Holden Beach Adventures

One of my good friends, Jayna, from Huntington came down the first week of June. Her and her boyfriend, Glenn, brought their camper down and stayed in Holden Beach, NC. They had a great little setup and Jayna made it homey and super cute.

The best part about Holden Beach is driving over the large bridge to get over to the island. Once you get to the top you can see all of the Intracoastal Waterway and the ocean. It’s beautiful.

The drive is about an hour from the south end of Myrtle Beach. But it doesn’t seem that long. I stopped at McDonald’s for some breakfast and I had packed my Yeti for the day with my lunch, snacks, and drinks.

Once I got over into Holden, they had already setup on the beach. They have a nice public access with pretty good parking right off the bridge (bathrooms and showers are a little past the parking lot).

The beach has definitely seen some erosion from last falls hurricanes. There was a steep step down to get your chairs close to the ocean. And it’s very very windy there. Holden doesn’t have many hotels or condos. It is mostly rental houses.

Jayna and Glenn scoped out most of the places to eat and the local go tos.

Once Glenn fished a bit and we tanned and got caught up with each other we left the beach and had some Italian ice. Right beside the public access parking lot are two buildings: one for ice cream and one for Italian ice. We opted for the latter at Sunset Slush of Holden Beach. It was delicious. They will swirl together any flavors. (We went there both days I visited 🤗)

Evidently there are not many decent restaurants actually on Holden Beach. They ate at the Seafood Barn a couple of times but it is on the mainland. Their breakfast go to was the Purple Onion Cafe. Jayna loved their grits.

So the first night I visited we decided to go to Inlet View Bar & Grill at Hughes Marina. It’s definitely a drive and actually in Shallotte, NC. The drive is very scenic and way back on an inlet. It’s a massive restaurant with three levels so it will be packed in the summer I’m sure. There was a bit of a wait so we went to the top deck to look at the view.

We were seated outside so we had a great view. I got the crab dip appetizer which was delicious. And the the shrimp and homemade chips as my entree. It was really good. They definitely didn’t slack on giving ranch or any other condiment you might need.

The second day we went to the beach and found some great shells. A lot of, what I call, barrel shells and the curly q shells.

Jayna had already found the cutest local gift shop ever, Sugar Britches. They carry a lot of local artist items, Holden Beach clothing, and some home accents. I was in love with everything. Every time you walk in, they greet you with “Welcome Sugar Britches”!! Super cute!

She had several what looked like stained glass hanging in the window. It actually ended up being pieces made out of resin with sand and buttons making the design. The artist was out of Wilmington, Doodad Mosaics by Autumn Wilkins. I bought the sand dollar piece.

Jayna found some really cute things to make a nautical wall. This is Zac – he was so helpful – we loved him.

So that night we trekked out to Ocean Isle Beach for dinner. I had never been over there and really didn’t get a chance to explore it. But it was another large bridge to get over to the island. We ate at the Ocean Isle Fish Company which was right off the bridge. It was huge! It was rainy but luckily they had a Tiki Bar on the third floor which was covered. If you sit up there they have a walk up bar where you order food and drinks but no wait service.

The views were magnificent! They had places for kids to play and an awesome gift shop. You can also buy fishing gear and do fishing charters.

Me and Jayna split the Seafood Alfredo. It was filled with shrimp, lobster, scallops, clams, you name it. It was delicious!! Glenn got the fresh catch with a crab cake! My next visit I’m definitely trying the seafood nachos cause they looked amazing!

On Friday, they came down to Myrtle to spend the day. We drove around and didn’t have much of a plan. They wanted to check out Ocean Lakes Campground! OMG is all I can say. We had to check in, give our drivers license, license plate number, and had to be back in an hour or it would be a $10 charge!

It’s seriously like a little town in there. They have their own grocery store, food, laundry mat, golf cart rental, etc. It was packed. It was definitely not for us haha!

We did some shopping at Coastal Grand. Always have to look at Palmetto Moon and Dazzle Up (Simply Southern shirts for $5.99)!

We decided on Lulu’s for dinner. It’s Jimmy Buffett’s sister’s restaurant and located in North Myrtle at Barefoot Landing. It’s great for kids or large parties. They always have live music, they have a big sand area for kids, gift shop, and water views.

I always get the crab toast or the crab melt. It’s amazing. They have really good onion rings as well as a great drink menu. They also have separate menus for gluten and other specific allergies (they have no peanut issues).