Going to the beach can be a different experience for everyone. This is how I love it.
There is no joy for me in sunbathing. The blazing sun from 11 am to 3 pm in the summer months, and sand so hot it hurts my feet are of no interest to me. Sand sticking to my sweating body, and itty bitty bathing suits – both make me uncomfortable.
Busy boardwalks with lights, sounds, and carnival barkers have generally overwhelmed me, and I just feel a bit sad for the little hermit crabs lined up in tiny cages to be sold away from their home. Summer crowds and parking shortages quickly make me wish I was elsewhere.
And yet, despite all these factors, I really do LOVE. THE. BEACH.
The beach is my church. This is especially true now that I am a full-time RVer, having moved away years ago from any traditional church which I have loved. Now, the beach is the place I go to fill up my soul; where I find inspiration, consolation, and yes, even perspiration. It becomes my therapy and the place where I can take calmer, deeper breaths. The beach fills up my soul.
The best way to attend “beach church” for me, is with early morning walks to watch the sunrise, but any time of day will do. It can be any time of year, but I prefer the “fringe seasons” of spring and fall the most, with milder temperatures and few crowds. This generally involves walking the dog in the shallows. It almost always includes listening to my most inspirational music in my headphones, with sneakers on my feet (but sometimes barefoot). The pace is set by my mood, adjusted for the temperature in the air – and then, into motion I go!
Step by step I feel the fresh air on my face, hear the Sanderlings and Piping Plovers converse, and smell the salty, fishy odors of the aquatic life that abounds around me. The waves lap near my feet and with each and every step, I find my way – refreshed, and into another beautiful day.
Alone time is treasured by me, and another important part of my beach church. When in attendance, it is just me and the Lord, enjoying our time, figuring out life’s puzzles, praying for those with complex needs, and placing specific intentions on those whom I love.
At times, the music is Christian pop or classic church hymns. Oftentimes, I draw strength from music that wouldn’t be found in more traditional churches. The music from Les Miserables is one. Josh Groban is another. A classical symphony is a go-to for me as well. Music is a big part of my special beach church.
The exact place I walk matters less. The most preferable requirement is the softness of the sand and the lapping of water nearby. Bonus points are awarded for walks that can be circular in nature, where I enter the beach in one location, walk to the other end, and am able to circle back to my starting location with a change of scenery (rather tough to find on a linear beach, but it is possible). Ocean beaches and bayside beaches are the best, but in a pinch, I can find similar solace and faith-filled mornings from a large lake, river or water canal.
A great benefit of our traveling life is having the ability to steer our travel toward beaches whenever needed. My dear sweet husband finds that HIS place of respite is NOT on any sandy surface, but rather, on some distant mountainside. Yet his generosity and giving nature are always willing to drive me to my next beachfront.
Some of my favorite “beach churches”
Cape May area, NJ – Bayside or oceanside, this beach church has been a recurring theme in my life. When bayside, in the Villas, Cape May Beach, or Townebank neighborhoods, there are two options. Visitors can walk the traditional sandy shores of Delaware Bay, or stroll on Shore Road, which runs parallel to the water, with level sidewalks and a birds-eye view of the sandy shores just below.
If you prefer ocean beaches, Cape May has a two mile paved promenade that provides expansive views of the sea, “America’s first seaside resort”, and spectacular Victorian mansions. Cape May county is at the southernmost tip of New Jersey (affectionately known as Exit 0), so a visit to the beach near Cape May Point can also give you the opportunity for ocean waves, a lighthouse and a beautiful sunsetover the water (Sunset Beach is where the ocean meets the mouth of Delaware Bay). There are multiple nature reserves in the area to provide other unique and beachlike walks, including the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, and several locations of Cape May Wildlife Management Areas, including Cox Hall Creek and Higbee Beach.
I love this place so much that in 2015, I finally purchased a vacation home that is only 387 steps from the sand! (Insert shameless plug here —> Visit www.DreamsComeTrueCottage.com to find our Villas/Cape May Beach vacation rental. It is rented out to guests year-round for as short as a two-night getaway or for as as many weeks as you would like to stay!).
There are also a lot of campgrounds available in the area, and we have enjoyed many over the years, but unfortunately, none of them are within walking distance of the beach. Cape May is also well-known for its beautiful, historic Victorian architecture and abundant B&Bs, so your options are quite varied.
Tybee Island, GA – Tybee Island is near Savannah, and this beach is on an island, with a perfectly placed campground near the transition from the Savannah River (that leads up to Savannah) to the Atlantic Ocean, creating that perfect, circular, extended beach walk. Start out on the north side of the island (the campground is a very short walk to the sandy shores) and walk south until you reach the lighthouse area of the beach, then circle back through town to return to your starting spot at the campground. River’s End Campground is city-owned, and the only campground on the island, and albeit tiny and tight, it is a campground worth visiting (and staff will lead you to your site upon check-in).
Carrabelle Beach, FL – The sand here is as fine and as white as any you might find on the most gorgeous Caribbean islands. This area is known as Florida’s Forgotten Coast because it is among the last of the unspoiled, undeveloped shores of Florida’s Gulf of Mexico, and is said to have been slighted for several years in the state’s tourism promotion materials.
We spent our first Christmas as full-time RVers at this location in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, so the isolation and solitude of the area were especially important to us. We enjoyed a visit from our youngest child, Ella, who drove up overnight from college in Gainesville. We woke up Christmas morning to unusually cold temperatures for the area, with frozen, cracked spigots at the campground’s fish cleaning station that spewed water into the air like a frozen fountain. Moving my daily beach walk to the warmer hours of mid-day became an easy choice!
Carrabelle Beach Campground is just a short walk across the road in Carrabelle Beach that will give you daily, simple access to all the solitude you desire. The campground itself is made up of privately owned lots and an HOA, but many of the sites are available to rent by the public. This campground is also VERY tight, so take your time and be cautious. It is worth all the effort to try to attend this “beach church” on Carrabelle Beach.
Myrtle Beach, SC – There are several campgrounds in Myrtle Beach that are right on the beach, but the one that we have enjoyed is Pirateland Family Camping Resort. Full disclosure – we have only ever visited this campground in the fringe and off-seasons, but frankly, that is when we believe the beach (and this campground) is best (as well as most affordable). All of the amenities you could ask for are included at this campground, but I go for the beach, of course. With some sites that are right alongside the ocean, just over the sand dunes, you can hear the waves crashing!
Even sitting five or ten campsites back, you are steps away from the solitude and peace of a beach walk. Our longest stay in Myrtle Beach was a month in November 2021, when we were joined by friends and nearly all of our adult kids for a wonderful Thanksgiving visit, still mild enough for an outdoor feast and a nighttime campfire. We could hear the waves crashing in the quiet off-season air, and we all walked the beach with much thanks and gratitude. Bonus item of note: Pirateland has a wonderful outdoor chapel along the canal. We attended their Sunday non-denominational service during a fall visit in 2020 and it was casual, simple, lovely, and welcoming, with beautiful music and a pastor and support staff whose words inspired us (in the colder weather they move their service to a warmer enclosed pavilion).
St. Augustine, FL – The North Beach Camp Resort is situated between the North River and the Atlantic Ocean on the north side of St. Augustine. The public beach is direct across Coastal Highway and a brief, easy walk from your campsite. The extra treat in this campground is the private, sandy campsites. The campground is protected and shaded by moss-laden oaks and palmettos down every road and between each campsite, giving you a feeling of privacy that belies the actual closeness of the sites.
We enjoyed our visit here the year before we were full-time RVers, in 2019, as we arrived with our youngest, Ella, on a college-visit tour of several southern US states. There is much to see in the area, including the historic Fountain of Youth, but isn’t a walk on the beach a great way to take a few worries and years off your heart and body?
Pickens, SC – Mile Creek County Park has a campground that is absolutely, entirely surrounded by water. There is no ocean, and no large expansive beaches to walk for miles, when you walk the narrow point and tiny islands that make up this park and campground, you will see Lake Keowee all around you. This place is home to my reigning FAVORITE CAMPSITE EVER, with a little bit of beach and lapping waves on the shore that I believe qualify it for this list of important inspirational beachy places.
I’ve written about this campground before, so to see the photos and read about my private little “beach church” in the rural upcountry of South Carolina, visit here: https://timetravelsandtribulations.com/this-is-the-best-campsite-of-my-camping-life/ If you are staying in the area long enough (and you absolutely should), be sure to take a drive up to Pretty Place, SC, a chapel nestled in the mountains. It is also known as the Fred Symmes Chapel and is part of a YMCA camp, but is open to the public. Pretty Place is an apt name, and this scenic drive is worth the effort.
We visited this park in early fall and actually lived through our first severe tropical storm/residual hurricane there. It took half a day before any vehicles could even leave the campground because of all the downed trees, so our visit was partly an adventure I would not like to revisit. The campground, Lake Keowee, and all of upcountry South Carolina, however, are all places I will return to again.
Outer Banks, NC – The most recent beach we visited is beautiful in a different way from all the others. We camped at Camp Hatteras RV Campground the week before Christmas 2022. It is located in the Outer Banks (OBX) in the Village of Rodanthe, known in part, for the 2008 movie Nights In Rodanthe (pronounced Row-DAN-thee by the locals).
The thing that makes the OBX unique is its near-constant battle with Mother Nature. These barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina are wild and natural for many expansive miles, but the pounding oceanfront storms and the associated sound-side flooding leave the land in a constant battle for land.
A large section of the singular north-south state highway 12 is regularly flooded and covered by sand dunes swept away by the wind and rain. As a result, parts of the highway have been rebuilt into big jughandles that veer off into the Pamlico Sound to avoid further destruction on the barrier islands. Left behind, are miles of protected sand dunes, beaches, and waters for recreation and enjoyment. Also left behind, are heavily damaged piers and homes, abandoned after a storm, and left to fall into the ocean, bit by bit with each passing season.
A walk on the beach can be difficult in some areas, as the tides roll all the way up to what is left by the protective dunes in some cases, as was the case directly in front of our campground. Nearby, entire beachfront rows of homes have been destroyed or moved to seek protection yards away, leaving the second row of homes to feel Mother Nature’s next wrath.
It is tragic to see the loss of homes and businesses, but the beauty of nature lives on. As I walked the narrow beach and saw the resulting waxing and waning of the land and water, I was moved. It felt as if I was just a little bit closer to God on my walks. He designed a world that is in constant motion and is forever evolving – working to maintain the important ecosystems that are life-sustaining.
If you have some favorite beaches where you find your faith strengthened, and your soul refreshed, let me know. I am always willing to ask Andrew to steer our truck and fifth wheel (and he is always willing to accommodate me!) to discover a new and lovely place of God’s creation.
Psalm 139:9-10 says this, “If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me.”
Safe travels, and I hope to see you at any of God’s peaceful, beautiful, wonderful, powerful beaches!
