Myrtle Beach, SC
Murrells Inlet
Peaceful and Laid Back
Only ten miles from the frenzied amusement park buzz of Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet offers an entirely different type of beach vacation. This enchanting place is a small, quiet fishing village known for its great seafood restaurants and named after a pirate who hid in the tidal marshes of the area. A peninsula that stretches from Murrells Inlet all the way to Georgetown, called Waccamaw Neck, holds these tidal marshes that provided refuge to the town's namesake pirate centuries ago. Another, more famous pirate named Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach, also visited Murrells Inlet and made his mark. The island called Drunken Jack Island, which lies just off the coast of Murrells Inlet, is famous because Blackbeard supposedly accidentally left one of his sailors on this island in the 1600s. Two years later Blackbeard returned and found just they guy's bones and numerous casks of rum...empty of course. The town has seen not only pirates seeking refuge, but also Conferate blockade runners, bootleggers, and Federal gunboats.
This still is a fishing village of sorts, with seafood caught every day right off the coast of Murrells Inlet, and sold to local seafood restaurants for some of the best and freshest fish you'll ever have the pleasure to eat...not to mention oysters, crab and shrimp. In fact, Murrells Inlet is called The Seafood Capitol of South Carolna. If there are crowds in Murrells Inlet, it's tourists from nearby Myrtle Beach who've discovered the seafood in Murrells Inlet. But don't worry: they will all go back to Myrtle Beach after lunch or dinner, and you can have this peaceful village to yourself again if you're staying here.
There is a marina on Highway 17, which constitutes what passes for the commerical strip of Murrells Inlet, and it is delightfully non-commercial, delightfully laid-back. You can charter a boat and go fishing from here, and it's one of the best places on the Grand Strand to do this.
Captain Dick's has just about everything you might want in a quaint South Carolina fishing village...boat trips, fishing charters, deep-sea fishing charters, pontoon rentals, kayaking, sightseeing cruises, and educational Saltwater Marsh Explorer Adventure led by a marine biologist, and last but not least, Gator Tours! The cost of fishing trips includes tackle, bait, license, and rod and reel, basically everything you'll need for a day or half day of fishing. Everything that is except sunscreen and lunch. The deep-sea charters out of Captain Dicks go as far as sixty miles offshore, and the All Day Gulf Stream trip lasts 11 hours and costs under $100.
There is a half day charter called the Sea Bass Fishing Adventure, very reasonably priced. Fishing is good for much of the year, from early spring until Christmastime, because of the proximity of the Gulf Stream. Captain Dick's also hosts the monthly (except winter time) Overnight Gulf Stream fishing expedition for die-hard fishing fans. It's 21 hours of fishing (well, maybe some resting time for the weak). Captain Dick's sightseeing cruise ambles up the coast to Myrtle Beach and offers its passengers views of the beach, culminating in a sunset at sea experience that makes the perfect end to a perfect day.
Captain Dick's is located in the Murrells Inlet Marina, which is on Highway 17 in Murrells Inlet.
Besides the peaceful village setting and the fishing and boating trips, one thing you will want to see in Murrells Inlet is Brookgreen Gardens. This is a park like no other, with hundreds of sculptures and tons of wildlife set on the grounds of an ante-bellum rice plantation. Between the plantation's beauty, the surreal sculptures and the sounds of the wildlife, it truly is magical place to visit. Read more about it on our Attractions page.
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