Fish Or Cut Bait
Feet Dry
by Bob Ciminel
July 21, 2004
Wednesday
The Atlantic Blue Crab population is returning to normal in the
salt marshes along the Grand Strand this week. The Ciminel family
has returned from its annual vacation to Pawleys Island, South
Carolina. Between the smelly fish heads and rotten chicken necks
we used for bait, we were able to entice about two dozen crabs
a day into our crab trap, or dally around in the shallows long
enough to scoop up with our dip nets. A couple of rented boats
from Murrells Inlet also gave us the opportunity to harvest a
sizeable number of clams from the State shellfish reserve. We
had to buy our shrimp because the state does not allow shrimp
boats to work near shore during the tourist season.
Left to right: My niece
Melissa (soon to become Dr. Melissa Privette, DVM); my grandson,
Evan; my daughter, Maidie at Pawleys Island, South Carolina in
the creek.
The nice thing about Pawleys Island is that it is just a short
walk from the beach to the creek. On the south end of the island,
you can walk from surf and sand to cord grass and mud in a half
dozen steps, which is why the south end usually washes away during
hurricanes.
Speaking of hurricanes, the
last one to hit Pawleys Island was Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Before
that, it was Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Two hurricanes in fifty
years seem like good odds, but if you use that to justify buying
a house on the beach, you are either a fool or you are spending
someone else's money. For the owners at Pawleys Island, inheritance,
insurance, and income from rentals seem to provide adequate funds
to rebuild after the storms. The storms may destroy the structures,
but the land remains. A beachfront lot at Pawleys sells for about
$1 million these days. I think it is safe to assume that yours
truly will not be retiring to Pawleys Island. The closest we
will get to waterfront property will probably be a used doublewide
on a drainage ditch from a sanitary landfill.
Pawleys Island, South
Carolina
If I could afford a place at the beach, I would build it back
on the creek. It would be made of reinforced concrete, and it
would be round. The house would rest on reinforced concrete pilings
driven into a stable layer of clay. The windows would be protected
with steel shutters, and the house would be all-electric and
have a standby generator. Who wants a 500-gallon propane tank
banging around in 200 mph winds? Okay, the house would not be
pretty, and it would not make the cover of "Coastal Living,"
but it would probably survive the worst that Nature could throw
at it. Heck, if we colored and textured the concrete, Alice might
even be willing to live in it.
ciminel@sitnews.us
Bob Ciminel ©2004
All Rights Reserved
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