Last Minute Oceanfront Vacation - East Coast
 

Any thoughts on a last minute, week-long, oceanfront vacation?

Short (semi-dramatic version): broke my shoulder in spring; loooooong recovery. We made no summer plans. I'm at about 75% now and very much wanting to get away before school starts.

We usually get an oceanfront cottage in Emerald Isle, NC every summer; for three of us - DH, myself and 11 year old son. No lifeguards there - I am a vigilant, ex-guard and keep tabs on son in water. But can't swim well this year and not feeling the love to go to an unguarded beach with fearless tween and not-great-swimmer husband. They are "only" considering an ocean vacation and so I'm thinking of combining my abundance of caution with our prior discussions to expand our repertoire beyond NC.

Requirements - we only have a week. I think I could talk DH into flying from Baltimore, but he'd prefer to drive. Budget maxs at about $4000 for travel/lodging (we'll spend a bit more on food, but usually have cooked in our house rental rather than dining out every day). We've become spoiled with oceanfront vacation rentals; doubtful to talk either of them (okay, myself included) into second row, etc.

Thinking a hotel/resort instead of cottage might be more doable/available, but have never done the due diligence so don't know what/where/how much/how long it takes to get there....We don't need/expect/afford Four Seasons, but something a bit nicer than highway motel with an ocean view would be nice. In a perfect world, we'd have a mini suite with a door separating where son sleeps from us - husband stays up VERY LATE. We aren't Myrtle Beach/golfing/shopping/busy type folks. Lots of sitting in chairs, reading, swimming, drinks on the deck with each other, not socializing with others, walks on the beach.

ANy and all thoughts appreciated. It may be a pipe dream... and hoping the collective wisdom of this forum an provide a dose of reality! Thanks in advance!

ONE possibility: Southwest N/S from Baltimore to Fort Meyers

You could certainly get a condo on the beach somewhere, but the lifeguard aspect makes it a little harder. I think both Corolla and Duck in the northern end of the Outer Banks have beaches with lifeguards. In Corolla on your budget, you could get something right on the sound, but not the ocean

There are lots of options on Cape Cod. There are beaches of every description - warm and calm on the south side, cool bay on the inside, cold with surf along the east. The eastern facing beaches are the most scenic and undeveloped, but there are no oceanside hotels due to it being a national seashore. Look a towns like Falmouth, Chatham, Wellfleet, Provincetown. Above Boston, there are some beautiful sand beaches in southern Maine like York, Ogunquit and Kennebunkport, but the water may be too chilly for someone used to the Carolinas.

Myrtle Beach has lifeguards. Starrs has posted a resort there that looks very nice (a hard thing for me to say about anything in MB!!!)

https://www.google.com/?gfe_rd=ssl&e...ith+lifeguards
Beaches with lifeguards in NC

SouthCarolina

https://www.google.com/?gfe_rd=ssl&e...ith+lifeguards

Look in Brewster on Cape Cod, Ocean's Edge Resort on Cape Cod Bay.

Check out beachfront rental villas or condos at places like Wild Dunes on Isle of Palms (just north of Charleston), Kiawah Island or Fripp Island - all in South Carolina and all have "beach club areas" with lifeguards.

Also look at The Cloisters or other properties on Sea Island, Georgia or Amelia Island, Florida.

The county park beaches on Folly Beach and Isle of Palms (IOP) in SC have lifeguards in summer.

IOP oceanfront homes tend to be large and therefore expensive. However, the Sea Cabins community is made up of small 1 bedroom condos that can sleep up to 5. Accommodations are modest but they do have a pool.

Hilton Head has a range of accommodations and lifeguards.

I admit to not having swum at many northern beaches but the SC beaches are wide and the surf not heavy--NOT to say that riptides don't happen and everyone should know how to get out of one.
At 11 I assume he swims--also not to say you don't watch a child like a hawk. ;o)

You can't beat Oak Bluffs.