So I took my water housing in the surf today just to see if it could take the ocean power etc. No camera inside. It did well as expected but I'm still nervous. I mean I'm taking a really expensive camera out in a place where it shouldn't be...the salty powerful ocean. All in all the housing is in very good condition (for being used) and I can't wait for the next swell to roll through so I can put some different pics up on the blog.

I would've taken shots Tuesday but the fog was so thick, all the editing skills in the world wouldn't be able to cut through that haze. On a better note the temperatures have been warming up and it only takes a couple of days for the water to get out of this super cold spell. Can't wait to take off the booties...long way though.

Next clean swell that comes along I'll be out in the water, not with the surfboard but with the camera.

This looks cool...nine timer in 3D


Mike C.

Monday or Tuesday we might see a little bump roll through. Nothing special though.

To fill up my class schedule I decided to take an intro computer graphic design class.

One of our assignments due last week was to create a magazine cover. The main guideline of the assignment was to have a picture of yourself be the main focus of the cover. Everything else was up to us. So here it is..... I just took my wack profile picture from facebook that I've had for ages.

But what I want to do each good swell that comes through, I'd like to make a magazine cover of the best shot I took and put it up on the blog here. Everyone can check out who made the cover for that swell.

Don't be shy you can leave a comment.....it can even be anonymous.........

Mike C.


Had to crop my friends out of the original and blow it up hence it being blurry. Apologies for the lame pose don't have very many pics of myself.


Guess this is the first surf cover. All made up articles.

Nothing to surf means nothing to take pictures of. I guess Monday was an okay day to surf besides the sub 50 degree water and freezing rain. Not worth taking pictures though.

By this time last winter I had a nice wetsuit tan going on and more than content with the swells that came through. El Nino has really messed the east coast up this year. On the other hand it's always cool to look at the positive side of El Nino on Surfline (west coast pictures). Seems like every other day the west coast gets waves like this. Lets keep hoping for some swell on this side.

Mike C.

1130 AM yesterday in Spanish class some kid said the last time he saw snow was 1989. I just laughed being from Massachusetts, home of the Nor'Easter winter storms. Everyone was calling for 3-5" overnight. Personally I wasn't that excited. 3-5" down here means everything closes. Up north 3-5" means nada...everything stays open. 930PM last night the snow started downtown. All of a sudden it was like $100 bills were falling from the sky. Everyone was running outside in some hefty snowfall. It was exciting I admit. When is the next time you're going to see snow down here? 2030?

But of course the storm didn't whip of any surf so all of us are still waiting to get out of this flat spell. Here are some shots of last nights snow.

No tripod and just the 18-55 lens.

Mike C.


Spring St. Downtown


King St Downtown


Waterfront Downtown


The Battery Kinda Blurry


Calhoun and Coming St


Parking Lot


Palm Trees and Snow


Folly Rd Snow (This AM)


Folly Rd (This AM)


This is just down the road from the above picture. Seems like Folly Island mostly got rain. (This AM)


No snow and no waves for Folly. (This AM)

It's been so flat here I've been contemplating a small road trip. But with my school/work schedule its just impossible so the depression sets in. All the forecasts' are garbage. Weather.com is showing hard offshores all week. This winter I've seen the Swellinfo graph completely flat for way too many days.

It seems like all this flatness, I'm talking about weeks of flatness, has been only happening here in southern SC. Florida will have waves when we dont. Maryland will have waves when we dont. Almost the whole east coast will have waves when we dont. At least we dont have to deal with 10' snow drifts.

I guess the only explanation is that we are just too far south for the big nor'easters and we are just too much south facing for the N NW winds weve been getting for months now that give Fla something to work with.

This is what happens when I can't surf/shoot. I go off on tangents. Looks like we might get a slight bump sometime in the near future. Hopefully it's rideable. Also the underwater housing for my camera will be all ready by the end of the month.





It's a couple years old but one of my fave surf videos on Youtube. My Youtube roaming for surf videos is a direct correlation to the flatness here.

Mike C.

As usual the winds howled for a day, winds went off shore overnight, and we had some decent waves Saturday AM. The air temp dropped a lot overnight and it was pretty cold Sat Am. On "film" the waves looked a little small and my fingers were freezing from taking pictures. Once the tide picked up a little it started to look fun so I picked up the board and paddled out with a few guys.

On another note the dunes are in kind of bad shape at the Washout. I mean I haven't seen them like this throughout the four years I've been here. First it was the little wooden dune fences to go along with the dune grass. Then the sand started to erode and expose the rock foundation of the dunes. Now it is just getting worse with every high tide coupled with a nice size swell. Even the walk-overs are getting torn up. Sand pumping in the future? Hope the Washout doesn't get another downgrade like it had after Hugo rolled through (as I'm told).

Depressing forecast for the week ahead...

Mike C.


Broken railing and exposed rocks.




Small but clean. Got bigger but bumpier up until noon.

As you all may know we have some waves on the horizon. I am just hoping this 100% chance of rain for Friday goes away so I can take some pictures. I feel bad I wasn't able to catch the last rideable session and I don't want to miss this one cause of the weather. Saturday looks like it will be a semi-sunny day, lets hope the swell lags around so I can shoot off some pictures.

Apologies for the lack of photos I've been super busy with school and with the lack of swell/uncooperative weather, I just haven't been able to get some quality shots. Don't forget the underwater housing for my camera will be here in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait to get in the water and get some different shots.

Mike C.

The forecast looks promising for the week ahead. School will be impacting my surf/photographing schedule this week. Tuesday is a total mess for me, talking about school. Class impacts my Tuesday from 9 in the morning all the way to around 6 that night with only minimal breaks in between. Good thing is that only happens on a Tuesday. Wednesday looks like the weather and swell might cooperate to provide some good shooting conditions for the early morning hours before my classes. The tides don't look favorable for the afternoon hours. If anyone surfed Saturday you know how the tides affect Folly.

Saturday I was watching the cam all day waiting for the tide to come up so hopefully I could get a few good waves in before dark. All day it looked completely flat than all of a sudden the swell jumped from about knee to stomach-shoulder nuggets in about 30 minutes time. It was a shame the weather was so dreary I would have got out of the water to take some shots but I would have risked the camera getting soaked by the rain/mist.

Anyone who was out at The Washout this past weekend had to notice all the damage the dunes suffered from I'm guessing some high tides and sizeable surf. I've never seen them so chewed up before.

Mike C.


Downtown Connector