BUNDRICK ISLAND, SC
The rules may be tighter, but Memorial Day on Bundrick Island didn’t seem much different from previous holiday weekends at the Lake Murray beach known as the spot to park your boat for day of fun in the sun.
By midday, dozens of boats lined the beach on either side of this lake island northwest of downtown Lexington, with more anchored farther out. Groups of young people beached themselves next to families building sandcastles, as the thin strip of sand between the water and woodline quickly filled with portable grills, unleashed dogs and, despite new regulations from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, the more than occasional alcoholic beverage.
DNR, which maintains Bundrick Island, has enacted new regulations this summer that ban drinking on the beach or elsewhere on the island, along with all-terrain vehicles, hunting and concealed weapons.
Signs posted on both beaches announce the new regulations, but few visitors to the island, including those who have come to these beaches for years, seemed aware of those rules, and none had read the signs.
When informed that alcohol is now only allowed below the high water mark in keeping with South Carolina boating laws, Tyler M., beer in hand, sheepishly and slowly stepped backwards off the beach until he was back in the surf next to his boat.
“I mean, it makes sense,” he said, now ankle deep in the lake. “It can mess up the beach. Not everybody brings trash bags like we do, and they’re too lazy to clean up after themselves.”
A spokesperson for DNR pointed out that DNR agents would be unable to issue tickets even on the beach as long as a person is standing below the high water mark.
The lack of trash cans on the beach was a common complaint among boaters. A wooded trail between the east and west sides of the island, otherwise a perfect haunt for wildlife from toads to deer, was defaced with more than one torn plastic bag overflowing with beer bottles.
“When SCE&G ran the island, there were more trash cans out here,” said one long-time beachgoer who only identified himself as Kaleb G. “It really added value to the space. I guess they didn’t want to come empty them out every Monday.”
Regular beachgoers on Bundrick Island know the informal divide between the thin sandy beaches on either side of the island — the west side for family outings, the east for parties. But on Memorial Day, the main difference between the two was that the east side was more crowded and had louder music. Families and children were well-represented on both.
DNR reported issuing five tickets in and around Bundrick Island over the holiday weekend, mostly for boating violations and none for alcohol-related breaches.
Monday was slightly overcast, and many of the regulars said the beaches had been even more packed Saturday and Sunday as the summer boating season unofficially got underway.
Bundrick has built up a regular community of visitors over the years, with many boating to the island during their student days and coming back every summer. Some start on the party side of the island and move over to the sunset side when they get married and have kids.
“You see new people every time, but also a lot of these are the same groups,” Furman Walker said, surveying the scene once boats had beached themselves everywhere there was sand, and four motorboats had lashed themselves together just off shore.
Jeff Huston was one of the longer-term beach visitors on Monday. A Texas transplant, he started coming to Bundrick Island in 1998 when he and his wife bought property on the lake. He came out with his grandchildren for a Memorial Day outing.
“It’s like a big party, but it’s mellow,” Huston said.
The Hustons were getting snacks from Sun Dogs of Lake Murray, a roving food boat that routinely parks at Bundrick Island to sell ice cream and hot dogs to beachgoers on the lake’s busiest days. Owner Tom Shealy said he and his wife, Langley, have been operating the business for five years, since former Sun Dogs owner Steve Jones sold them the boat when he decided to retire after nearly a decade plying Lake Murray’s waters.
Elsewhere, Valery Fisher sat on her father’s pontoon boat drinking pineapple vodka out of a mason jar. A friend had recommended the drink to her, but she wasn’t really enjoying it.
“It just burns a lot is the only thing,” Fisher said.
The beach continues to attract newer visitors as well. Carson and Savannah Durham were on the beach for the first time Monday while down from Spartanburg visiting Savannah’s brother. They said they had ridden by the beach a time or two before in his boat, but there had already been too many boats on the beach for them to stop.
“Today we got here early to find a spot,” Savannah said.
Jack and Dan Brunson came even farther to experience Bundrick Island. Both had recently moved to South Carolina from New York and enjoyed the view of the lake while Dan’s 3-year-old son, Zackie, walked around the beach carrying a piece of driftwood and speaking into it like a cellphone.
“Just through word of mouth, you hear that Lake Murray is the place to be in the summer,” Jack said. “It’s beautiful. This feels like what I’ve been missing all my life.”
Besides the posted signs, The State didn’t see any efforts to enforce the new drinking regulations while on the beach Memorial Day, but as the reporter was on the way off the island, a DNR-marked vehicle passed through the otherwise locked gate onto the island from the mainland, accompanied by three Lexington County sheriff’s cars.
This story was originally published May 29, 2024 5:30 AM.
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