It is time to say good-bye to this fine island. We have had a very enjoyable stay. It feels good to be here - the beach is beautiful, wide, and flat, the houses are cared for and look welcoming, the people smile and speak, and the dogs are jubilant and friendly - Isle of Palms is an all around great place on the planet.
I enjoyed one more beautiful sunrise before leaving.
The Isle of Palms pier.
Ocean Boulevard - closest street to and parallel to the beach.
A modern house that combines current lowcountry style with a hint of the old Charleston piazzas (porches) on both the first and second floors.
Kitschy, cute, or tacky - you be the judge - it's a large oceanfront house available for short term vacation rental at about $12,000/week in the summer.
Even the birds live well here - a housing development for Purple Martins.
There's a reason I'm sitting here alone on the beach - it is rather chilly, the wind is blowing about 20 knots, and the swirling dry sand feels like sand blasting - sensible people are indoors - but I did run into a couple from Maine shortly after this photo - they were both in T-shirts and shorts - hearty folks those Mainers.
One of the reasons the Isle of Palms beach is so clean is they make it convenient to throw away your trash. The beach is lined with these 55-gallon drums just for trash. The barrels above are awaiting their duty assignments. I wish they had chosen a less garish color but they are hard to miss in bright yellow.
And on a stormy day, the beach looks and feels transcendent by the light the storm clouds create and the reflective mood they evoke.
But then the clouds move on, the tide recedes, and oh, what a beach - flat, hard-packed sand, and great for walking miles and miles with nothing but crashing waves, whistling wind, and mindless random thoughts.
I have never seen a gull dancing along the leading edge of small waves until this one. It seemed like a game of some sort. Maybe he was soaring the face of the wave like the pelicans seem to do or, maybe he was just having fun.
My months here have reminded me that beauty is almost everywhere - I am remembering how to slow down and look for it, find it, and really see it. Goodbye, Isle of Palms!!
Indeed some Mainers are hearty folks. Others, unfortunately, are just numb. The key is being able to tell the difference, and that my firend takes years of living amongst the natives.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous in Sandwich
I grew up on Isle of Palms and have since moved away. I was searching for photos of the beach when I happened upon your blog. Thank you. As information, my mom actually came up with the idea for the trash barrels, garish color and all. Before the barrels, the IoP beach had no trash recepticles and the Garden Club ladies thought, and City Counsil agreed, that the bright yellow color would be hard to miss giving residents and visitors less excuse to litter. I'm glad they caught your attention enough to mention them in a posting about island beauty.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment - and kudos to the Garden Club!
DeleteBeautiful pictures, the ones of the sunrise are just breathtaking. My husband and I are actually looking at isle of palms real estate to buy a second home and hopefully one we will end up retiring in. Every time I go there I fall in love with it's beauty and charm.
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