Getaways: Beaches

By Elizabeth Hayes
for Virginia Business
August 2006

Virginia Beach
Resort offers the chance to become a pirate or watch a dolphin

One thing visitors to Virginia Beach can count on this summer is the beach. That’s because the coastline, stretching from Rudee Inlet to Chesapeake Bay, has in recent years been widened to 300 feet.

“ It’s less crowded and the water is just as pleasant as ever,” says Ron Kuhlman, sales and marketing director for the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Then there’s the boardwalk, which has expanded to three miles long and 28 feet wide, with a new bike path and landscaping consisting of indigenous plants, Kuhlman says.

Virginia Beach attracts 3 million visitors a year, mostly from the mid-Atlantic region, who enjoy 14 miles of free public beaches.

If it’s been a few years since you’ve last visited, you may notice a few changes besides the abundance of sand. Several new restaurants have opened in Town Center — the heart of a “main street” style, mixed-use development spanning 17 blocks in the downtown — including P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Cheesecake Factory and Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro.

A 22-story office tower, one of the tallest in the state, opened in Town Center a couple of years ago. An adjoining plaza features live entertainment on weeknights and weekends throughout the summer. A new performing arts center, 10-story Westin Hotel and luxury condominiums are scheduled to open there in 2007.

Over at the Founders Inn, on Indian River Road, a new $4.3 million spa and fitness center, featuring six treatment rooms, opened in May.
Town Center isn’t the only live entertainment venue this summer. Beachstreet USA, along Atlantic Avenue, features free nightly performances, with puppets, bands, jugglers and musicians.

If you’ve always dreamed of a pirate life, here’s your chance — for a few hours. Pirate Expeditions teaches passengers about local pirate history, including the legend that Blackbeard’s treasure is hidden in local caves.

Kids can dress in pirate costumes and pretend they’re searching for sunken treasure as they cruise around Chesapeake Bay. Pieces of Eight Pirate Cruise sets sail on the Atlantic in a 65-foot Spanish galleon-style ship and offers face painting, interactive pirate stories, music, dancing and a full-service bar.

Another seafaring opportunity is offered by the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, which hosts dolphin-watching expeditions from July through September, north along the oceanfront.

Finally, the Association for Research and Enlightenment, founded in 1931 by psychic Edgar Cayce, operates the largest day spa in Virginia Beach and is hosting speakers throughout the summer. Dr. Deepak Chopra, a leader in the field of mind-body medicine and author of 42 books, will speak at a conference on emotions Aug. 24-26. The Virginia Beach-based nonprofit’s mission is to research and explore such topics as holistic health, ancient mysteries, spirituality, dreams and reincarnation, according to its Web site.

The Outer Banks
North Carolina beaches offer new events, attractions

North Carolina’s Outer Banks encompass 100 miles of barrier islands dotted with picturesque lighthouses, golf courses and historical sites such as the Wright Brothers National Memorial — and, oh yes, lots of beaches.

“People go down there to get away from their cell phones and DVD players,” says Martha Anne Ellis of Richmond, a longtime cottage owner in Southern Shores. “When I get down there, my goal in life is to sit on the beach and read books. When my kids were little, we would go crabbing and fishing and look at the sunsets over the dunes.”

One of the Outer Banks’ perennial attractions is the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, on the north end of Roanoke Island. You can catch performances throughout the summer of “The Lost Colony,” an outdoor drama by playwright Paul Green, now in its 69th year. The play tells the story of the first English settlement in the New World, in 1587 on Roanoke Island. The settlement then vanished without a trace. The disappearance of 117 men, women and children remains a mystery to this day. You also can enjoy tea with Queen Elizabeth I and her court — well, cast members of “The Lost Colony” — in the Elizabethan Gardens.

At the other end of the Outer Banks, in Corolla, is the Currituck Heritage Park. The park’s centerpiece is the recently restored Whalehead Club, one of the most opulent Art Nouveau structures in the United States. The home, built by Edward Collings Knight Jr. and his wife in 1922, is being refurnished with original and period pieces and is open for tours, says Edna Baden, executive director of the park.

As for accommodations, several hotels have been newly built or renovated. The 181-room Hilton Garden Inn Outer Banks/Kitty Hawk, which opened in May, is the area’s first big new hotel in 18 years, says Carolyn McCormick, managing director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau. Two other hotels have recently opened or reopened in Hatteras — the Inn on Pamlico Sound and the Seaside Inn at Hatteras. And two others, the Colony IV by the Sea in Kill Devil Hills and Sanderling Inn Resort and Spa in Duck, have just completed renovations, McCormick says.

And for golf enthusiasts, all 18 holes of the Nags Head Golf Links course have been redone.

Even with the abundance of attractions, many longtime Outer Banks visitors, like Ellis, are drawn simply by the sand and surf, especially as summer traffic jams have become more commonplace and newcomers are building what some refer to as “starter castles” with irrigation systems and manicured lawns. “That misses the point of what a barrier islands vacation should be about,” says Ellis. “It should be about nature and a little wildness.”

Myrtle Beach
Amusement park’s demise doesn’t dim area’s allure

Myrtle Beach is famous for shag dancing and its seaside amusement park.

The former is still going strong, with places such as Fat Harold’s Beach Club offering shag lessons. But if you want to take a ride on the Hurricane wooden roller coaster at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park, you’d better hurry. The 58-year-old park is shutting down at the end of September after years of declining attendance. “Everyone loves the Pavilion and is outraged we’re closing,” says Pat Dowling, vice president of corporate communications for the theme park’s owner, Burroughs & Chapin Co. “People’s perceptions of what’s fun and entertaining have changed.”

While the theme park may not be as popular as it once was, Myrtle Beach offers plenty of other reasons for a summer visit. Known as South Carolina’s Grand Strand, the Myrtle Beach area stretches 60 miles along the coast from Little River through Pawleys Island. It attracts 13 million visitors a year and is a perennial on several top 10 lists, including: “Best Family Beach” (bestowed by The Travel Channel), No. 1 most desirable second-home market (according to Escapehomes.com) and third on AAA’s Top Driving Destinations for 2005.

One of the Grand Strand’s newest attractions is MagiQuest, a Harry Potter-like game experience that opened last year. Participants use a magic wand (which they can personalize and keep) to set off lightning bolts, play music, open treasure chests and perform heroic deeds. Players can point to an object to create an effect, collect gold that can be redeemed for prizes or to obtain certain powers and go on a scavenger hunt, says Nicole Aiello, public information officer of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

For those in need of retail therapy, shopping opportunities have expanded in the past two years. The Barefoot Landing complex recently opened 16 new stores, including Chico’s and Birkenstock, bringing the total to 100 shops and 13 outlet stores, along with restaurants and theaters. And South Carolina’s largest mall, Coastal Grand, has been open for two years off U.S. 17 Bypass near Myrtle Beach International Airport.

Myrtle Beach’s roots as a beach resort date back 100 years, when Burroughs & Collins Co. built the Seaside Inn. The beach community, called New Town, was rechristened Myrtle Beach when the wife of one of the developers won a contest to name the area, according to the Myrtle Beach chamber. She chose Myrtle Beach for the many wax myrtle trees growing wild along the shore.

Hurricane Hazel destroyed buildings and trees along the Strand in 1954, clearing the way for several building booms that lasted into the 1990s. The Strand today boasts 120 golf courses, 50 miniature golf courses, 1,800 full-service restaurants and 460 hotels.

While many visitors are drawn to the high-spirited side of Myrtle Beach, with its dance clubs and restaurants such as Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, others remain attracted simply by the beach. Take Stephanie Rizzi, a writing instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University, who visits Myrtle Beach several times a year with her husband and two sons. They stay at the Serendipity Inn, less than a block from the beach, and mostly just hang out on the sand and in the water.

“ It’s a very relaxed, peaceful environment, and we feel comfortable there,” she says. “It’s very kid friendly. Most of the restaurants and shopping areas have places where you can take kids and let them play.”