Good boating neighborhoods in Charleston.

My daughter lives in Charleston and we have kept the boat there a couple of summers in the past. Very nice dining and lots to do. The water is brown and the beaches in my opinion are not the prettiest. Sullivans island has some beautiful homes that are on a penisula with Charleston harbor on one side and the ICW on the other. Good place for the center console. REgarding dive bars with boat access that would be Shem Creek. The town of Mt Pleasant has a number of homes on water but it is exposed and most are on lifts. That is between Shem creek and the ICW. The traffic to Folly which may go across Daniel is a real problem on summer weekends so keep that in mind.

Agree about the so-so beaches in the Charleston area. Also water is often brown due to tannin from rivers. Beaches are far nicer and water is blue north of Cape Fear in NC. Charleston has excellent urban attractions compared to NC coast, although Wilmington is a decent small city. Charleston is quite hot and humid in summer.

Funny you mentioned Wilmington. We spend a lot to time there. Very pretty and a fair amount to do. Wrightsville
Beach is very nice and many islands nearby to explore and hang out. We chose Wilmington/Wrightsville area over Charleston.

Have an old friend who lives north of Wrightsville in Hampstead. Lovely area, ocean off barrier beaches is pretty blue color. Beach sand is far nicer than the mucky, muddy sand I found on Kiawa Island beach just south of Charleston. I would pick coastal NC over Charleston for sure.

Hampstead the people are god awefully weird. I had several extremely strange experiences with uber and lyft drivers there. Wrightsville is nice but a bit limited in things to do.

As for Charleston. You have to visit Hall's chophouse and Hanks seafood, both excellent.

Myrtle Beach gets my vote...a lot more bang for your $ here and a million things to do. With that budget you are on the ICW in twice the home you would get in Charleston (The Dunes is awesome). PM if you’d like my realtor goddess wife to send you some ideas....

Have you considered Hilton Head?

While there are waterfront homes in Charleston, they're often outside a bit. One option there is to have a nice home and keep the boat at a marina. The waterfront homes that have you on the water, mostly involve covering some distance to open water.

I lived in Charleston for 3 1/2 years. It was a very long time ago so I've nothing to add about neighborhoods but js is right, the summers were brutal.
And that was in the early 70s. What with all the global warming, it must be as hot as the 5th ring of Hades by now!

Market Commons has that vibe in Myrtle Beach-Walk to restaurants, bars, movies, bowling....beautiful area. Walking distance to the beach so the breezes keep the heat tolerable. I like it so much I close on a house there in 2 weeks.

https://www.marketcommonmb.com/

When we wintered in Charleston a couple years ago, we visited the Mount Pleasant area up Shem Creek... might be worth a look...

For our purposes at the time, the City and Ashley Marinas were more suited to vacationing on the peninsula in downtown Charleston...

-Chris

I lived in Charleston City Marina for a few years and although I've traveled the east coast extensively, I don't think there is a better or more interesting place to spend time on that coast as a first or second residence.
To say the weather is miserable in the summer is putting it lightly, but the whole mid-Atlantic region is at least as bad, if not worse, so the choice from Ga to NJ is about the same weather wise.
However, Charleston is a becoming a very cosmopolitan small enclave in the deep south. There is a lot to do on a peninsula that is quite walkable and any and all services one might need are available. The City Marina is one of the best managed, cleanest and regulation-free marinas I've ever been in. Liveaboards were welcome and it is convenient to downtown.
As for beaches, I don't know; don't go. We live aboard a boat 24/7/365 and can't see the slightest attraction to sand at the water's edge. With a nice dink, there are miles and miles of inland waters and rivers to explore and one can even go from marina to very close to the market by boat. Fishing, onshore or off, is pretty good there and during the season you can catch all the fresh shrimp you want right in the harbor. Virtually across the street from the City Marina is MUSC, a fine medical facility.
SC also has very reasonable vessel taxation.