The boardwalk is a different place in winter.
The usual joggers and bike riders stay home. They stay home in another city. The city streets are lined with beach houses with realtor signs out front and the countless motels are all closed. The amusement parks are all locked and the Ferris wheel looked frozen and rusted.
I parked in one of many open spaces next to “the Ocean Gallery.” The outside of which, sports claims of celebrity visits, cheap art, and an impressively large Michael Jackson memorial. Out front are palm trees lamenting that they weren’t planted in a tropical clime, the boardwalk, and rows and rows of comfortable benches; all of which face the store fronts and not the beach.
I have been known to make midwinter polar bear plunges into the ocean… in South Carolina, I did no such thing in Maryland.
Brohammas 
So many cool field trips of late. Ryan and I would love to see Rockwell’s studio one day. Thanks for the picture of Kahalia. (Ah, I miss her!) Glad you had enough sense not to take the polar bear dip.
I have seen Canadians swimming in our southern waters in March. I suppose it is a welcome relief to them or some such thing but GOOD GRIEF! There aren’t any decent fish in the water at that time at all and that should tell you all you need to know about the water temperature.
I have lived in North Carolina all my life and spent time at both North and South Carolina shores; even had a house in Carolina Beach at one time. We went down there in the winter to visit friends, let the dogs run loose on the beach and not wait in line at restaurants. Swimming comes in June–if then but each to his own.