinks were a regular affair. As parents talked and relaxed around the campfires younger children would run about splashing in the surf and playing in the sand. Teenagers in the late 60's to the mid 70's could often be found sleeping in the sand awaking with the sunrise and paddling out into the ocean trying to catch early morning waves. All this more or less ended after a few bad apples started leaving the beaches a mess with property owners pitching a fit. This got so bad that for a few years in the 80's property owners wanted to close the island off to the public.

During our visit yesterday I talked with many different people but none were from Georgetown. Everyone was from out of state with one family coming as far away as Nebraska. This is not some sudden thought, as far back as the late 90's it had occurred to me that the nature of Pawleys had changed with sightings of locals at least a fairly rare event. While Pawleys Island itself has barely changed, the rebuilding after Hurricane Hugo an exception, the "disappearance" of Georgetown locals throws me for a loop making me feel like some character out of science fiction lost in time.

22 comments:

Laura said...

Haha! That was great! I loved it!
Wow, so beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing.. :) Looks like a wonderful day!
((Hugs))
Laura

lime said...

hey thanks, i enjoyed that even if it was short. it was very cool to hear your voice. plus, my favorite way to see any place i visit is with someone from there who loves it. the touristy crap can wait, but i love to see a place through the eyes of a local. what makes it special? what makes it home?

my vote is for more of these :)

Cirze said...

Shoot!

Why aren't I there?

Love ya,

S

Distributorcap said...

i am with lime --- you are a hidden cecil b. parrothead

Commander Zaius said...

Sunshine: Sorry it was so short. I had to watch my daughter who was having a very hard time listening to me all weekend. I was literally scared to take my eyes off her for long period. She has no fear of the beach and ocean.

Lime: I did another one today after we dropped by again. Its late and I will post it later. I added more to my sorry post describing some thoughts I had on this visit.

Pawleys is home for me, with the breeze always feeling better, the water having a better taste and feel on the skin, and the sand so soft and warm to me feet. No other beach has anywhere near the appeal for me.

Suzan: Come down anytime, I go home once every three months. If I don't I start to get far more loony than I am normally.

DCap: AS I said with the others that place does much to keep me sane. As for movie guys I could deal better with Spielberg, because of his money and fairly hot wife.

Nitu said...

Beautiful beach, great voice! It must be soothing to the last drop of a tired blood. Would love to see long video.

Laura said...

It's okay that it was short. Believe me, I know how long those "mo-fo's" take to upload onto Blogger.
I agree with everyone else too.. you do have a great voice. I was expecting a "yee haw", 'whoa doggie' or "pa git yer gun" to pop out at any second......
I'm kidding. ;) Very sexy-eh voice.
((hugs))
laura

Vigilante said...

Loved the clip, Beach. Played it over & over. Hearted the sound of your voice with the sounds of the surf in the background. Like I said, I played it over and over. . . Reminded me of what is so restorative about seascapes, which has become so much a part of me in the last decade, I scarcely can recall how I ever managed to live without it.

Me said...

Beautiful vid. In those few seconds, you captured the essence of the place.

:)

Sad that the locals are no longer going there, but loved the part of the story of the long-ago campfires and the teens sleeping on the beach.

No such thing as a private beach in my corner of the world. You can own the beach house, but not the beach. They're all public.

goatman said...

They may have all headed to Omaha!

Utah Savage said...

Head clearing time is precious. Your daughter is so lucky to have you for a Dad.

Commander Zaius said...

Nitu: I'm going back in November, something my wife doesn't know yet, and I will make a longer video. Although I will probably keep my mouth shut and just record the sound of the wind and the waves.

Sunshine: I am told that I slide completely into a Southern accent when I get nervous.

Vigil: Tell me about it. Wiggles and I woke up Sunday morning and headed back to the beach and the fun we had Saturday along with the cloudy and rough weather on Sunday pretty mush washed away all the tensions and stress of the last couple of months.

She and headed up to Charleston that afternoon and I finally had to make myself go home around 5:00pm.

Hill: We have the same thing in South Carolina, property ownership on South Carolina beaches ends at the bottom step. Although while this has been the case for years a good many property owners still have not learned that fact.

As for the camp fires and sleeping on the beaches that was ruined by the bad apples that would trash the place.

goatman: You know I read somewhere that a few social scientific types are predicting that people might start flooding back to the Midwest because the standard of living on the coasts has become harder to maintain with the booming population. Insurance and taxes have gone into orbit these last twenty-five years and with climate change it will more than likely get worse.

Utah: She about worried me to death all day Saturday. Our last trip to Hilton Head the ocean was as flat as a pancake with no waves. In such conditions she swam like a porpoise and all I had to do was stay near and watch.

Saturday at Pawleys the waves were almost go enough to surf but yet she still thought she could swim just like at Hilton Head.

Cormac Brown said...

That's amazing stuff. I've never been south of Lynchburg, even though I am one generation removed from Columbia, SC.

Randal Graves said...

Where's your Super SC Hillbilly® accent? You're destroying my world view, dude. At least you gave us some pretty pictures, until it gets turned into the 14th hole of the next private golf course, natch.

Commander Zaius said...

Cormac: Thanks for dropping by and I doing the next Flash Fiction.

Randal: I reviewed the second video I took Sunday and my Southern accent reappeared with a vengeance when I saw my daughter running toward the swirling, dangerous water.

Rhiannon said...

I wonder why the locals don't go there now? That's strange. Maybe some investigating is in store for you? Maybe something happened, or there are reasons behind all this?

I used to live in Myrtle beach way back when. I would go to the local beach there a lot as the sun would go down..as most would be leaving the beach after their "suntanning". Me..I liked to sit on the sand and watch the sun go down and the moon come up...hardly anyone there and so quiet listening to the soft waves roll back and forth back and forth...a very special peaceful feeling it was.

I so miss the ocean and have not seen it in a few years now. I used to live right near it just 20 minutes away...sigh. I am such a water person I can't believe I am trapped in this "downtown" existance I am not happy about this.

Hope your doing welll,

Blessings,

Rhi

Rhiannon said...

Killing all the sea lions? I didn't get what you said about that at the end. Thats so terrible so sad...sigh..

Cormac Brown said...

Excellent, I'm looking forward to it.

FreeOscar said...

My whole family including parents, siblings, & siblings' kids are planning to rent a place on PI next summer.
Our family spot, Hunting Island, is too eroded now.

Unknown said...

Beach,

Great to hear your voice... to be perfectly honest, half expected you to have a strong southern drawl/twang but am disappointed. :-)

Let's have more clips, Beach shall we? But don't hug the camera next time, ok? We wanna see ya on camera!

Laura said...

I keep meaning to ask you how your son is feeling?

Commander Zaius said...

Rhiannon: I feel trapped as well stuck living in the Midlands of South Carolina hours away from the ocean.
You know about Myrtle Beach, it has changed so much the last twenty years I don't spend much time there when I go home. With the Pavilion now torn down and the massive hotels blocking the view of the ocean driving down Ocean Boulevard its not the same to me.

I'm sorry for more than mumbling my last comment. I was carrying on about all the rich people living in the fancy houses close to the beach but yet wanting those pretty green lawns. to get those lawns they use a lot of fertilizer than seeps into the waters killing the sea life. Several scientists have made the connection between dead zones around beaches and the "increase" in shark attacks. Most of these attacks involve Bull sharks that usually live off fish close to the coast but with them gone or dead the Bull sharks hunt in the murky water looking for anything and often it is some person playing in the water.

Cormac: At least I can get away from my sorry videos.

C Rag: Well, if you see a tall goofy guy running after his Asian daughter that will be me, say hi.

Hill: Can't break another camera so I'll stay on the opposite side. As for the accent, listen to the second video clip. My daughter scared me and my accent flowed out.

Sunshine: He is back at school and after figuring we would come down with it next so far we are okay.