Questions about living in Myrtle Beach (Socastee, Murrells Inlet: to rent, condo, hotels)

[Grand-Strand-Family]

I have some questions and others who have questions like this can also post their questions so we can all better get a feel for Myrtle Beach from those who live there.

1. What areas if any give you a homey feel? Guessing many neighborhoods do but would like specifics please. My neighbors here have BBQs in the street and everyone brings a pot luck. Kids play together year around. Neighbors look out for each others homes, kids etc.

2. Hundreds of vacations to MB over the years I notice the wind kicks up at certain times I have been to MB. Last visit I asked someone at a restaurant about it and he said this is typical year around wind and MB is in the wind tunnel area and it is all year around. I dont remember it being their constantly.
Also, how far inland do you have to be to not get the winds off the ocean?

3. Schools. Reading info on St James, Carolina Forest and Socastee High Schools I see that St James and Carolina are well rated and Socastee seems to have some issues. Having driving by all the schools on our trip I am very impressed with CF, it locations, well kept etc and not impressed with Socastee at all.

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

4. Does any of the nice hotels on the beach give any kind of local discounts if you have family down and want to go to the hotel to rent it for a couple of days to be on the ocean, have a pool, restaurant etc so everyone can enjoy being at the ocean yet stay at our home at night?

5. What are some of the things you like to do in your spare time. I see Summering loves to shop.
A few like to fish. What do the rest of you enjoy and do as a hobby, for fun etc?

6. What area of the beach do you like the best? I like the north area around the Caribbean Resort myself although we have stayed at nearly all major hotels north to south over the years.

7. Favorite places to eat? Did not like to see J Edwards closed when we were down recently. When did they close? Is Sir Johns still a great place to eat? We like River City cafe really well.

Thank you for any input. Much appreciated folks.

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by Grand-Strand-Family

I have some questions and others who have questions like this can also post their questions so we can all better get a feel for Myrtle Beach from those who live there.

1. What areas if any give you a homey feel? Guessing many neighborhoods do but would like specifics please. My neighbors here have BBQs in the street and everyone brings a pot luck. Kids play together year around. Neighbors look out for each others homes, kids etc.Dunes Club, Dunes Cove, Pine Lakes, Myrtle Heights (29th Avenue North to the Dunes Club east of Kings Highway), Murrells Inlet in the Inlet not inland, 71st to the hospital between Kings Highway and 17bypass.

2. Hundreds of vacations to MB over the years I notice the wind kicks up at certain times I have been to MB. Last visit I asked someone at a restaurant about it and he said this is typical year around wind and MB is in the wind tunnel area and it is all year around. I dont remember it being their constantly.
Also, how far inland do you have to be to not get the winds off the ocean? You want the ocean breeze. It keeps the heat and humidity from being unbearable in the summer.

3. Schools. Reading info on St James, Carolina Forest and Socastee High Schools I see that St James and Carolina are well rated and Socastee seems to have some issues. Having driving by all the schools on our trip I am very impressed with CF, it locations, well kept etc and not impressed with Socastee at all.My kids graduated from Socastee then went on to graduate from Georgia Tech, USC, East Carolina, and USC.

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

4. Does any of the nice hotels on the beach give any kind of local discounts if you have family down and want to go to the hotel to rent it for a couple of days to be on the ocean, have a pool, restaurant etc so everyone can enjoy being at the ocean yet stay at our home at night?Hotels usually will not rent to locals because they want to avoid house parties. What you can do is have your relatives rent a beach house with a pool in shoulder season.

5. What are some of the things you like to do in your spare time. I see Summering loves to shop.
A few like to fish. What do the rest of you enjoy and do as a hobby, for fun etc?I surf, play tennis, golf, am a runner, we go boating lots. Murrells Inlet is the best for boating.

6. What area of the beach do you like the best? I like the north area around the Caribbean Resort myself although we have stayed at nearly all majorut hotels north to south over the years.Any of the residential areas have great beaches. 29th up to the Dunes Club, Pawleys Island, Litchfield, Huntington Beach STate Park or Myrtle Beach State park.

7. Favorite places to eat? Did not like to see J Edwards closed when we were down recently. When did they close? Is Sir Johns still a great place to eat? We like River City cafe really well.Prossers BBQ, K&W, Banditos, Franks Outback, Bubba's Love Shack, Nacho Hippo, Travinia, E Noodle.

Thank you for any input. Much appreciated folks.

Hope this helps. Myrtle Beach is a great area to raise kids and I had a very happy life there. Fortunately my family is still there so I make return visits.

[CarolinaDreams]

Hmmm well you have so many questions i'll do my best to give you my pov.

I can't really help you with the schools, however carolina forest is supposed to have the better schools.

What I like to do in my free time, go to the beach, we live so close that it's silly not to go all the time. I also love shopping (so many stores to choose from I'm on overload half the time), and enjoying to local attractions. Both my husband and I went to the aquarium this veterans day for only $19.00 bucks. I've pretty well been to all the beaches up and down the SC coast from Pawleys Island all the way up to Ocean Isle Beach NC, love them all for different reasons.

My favorite places to eat and this is some thing my husband and I so far have not ventured out much on. For mexican we like Abuelos, for buffets we like the giant crab, and I'm very curious about califorina pizza and pf changs so I will be stopping in there one of these days.

I honestly haven't noticed the wind much, it don't seem to be any more windy here then where I came from. Now obviously it's breezy on the beach, but back in the housing areas, I aint really noticed it much, but maybe i've just gotten used to it and don't pay it no mind. Plus I have only lived here four months now, so maybe that has some thing to do with it.

If you want great beaches you pretty much have to stay away from Myrtle and explore different areas. Myrtle Beach to me now that i live here seems a bit dirty, my husband and I saw a used condom in the sand in downtown myrtle beach and needless to say, we haven't really been back to the downtown beach since then. There are plenty of nice beaches to go to but not downtown. Also if you use local beach accesses please be careful, many cars get windows busted out and items stolen, so just a heads up don't leave NOTHING in the car not even a penny or a $1.00 bill, they will bust your window out for a buck.