Coastal Common Sense June 2025

It's that time of year again. Springtime at the seacoast is the wonderful weather time that is the sweet, dry harbinger of humid days and harried crowds ahead. And the summer throng of beach goers this year is sure to be bigger than ever.

The springtime months of March, April and May are delightful at the beach with temperatures varying only slightly between day and night ranging from the 60's to the 70's. And that oppressive humid blanket is nowhere to be felt! The springtime attire is shorts every day with the occasional flannel shirt on the evening sunset stroll on the beach.

If it were that way year-round there'd be 10 million people living here. It's only the frigid 40-degree windswept dunes in January that keeps the population down to the hearty 1,000 ocean addicts that call this salt desert island their full-time home.

During the isolated winter months, we like our private beach. We like no lines at the Food Lion or at the bridge roundabout. We like a friendly wave at the local constables on their quiet hourly security tour of vacant beach houses. We like a table by the water with no screaming sunburned kids next to us at Sears Landing.

We don't like the island closed down on Mondays and Tuesdays and we don't like not being able to use the outdoor shower on those rare 30-degree days or not having a daily happy hour available. But that's a small price to pay for the serenity of salty seclusion.

So now we're close to the Memorial Day arrival of the Midwestern mass exodus with traffic jams at the bridge and sweat glands working overtime as we enter our newfound beach resort popularity. Yes, we have been discovered!

And with the price of gasoline lower than it's been in the past 4 years, expect a lot more vacationers to arrive by car escaping their hot summer doldrums in our refreshing ocean breezes. Families living East of the Mississippi River feel more confident in the economy of the newly elected administration and will be more eager to venture to our sunny coast for their time-honored one-week summer beach vacation. If only we could receive the benefit of their VISA cards without the passengers in their automobiles.

As the gnats and the humidity move back in, so too will the weekend warriors from Emerald City. The nearby regional major metropolitan areas will let loose their wintry pent-up demand for beach worship and make Highway 17 and I-40 bumper to bumper Friday and Sunday afternoons. 

A quarter mile between beach blankets now will soon become 50 feet between noisy Shibumis. Restaurants will go from walk-in now to hour long waiting lines. Local business owners will happily change operating hours from 3 days a week to 8 days a week as the gold rush lights up their cash registers. And all the empty beach houses will be filled with joyful smiles and the sounds of families and friends loudly partying at the shore.

It's a fantastic time of year that we're glad only lasts a few months. Then we get our private beach back, we marvel at our increased bank accounts and we plan the January trip to the Florida Keys. Some of us with a flip flop on one foot and a ski boot on the other seek refuge in the mountains from the insufferable summer humidity.

But the cycle of life at 10 feet above sea level is a wonderful adventure. We are fortunate to share our magical oceanfront with the rest of the work-a-day world who get a fleeting glimpse of the natural beach beauty that we cherish all year long.