Ocean City in the Off-Season

Ocean City, Maryland, is a very popular ocean-side destination in the summer months, and our friends from Harrisburg, PA, who we were staying with raved about it being their favourite summer escape. The resort town sits on a strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Isle of Wight Bay. There are miles of golden sand and a wooden boardwalk offering many restaurants, shops and accommodation. At the southern end of the Boardwalk, there's Trimper’s Rides theme-park which has been offering entertainment since 1893, and houses one of the oldest carousels in the World. The waters on either side of the strip play host to hundreds of kayaks and tour boats, alongside swimmers and bathers. In the height of summer, you cannot move on the boardwalk for other holiday-makers. The beaches are packed with people, umbrellas, blankets, sand castles and laughter. The hotels, streets and parking areas are all full. It's a very social, energetic place to be.

We, however, visited in the off-season, just a few days after the New Year. We found a very different Ocean City, and we loved it!

We were recommended a hotel at the Northern end of the boardwalk, with an ocean view from every room. When entering the Dunes Manor Hotel you are first greeted with a Titanic-style staircase, which you have to ascend to visit reception. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and had a choice of which floor we would prefer to live on.

On our first night, we chose to go to a local bar for local drinks and food. The Pit & Pub on 28th Street is a two-minute walk from the hotel and serves good food and a decent selection of drinks. As beer, lager, ale and cider all taste differently in different places, we like to sample the local offerings whenever we can. We share our pictures of these different alcohols on our Instagram page @world_alcohols. The bar was very quiet and perfect for getting a seat at the bar and watching ice hockey on the TV screens.

Facing East meant that we saw the sunrise from our bed the next morning.

Having woken early to a beautiful day, we had a gloriously hot shower and got dressed up in our winter clothes to walk the boardwalk. No bikinis at this time of year! There were very few people about and there was a tranquil, peaceful feeling beside the empty beaches and the boarded up holiday rentals. As we walked from one end of the boardwalk to the other, there were only a handful of businesses open and we could take as many photographs as we liked without having to wait for many people to clear out of the way.

After spending the morning walking up and down the empty streets and really taking in the city, we drove up the highway to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. There was much more of a town feel here and many shops, restaurants and bars were open, with a bustle of people and activity. It really is worth taking the drive to see the difference. The drive itself is very picturesque, with huge houses on either side. Some of the rows of houses sitting perpendicular to the main road had roads out front and seawater inlets to the back. Who wouldn't want to live there!

For our second and final night, we chose to go to the world famous Original Greene Turtle bar. This bar has been a popular drinking hole since 1976, and even in the off-season all the tables were full and there was a buzzing atmosphere. Sitting at the bar, enjoying the local beers, we got chatting to the barman who told us where the best action happens on a Friday night.

Seacrets is a Jamaican styled venue containing their own distillery, three bars/ dance floors, and a waterfront packed with in-water seating. On the night that we went, there was a DJ playing in one of the bars until 2 am. The floor was covered with sand and it really felt like we were hanging out on a covered beach. The distillery started making spirits in 1933, and was the first distillery to open in Worcester County after the end of Prohibition.

Seacrets Distilling Company produces many spirits including spiced, gold and coconut rums, flavoured vodkas, gin, bourbon and American whiskey. Being a runner and a liker of rum, I chose to have a rum runner cocktail, which is a frozen fruity mix of blackberry and banana liqueurs with a gold rum. I can highly recommend this drink and can totally imagine sitting in the water in my bikini on a summers day with chill-out tunes banging in the background.

We finished our stay off the following morning with a run along the empty boardwalk. There were just a few couples and some dog walkers out enjoying the solitude. The 1/4 mile markers and the signs for every block mean that you know exactly where you are every step of the way. The boardwalk is totally flat, except for a tiny, short incline at the southern end. At this time of year, pb's are a definite possibility.

If you want a quiet getaway in the winter, to breathe in the fresh sea air, meet the locals, and see what life is really like in an oceanside town, Ocean City is the place for you.