"Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't It:" On the Road in Myrtle Beach - Winter, early February, 2012 | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Gazing at the fire - Burning by the water

   As I am oft to repeat myself, the off season in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - the dead of winter - is a special time. Not only are the rates for lodging much lower, the ambiance within one's personal beach relationship is made ideal with the absence of people, and thus the natural environs made, simply, more natural.

   While I always accentuate the positive, there are two negatives: less daylight, yet nearly an hour longer since the Winter equinox, and the colder, often brisk, mornings.

   Understanding these negatives, I am still an early riser to meet the spare sun, and if dressing warmer is the main condition to meet that success, I am well prepared.

   I dress in layers for my purpose is multi-faceted. I want to start my day with the promise of the rising sun, and moreover, I wish to record its progress through its beauty made permanent by photograph. Picture this: The glow of the impending sun on a clear, cold morning stirring the ambitions of the hungry gulls ever ready for their morning meal. It is 37 degrees Fahrenheit, but unlike myself, these seagulls are not bothered the chill. They are hungry, and they know that the cooler waters of the first day of February bring to them a bounty - the smaller creatures of the sea on which they feed.
A lone seagull walks his beat along the Atlantic Sea: Above. His friends await the natural light of a new day to see their way clear to pluck their bounty from the rushing waves: Below.     photos by Stan Deatherage
At the early time of this short day, these gulls are the masters of the waves, and proficiently feed themselves until full, and then they just bask in the glow of the morning sun - the original "beach bums:" Above and below.     photos by Stan Deatherage
   These short days of winter lend themselves to one mostly enjoying the sunrises and sunsets, and what time is in between can be absorbed in any manner of activities. I personally find that I always have some work to do, but generally find time to walk the beach during the warmest hour of the day, and, on occasion, the winter air warms to over 65 degrees.
Click here to enlarge to a map of northeast South Carolina: Above.
This first day of February, I walked at sunset on the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Promenade at sunset: Above. This is a first for me - a tsunami alert sign. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina? Here below.     photos by Stan Deatherage
From the shops along the boardwalk to the SkyWheel along the promenade, the last rays of the day die quickly in Winter: Above and below.     photos by Stan Deatherage