Isle of Palms Magazine Summer 2017

32 www.IsleOfPalmsMagazine.com | www.ILoveIOP.com | www.IOPmag.com With good timing, it is easy to avoid heavy traffic getting there (three hours from my driveway to sitting on the beach). Every person I have interacted with (local, business staffs, vacationers) is warm and friendly. IOP is very safe, well-managed, beautiful, plenty to do but has kept the local (less commercial) beach. As you arrive, top the rise on the Connector bridge and see the ocean once again, you feel like you have left all the demands of life on Earth in the rearview mirror, with fun and sun the only option. Ocean, beautiful beach with easy access no matter where you stay, mesmerizing marsh, golf, tennis and watersports, perfect running/biking options. We have probably eaten at every restaurant on IOP – never a bad outing. The size of the island is perfect – just big enough to have everything you want and enjoy for beach life and just small enough to avoid the typical problems and difficulties larger commercial beach vacation locations come with. What keeps you coming back? I have only the best memories of our vacations and long weekend getaways. If it is a romantic getaway I wanted, IOP offers every ingredient you need for a perfect escape, including music to dance to and warm sun on the beach. You have the sound of the waves day or night and/or the quiet and unique noise of water descending from high tide in the marsh. For a family vacation – space for very competitive beach games, perfect tans, safe walks/runs/biking, great weather, short walk to the beach from every house/condo, great food at the IOP restaurants. Every option one can imagine to stay at a beach area is available, all reasonably and competitively priced and maintained – high-end plush or small one-bedroom condo/house. You can stay beachfront, marsh front, Intracostal Waterway front or on a very quiet street in between. And just about every place comes with a pool or access to one. We often make new friends like Bil Krauss. We met at Morgan Creek Grill many years ago as he performs there every summer. We have met people from all over the world, and they all say they love their visit. Which places on the island do you find to be the most enjoyable/beautiful? The shore, beach, ocean waves, surrounded by the two inlets, the huge mesmerizing marsh and the Intracoastal Waterway – no matter which direction you look on IOP, all is perfectly beautiful. Biking and/or running from one end of the island to the other – It’s difficult to find a better course. [ Island Memories ] As I mentioned: The sunrise over the ocean and the sunset over the marsh are second to no other place. Even the occasional storms that pop up provide an amazing view of nature as you wait as long as possible before packing the tent and hustling back to the house/condo. Do you have any other comments or things to say about the island or your time here? I have rented through the wonderful people at Island Realty for over 20 years, when I first discovered them. They do an excellent, top-flight job! The logistics, infrastructure, size and scope of IOP makes for a perfect, contained yet wide open beach location to live or for vacation. In all these years, I have never experienced a disturbance or difficulty. Everyone working on the island has always been of a helpful nature. If IOP offered a money back guarantee if I ever failed to have an amazing and memorable vacation there, over my 50 years, there’s not a single time could I have collected. I’ve been many places since coming there 50 years ago, domestic and foreign, and it is my plan to retire on IOP. Every time I have come to IOP, I did not want to leave. One day I will not! Isle of Palms Vacation Rental Companies Carroll Realty, Inc. 103 Palm Blvd. #1a, Isle of Palms, S.C. 29451 800-845-7718 www.CarrollRealtyInc.com Charleston Coast Vacations (Dunes Properties) 1400 Palm Blvd., Isle of Palms, S.C. 29451 888- 250-8730 www.CharlestonCoastVacations.com East Islands Rentals 843-886-0760 29 J .C. Long Blvd., #104, Isle of Palms, S.C. 29451 www.EastIslandRentals.com Island Realty 843-242-1507 304 Palm Blvd., Isle of Palms, S.C. 29451 www.IslandRealty.com