On Myrtle's Beach

Before sunrise on Myrtle Beach. 2/9/2025 dwm

If I'm blessed to be spending a night along a beach, one thing I'll do is get pictures of the sunrise or sunset.

To do so in February, when most of Wisconsin's lakes are frozen, even 50 degrees seemed more than warm on February 9.

Sunrise was 7:05. Camera in hand, I joined a few dozen people on the beach from my hotel and other condos and apartments. Even when mornings are gloomy, you see people walking up and down the beach.


Moments before sunrise. 2/9/2025 dwm photo

On my way out the door, I grabbed a blueberry muffin and bottle of chocolate milk from the coffee shop and was eating the muffin while a small flock of seagulls (no, not the rock band) gathered. Crumbs tumbled to the sand, the birds looked at me, wondering. When I moved three feet left, they ate, then waited for me to finish before they could do the rest of their carbo-loading.

Good Morning, sun is up! 2/9/2025 dwm photo

It's an interesting wait for sun rise. On a clear day, you sense light more than 30-minutes before sun-up, and it seems to move slowly.

But once the orange disc peeks over the horizon, it makes a dramatic and beautiful entrance from it's east entry.

If I lived on the water, I might do what some photographers do and take a picture of every sun rises, although I'd like to know if they take photos on days when the sun can't be seen or its presence felt?

Five minutes after sunrise. 2/9/2025 dwm photo

Taking pictures at the start of or end of a day is special. Because I don't live on the water and am in Wisconsin, the sun rises as early as 5:17 in June and as late as as 7:30 in December! Sunset is early in December (4:22) and late in June (8:41).

Sunday, February 9, 2025. dwm photo

Once the orange ball of fire clears the waterline, things seem pretty normal. It's still the Golden Hour for taking pictures, but every minute of the day's light becomes more normal.

On this morning, I headed off the beach to frame the sun with trees and umbrellas.

Five hours later, the sun was at full-power, rapidly heating a part of South Carolina that only two weeks earlier got more snow in one storm than parts of Wisconsin had all winter.

Sun over the Hilton. 2/9/25 dwm

During my ride and while spending a couple hours downtown later along Myrtle Beach I enjoyed its warmth.

The workout on the bike and the sun would have made it too hot for jeans and long sleeves by mid-morning, so I was glad to have changed before the rest of the ride.

And while the day was a bit of a 'one-off' for early February around South Carolina, people responded like it was June. Beach volleyball teams in swimsuits were on every sand court.

People were eating on restaurant patios, which wouldn't happen the rest of the week, and basked in the not-quite-spring-or-summer-sun.

Smiles were broader and spirits higher. There was even someone flying a kite! You'll have to look close to see that!