SOUTH CAROLINA COASTLINE STILL UNDER SIEGE …
Jellyfish may be out of the headlines … but they’re not out of the water along the South Carolina coast.
Like a lot of other media outlets, we wrote a pair of articles earlier this month (here and here) detailing the jellyfish invasion.
Weeks later, the siege is showing no signs of stopping …
“You were right about the jellyfish,” one recent visitor to Myrtle Beach, S.C. told us.
In fact this source told us they were among those stung by the invading horde last weekend.
“Thankfully it was a mild sting and I found out they aren’t a problem in the mornings (which is when I went out to swim instead of the afternoons on this trip),” the source told us.
And what about the afternoons?
“I took the kids to (the Second Avenue) pier midday one day and when we looked over the edge at the end of the pier the ocean was FILLED with them … like every 5-10 feet spacing on average,” the source said.
Yikes …
It’s been a rough year for the coastal tourism economy. The area has been plagued by problems related to dirty water, dirtier politicians, high crime, a drug epidemic and higher taxes.
There are also serious questions regarding the recent flood of Chinese investment in the area – to say nothing of the Grand Strand’s long-term sustainability as a tourism destination.
One report estimates that the Myrtle Beach area will see two million fewer visitors in 2016 than it did last year – although that figure obviously has yet to be confirmed.