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OT: Beach town vacation ideas

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Carolina Beach NC, just south of Wilmington, is nice and more reasonably priced than most options. Nearby Myrtle Beach is a plus.
If you love to spend money, hop over to Bald Head Island. No cars, just beach, golf and golf carts.
 
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Waquoit

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Block island is the most boring place on earth. Sometimes boring is good for unwinding .
Exactly. Our moped rides were the most excitement we had on our stay. And that was our plan for the weekend.
 
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Has anyone ever been to McCook Point Beach in East Lyme? I googled CT beaches and it came up.

If so, what is your opinion for someone who lives in CT, has no interest in traveling to another state for a beach in the summer, and would like to maybe stay in a decent hotel nearby for a few days of a mini- vacation or staycation if that is the right term?

I guess there must be decent hotels, local attractions ,and good restaurants nearby. Hopefully Covid will be winding down by the summer.
 

GG

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Love Ocean City, MD and I found a great place to stay close to everything yet far enough a way from the main drag. Assateague Island, home of the wild horses, is an amazing beach and a place you must visit if you head down that way. Nearby Bethany Beach and Rehoboth make great day trips. Berlin, MD is another nearby town you may want to visit. I was going to go back to OC this summer, but now plan to rent a beach house in Old Lyme. I do not want to worry about travel bans, etc. I still think COVID will still be an issue this summer.
 
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Outer banks is where we normally go, although I may be looking to switch it up a bit this year. Hard to go wrong though. Beaches aren't over crowded. Plenty of nice restaurants. Has that small town vide to it. We most recently stayed in kitty hawk, but I think I liked carola a bit more. Either hard to not like it there. Our favorite part is the 4x4 beaches. You obviously need a 4x4 vehicle, and for some spots a permit, but it's really worth it. We'd go in the morning and have the beach to ourselves about as far as we could see. Plenty of shells to pick because people aren't out there taking them all. Felt very remote and relaxing without being far from civilization. Not to mention when you have your vehicle right there in the beach it makes brining food and drinks and beach gear with you infinitely easier than carrying everything back and forth from the house to the beach.
 
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My wife’s family has been going to Eastham since the mid 1950s. Never bought. Too bad. I think they only missed 1 year. I’ve been going since 1980, when I joined. Our family now continues the tradition, joined with one or more of my wife’s siblings and their families. We used to have 2 cottages next to each other, but have split up more lately needing more room. Hard to find 6+ bedrooms.
The Superette rules.
 
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Been to Aruba 6-7 times. It’s a guarantee can’t miss trip. They’re outside the hurricane belt and it’s 77-82 every day and they get two inches of rain a year. The island is something like 3 miles wide and 20 miles long (?) so there’s a constant breeze.

You can go to high rise row and stay at a nice resort....or get an Airbnb condo five minutes up the road and have quieter, better beaches. Coral reefs offshore also keep sharks out and there are no waves. Like a bathtub.
 

Waquoit

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I like a beach vacation with some honky tonk. In New England, the best is Hampton Beach, NH. Especially when there are some good shows at the Casino. And once we can get past COVID, we're going back to Hollywood Beach, FL. We always have a blast when we go. Getting my Gulfstream fix in is a plus.
 

Chin Diesel

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Block island is the most boring place on earth. Sometimes boring is good for unwinding .

I'm mean at a certain point the island name should set some level of expectations.

Out of all the words in the dictionary of multiple languages they named it "block".
 
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I'm mean at a certain point the island name should set some level of expectations.

Out of all the words in the dictionary of multiple languages they named it "block".

I never got the Block Island appeal. Tough to get to. No real good beaches. Not a ton of eating and drinking options. I guess if you brought everything over with you and got a house with a group it’s fine? What’s the allure of it that I’m missing?
 

Chin Diesel

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I never got the Block Island appeal. Tough to get to. No real good beaches. Not a ton of eating and drinking options. I guess if you brought everything over with you and got a house with a group it’s fine? What’s the allure of it that I’m missing?

I'm somewhere between 99% to 100% certain I never visited there so I'm not sure either.
 

HuskyHawk

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I agree about North Falmouth. We rented a house on the beach in a private enclave. I believe it was Old Silver Beach. Anyway, there was a bike path right by our house that took us all the way ether to to town of Falmouth or else to Woods Hole, which the kids loved.
Old Silver is our go to spot. Great beach. Nice sand, sometimes a bit of surf, beautiful sunsets. And Falmouth has lots of food and other diversions. Helps I can be at that beach in one hour and change if no bridge traffic.
 

StllH8L8ner

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Brigantine, NJ is an underrated spot. Good beaches, some good restaurants/bars and a short drive to Atlantic City if you're looking to gamble. I went for a run on the beach one morning and saw Bradley Cooper down there years ago. Only difference was I had just woken up whereas it looked like he was just getting home...
 

Waquoit

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I'm somewhere between 99% to 100% certain I never visited there so I'm not sure either.
I've been there and I don't know either. Besides the mopeds. I liked the folks I met. I will say this, the first time we went, a tropical storm took a turn and we decided to bail. It was a good call as the ferry we took ended up being the last one for 3 days. And the place we were staying gave us a full credit that I didn't expect.
 
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I never got the Block Island appeal. Tough to get to. No real good beaches. Not a ton of eating and drinking options. I guess if you brought everything over with you and got a house with a group it’s fine? What’s the allure of it that I’m missing?
I have never stayed overnight there as I have on the Vineyard or Nantucket. I go to Block Island to ride my bicycle, get away for a day at the beach and have some food and drinks. I usually go during the week and only on beautiful sunny days. It is easy trip using high speed ferry from New London. I remember when you had to go to Point Judith to avoid 3 hour ferry.
 
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No one has mentioned the Redneck Rivera. The beaches of the Florida panhandle and L.A. (lower Alabama) are off the hook. It's baby powder sand. As nice as anywhere. Panama City is a big touristy town with miniature golf, go carts and bungee rides aplenty. But there are plenty of great places like Destin and Ft Walton beach are a bit less crowded and all the beach community you could want.

San Destin and Seaside are probably the best beaches I’ve seen in the lower 48
 
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Completely agree. And Beaufort, which is more or less where my parents are, is also quite nice and certainly not phony in any way. Lots of history down in the low country. Lots of eco tourism now. It’s not hard to avoid the touristy crap. I will admit that Charleston doesn’t have anything as obviously tacky touristy as River Street in Savannah. But it’s certainly more snobby as you describe. Savannah is eclectic as hell. Embraces weirdos.
My buddy sent me video from the bar he's at in Charleston right now, totally packed and no masks.
 
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wellfleet harbour six years ago. So many great memories of upper cape.
"The Upper Cape is actually the area that you encounter first and is in fact the most southern part of the Cape. Confused? So was I. Bourne, Sandwich, Sagamore, Falmouth, Mashpee, Cotuit, Osterville, Centerville and Marstons Mills are considered to be part of the Upper Cape."

"

"Upper" and "Lower"[edit]​

The terms "Upper Cape" and "Lower Cape", and references to traveling "up Cape" or "down Cape" have long been a source of confusion for the uninitiated Cape Cod visitor, who, mistakenly associating "up" with "north", might get turned around by passages such as these from 1920:

  • "The look of things is more ocean-like if one goes down the Cape to Provincetown."[15]
  • "Almost every street in Chatham is solidly paved, and the old corner town of the Cape is the natural goal of the traveler coming up the Cape from Provincetown..."[16]
There are many theories to explain the apparent paradox. One is that the terms derive from early nautical navigation. When one traveled to the east, one went down the longitudinal scale (toward zero at Greenwich, England). Additionally, prevailing fair weather winds (generally out of the southwest) have been used as the basis for directional descriptions by European settlers and their descendants in eastern North America. That is, one would be traveling "down [wind]" to the east with a westerly wind at one's back. To this day, on nearby Martha's Vineyard, "Up Island" is the western section and "Down Island" is to the east.

The arrival of the railroad during the nineteenth century reinforced the "up/down" concept, as train schedules between Boston and Cape Cod always showed Boston at the top – the timetable for trains headed onto the Cape would be read from the top down, and those of returning trains would be read from the bottom up. Provincetown, therefore, despite being the Cape's northernmost town, was the furthest "down" that one could travel. (The Cape's unique shape brought a new paradox along with the automobile and highway system: when driving "down Cape" on US Route 6 "eastbound", the final 30 miles from Orleans to Provincetown takes one in nearly every direction except east.)

The best known colloquial explanation, however, is that the shape of the peninsula as it appears on maps and charts resembles that of a human arm. In that analogy, the southern portion of the Cape represents the "upper arm", Chatham the elbow, and the north–south portion is the "lower arm", or forearm. Going further, some say Provincetown is the curled hand, or fist, with Race Point and Wood End at its knuckles, and Long Point at the fingertips.

In the late twentieth century, as the Cape began drawing more vacationers and artists on retreat, the nautical nomenclature and potential confusion over directions have gradually been giving way to the simpler "Outer Cape", although the older terms are still used by some local residents."
 

Hankster

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We don't have kids, we are late 50s and early 60s. Wife is fair-skinned and isn't one to just lay on sand. Haven't been to Savannah GA yet and have heard it is nice. Being able to drive and have car would be beneficial too, I guess, but we are really open to anything.
Well I am close to buying a home in Savannah. My son has been there for 7 years. He owns a small Italian pizzeria there. My visits left me with 1 option, move there. It is gorgeous. Many restaurants and golf. The weather alone. December/January it gets cold. Once you get by that it's all up hill from there.
 

Hankster

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I wouldn't actually vacation in Savannah. Not much of a beach/coastal town. Since sunbathing on the water isn't a priority I'd go further north to the Hilton Head area or further south to St. Simon's or Jekyll and make a day trip up to Savannah. It is a fun city to walk for a day. I was just there in late October.

I haven't ever been to Tybee but it looks nice.

Other things to consider is the mix of touristy vice locals vibe to the area, seasonal prices and availability and finally, activities like biking, walking, sport fishing, etc.

I've always been a fan of the Outer Banks of Carolina.
Savannah to Hilton Head is a short drive. From Savannah over the bridge to South Carolina. Back roads a great. You actually go through Bluffton. Hilton Head Island has great restaurants. If you get their try The Hudson. Great seafood. Savannah has a great night life. I was also their in November to see my son. We went to a place called Sorry Charlie's. Great Oyster Bar. The streets were crowded with people, on a Wednesday night.
 

Hankster

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Savannah is wonderful but the beach is quite a drive from there. Charleston is nice too, beach is a little closer. There is a beach town with some neat stuff south of Charleston called Edisto. Lots of eco tourism stuff. My parents have been but I have not. Really depends on what you want, more beach? Eco stuff? Shops? Restaurants? History?
Depending where in Savannah you are staying. Actually Tybee is 20 minutes away. Once you get out of Savannah it's a cruise. Tybee does have a nice beach. Long beach. However the town is a little strange. You are guaranteed a parking ticket to the tune of $40, There are plenty of places to park that you think are free. Nope. You have to get out of your car, find a ticket machine, put money in, then walk back to your car and put it in the windshield. They are not a big believer of Handicap parking. Only handicap parking in the parking garage. If you find one out on the streets, you can bet it will be far from your place of interest. Plus, you need a ticket as explained above.
 

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