Last Look, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

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!!

Twelve Stack Diamond Stunt Kites, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

What better way to re-kindle childish glee than with a kite - even better is a fancy twelve-stack stunt kite.

Each panel is roughly three feet long on each side with a 100-foot long tail.

Here kiteman flies two twelve-stacks at the same time. It looks like a challenge to keep both kite stacks separate while crossing lines and performing stunts - not to mention it requires four hands - for that reason he wears a  harness to hold two of the lines and his hands hold the other two.

He even receives a bit of an upper body workout when the wind is strong.

You can get an idea of the force the wind is exerting by the angle of his body.

If ever there was call for a video clip, this is the time.  Still photos just don't do justice to showing the graceful movement of kites slicing through the breeze.

But they sure are pretty, and they make a great swooshing sound as they dance in the wind!



New Construction, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

In September 1989, Hurricane Hugo passed directly over Isle of Palms wreaking havoc and leaving a trail of broken homes and dreams.  Today, damage has been repaired/replaced and almost all of the oceanfront land is already built-out but, occasionally a new house can be seen under construction. On the house pictured below, the first floor starts about ten feet off the ground - both to provide better views over the barrier dune but more importantly to provide protection from severe storm/hurricane tides. It is a testament to the indomitable spirit of humans to rebuild after disaster.

I don't know the history of this new house and what stood before it but, it certainly looks promising for the future owners. A wall of glass is pretty spectacular and special anywhere - especially so when facing directly on the ocean.



Day in the Life, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

Today featured cloudy and showery weather - but the temperature  will be close to 70 degrees Fahrenheit so I can't complain much.

Sunrise.

Early morning.

Mid afternoon.

Late afternoon.

Evening.



Cold, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

There are two things to note about this photo: first, it is sunrise and I am standing on the patio instead of walking on the beach, and, second, no one else is walking on the beach either.

That's because it was 26 degrees Fahrenheit this morning!!! -  I'm staying in until it warms up a bit - it feels like New England outside. Call me a wimp - I'm okay with that.

Living Beach, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

I have walked along this beach perhaps a hundred times so far - almost every day, multiple times a day, many miles. In the past I've thought of the beach as a fairly static place - sand and water. But lately I've come to view the beach as a living entity, changing daily from the effects of the sun, moon, tides, currents.  Sometimes there are gullies, sandbars, rivulets, gentle tides, storm tides, winds, waves, birds, mollusks, jellyfish, shells.  Sometimes the beach slopes perfectly from the high tide line to the low tide line with smooth and hard walkable sand.  But at all times, the beach serves as the buffer, the interface, the mediator between the hard earth and the liquid water.  The sand ever changes to absorb the pounding surf, protecting the land mass, constantly being resculpted. It is a fascinating dynamic system always at work. The beach marks nature's flexible seam between the land and the ocean. I like the beach. I can learn from the beach - like how to reconcile opposing forces. Maybe our politicians should go to the beach instead of Washington, DC.

Rental Properties, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

You might consider this blog post a demonstration of the dynamic of supply and demand. It is not, however, intended to be an accurate representation of the entire rental market on Isle of Palms.  I only mention a few oceanfront properties in a small section of the island. Prices are approximate as of February 2012. Some properties are handled by a realtor - and there are many realtors on the island handling the rental market - and some properties are handled by the owner through VRBO or some other company. Note that condo prices are per month, house prices are per week.

Sea Cabins - 1 bedroom condo, $1,100 per month winter vs. $7,000 per month summer

Dunescape - 3 bedroom condo, $2,800 per month winter vs. $13,000 per month summer

 1116 Ocean Blvd. - 3 bedroom condo, $2,000 per month winter vs. $14,000 per month summer

1140 Ocean Blvd. - 3 bedroom condo, $3,000 per month winter vs. $14,000 per month summer

Casa Banana - 6 bedroom house, $3,900 per  week winter vs. $11,900 per  week summer

Casa Flamingo - 8 bedroom house, $4,800 per week winter vs. $14,800 per week summer.

Casa Margarita - 10 bedroom house, $4,800 per week winter vs. $14,800 per week summer

In winter, the supply is high but demand is low.  In summer, the supply is scarce and demand is high. Some of the winter rates are negotiable even lower than listed above. Isle of Palms sure is a nice place to visit but it is pricey to live or stay right on the ocean.  I suspect that Florida has the only "affordable" oceanfront living in today's U.S. real estate market. Hmmmm?

Stormy Weather, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

A brooding sky over a dark, cold ,windy beach.

A lone gull, unusually tolerant of my close approach.

Fascinating patterns were left today after the high tide receded.  The little line of red in the lower left quadrant of this photo is my pocket Swiss Army knife for scale comparison.



Day at the Beach, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

Another beautiful winter sunrise at Isle of Palms.

For more than a month, I've walked by this oceanfront house at least once every day.  Sometimes I will stop and sit a spell on that chair and stare at the ocean and marvel at its liquid presence, and listen to the waves crashing rhythmically on the sand. This white chair has been sitting there the entire time, just above the high tide line. I offer my thanks to this unknown homeowner for leaving the chair on the beach all this time for a random stranger to enjoy. Small random acts of kindness help weave the tapestry of one's life.

Western willets feeding at the surf line at sunset. 



Reflections, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA



Circular Staircases, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

What is it about outdoor circular staircases in this town? Many houses have them.  Maybe there was a really effective circular staircase salesperson pass through town in recent years..... Here's a sampling just from a brief walk on one street.

I don't know if they are more or less expensive than regular stairways but they certainly use less space.