[light music]
- Oh the off season, my favorite months.
It is gorgeous to be down there when the sun comes up.
There's no hassle, there's no traffic,
and it's not crowded.
It's like having your own private place.
- [Deborah] Jacqueline DeGroot chronicles
the history of this coastal region,
including the kindred spirit mailbox
where you can anonymously write
your deepest hopes, fears, and dreams.
- The kindred spirit was started in the late 70s.
Well the idea was for it to be
for people to be able to express themselves
and for people to feel one with nature.
There's journals and there's usually three or four of them.
People just take the journals out.
You can read what people have written
and then you just start writing.
Some people will write about problems that they have,
some people will just write about the things
that they are hoping to do in their life,
some people write like they're writing to people in heaven,
it's very cathartic to be there and to write things
in the journal.
One of my favorites was a woman who came there that morning
who had had a sonogram and found out she was pregnant
and she actually left pictures of the sonogram
in the mailbox.
It's just something that is close to your heart
that you wanna share.
- [Deborah] After your time on the beach,
you may wanna learn more about the area's natural beauty.
- The Museum of Coastal Carolina teaching
about our coastal environment
that a lot of people in the area don't even know about.
It's sort of a hidden treasure.
We have many galleries here and as you can see
in this gallery, we have what you would find
about 60 miles off of our coast
in the waters around this area.
We also have the touch tank area,
our most favored exhibits for the kids
because we allow them to touch the animals
and feed the animals with our volunteer Dussance.
- [Woman] You can see him actually eating the food,
he's pushing it into his stomach.
- [Terri] And we have one of the largest shell collections
on the eastern seaboard.
- [Deborah] Just down the road
is another must see destination
that's truly out of this world.
- Here at the Ingram Planetarium we have a variety
of awesome explorations of the universe.
All of our shows are different and as well
at night we also do laser music shows.
[rock music]
We also have a science center and it's available
for you the public all the time.
So if you're just wanting to come in and take a break
from outside or do a little bit of hands-on science
with your friends and family,
it's a great place to visit.
- [Deborah] And if you want to stretch your body
as well as your mind,
here's a coastal adventure you don't wanna miss.
- The Swamp Park's something else.
Largest and longest zip line canopy tour
on the eastern seaboard, 10 zip lines, three bridges,
the whole back half of the course was built
in the 100 year old bald cypress trees.
You're zipping through the swamp,
five miles from the beach, I mean you wanna talk
about just an amazing place.
Brand new, just started last year, eight guided ATV tours,
boat tours, no age parameters,
just so many things to do for families.
It's really a great place.
- [Deborah] If you're looking for a more traditional way
to enjoy sport and nature,
the area has some of the best golf in the state.
- In the off season, it's a great time a year
to come down and play golf.
You can basically walk right in
and have an enjoyable round at your own pace.
We're just very close to the beach,
we've got a nice temperature, very comfortable weather,
the courses are in great shape so I encourage you
to come on out.
- [Deborah] And after enjoying a beautiful day outdoors,
we raise our glass to another area attraction.
- When we have visitors come here to Silver Coast Winery,
they are able to do a wine tasting.
This is our Touriga.
This is also known as our Cape Fear blood wine.
We are a European-style winery.
We actually have won over 400 international
and national medals.
On occasion we do just special pairings
and we do a wine and chocolate pairing.
- [Man] And even though it's 70% cocoa
which it doesn't have a whole lotta--
- [Susan] We do wine and cheese pairings,
we've done wine and food pairings,
wine and food pairing dinners.
We have a art gallery here.
We like to focus on local artists.
We are open seven days a week, even in off season,
so they can come in and do a wine tasting
or just buy wine or have a glass of wine.
- Or maybe you have that wine on your porch
by the beach and relax with a good book.
So many things to do or enjoy your time
doing nothing at all.
For more things to do at our southern beaches,
go to: