Thanks for the great tips-lots of variety and local favorites. Just what we are looking for! I'll check out Chowhound too.

Having gone to Calabash for over 40 years, it has become schlock. I mourn for it, and the food is just ordinary now. BUT if you do go, don NOT go to Dockside. Ella's is one of the real originals, AND the source of Jimmy Durante's farewell line, "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are."
They are looking for a travel experience with food. Almost any place in Murrell's Inlet and Pawley's for that part of the coast would fill that bill better than Calabash.
We haven't been for two years, but another possibility in Garden City is the Conch Cafe. Surprisingly it is just about the ONLY restaurant right ON the ocean in that area. You cross the causeway and turn left--it is about a mile down--further than you think. The food is OK, but it is really fun to be right on the ocean.
And on the Garden City causeway is Sara J's. If still open, very good.

I second Gretchen's praise of Nance. The best oyster roast on the coast.

Landolfi's in Pawley's Island on SB 17, great Italian bakery and deli run by guys from New Jersey.

Adding Spouter's Inn in Beaufort, NC, and Riverside Steak & Seafood in Swansboro, NC.