Baileys Beach (SC)

 This photo of my mother was taken about 1957. Maybe the summer after I was born. It was taken at Bailey's Beach , S.C. (Dig those sexy shorts !) 

My aunts family and ours would rent cottages on the river and spend most of our summers there. 

I learned how to swim at the neighborhood pool, but I "really" learned how to swim after my cousin pushed me off the dock! 

We would tie ski belts to a rope and lock the ski belt around our waist and jump in. The ski belt kept the tide from sweeping us out to sea. We would drift out on the outgoing tide and then use the rope to pull ourselves back to the dock. 

I also learned to swim in my Keds so I could avoid barnacles! Have you ever been scraped by barnacles in salt water? Believe me, NOT FUN ! 

I don't remember being scared of sharks, but this was before "Jaws". 

We caught shrimp in nets off the dock, pinched heads, cooked and ate our shrimp for supper. You just can't get much fresher seafood than that. 

The cottages didn't have air conditioning. but most of the time, there was a breeze off the water, Sometimes at night, we could hear music coming from down the river. 

There was a family of boys that owned an oyster house a few docks down, and sometimes, when we girls were laying out on the dock to get a tan ( a sunburn, in my case),we'd feel the SPLAT of a raw oyster land in the small of our back. Yuk ! 

I think that's why I cannot eat oysters to this day. They remind me of a big wad of snot! 

Well, now that i have ruined oysters for you, I am ending my memoirs there.