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Washed Up on Myrtle Beach By John Tolmie Photos by Kate and John Tolmie
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s winter in Connecticut takes a firm hold upon us, I find myself dreaming of warmer days where I enjoyed our beautiful ocean and eclectic shoreline. Craving some warmer climes I surprised my wife with an impromptu flight to Myrtle Beach. Affectionately known as the Redneck Riviera, Myrtle Beach has a hearty reputation amid the summer with rowdy bike weeks, floods of wild tourists and general beach revalry. However, during the winter months this temperate beach with its long wooden piers and miles of boardwalks transforms into a quaint and quiet place to refresh your spirit. Sixty of miles of white sand beaches begin at Ocean Isle Beach, NC and forms into a distinct crescent shaped shoreline ending in the historic Port city Georgetown, SC. This area is known as the Grand Strand. We spent four days visiting with our parents who migrated
from Wallingford, CT to Myrtle Beach 15 years ago. Since then my wife and I have made it tradition to fly down to warm our hearts with family and our bodies with the mild weather. At the crack of dawn on the first morning of our micro vacation we poured ourselves coffee and headed to the beach. It was wonderful to feel the sand between my toes in the water splashing on my feet. There are rumors of people finding fossilized shark teeth amongst the brightly colored shells along the shore. After some
research we found a stretch of beach that holds a lot of ancient shark teeth. We were pleasantly surprised with another perk of visiting during the winter months. Foot traffic on the beach is minimal and therefore far less people picking for shells. We had actually hit the perfect storm for shell and shark teeth hunting. Due to a few heavy storms over the hurricane season the shoreline had changed revealing the layer of shells beneath. And on this particular morning we were given the gift of low tide. My wife started to collect shells but I was after the ancient relics
