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If you are staying north of 10th Street almost all side street parking is free and generally available (it is available, but hardest to find on Saturdays). You can park there for multiple days or nights at a time and it is very safe. Just check the signs as some streets have a morning or afternoon where parking is not allowed due to trash pickup or street cleaning. I've parked on side streets for multiple days many times with no issues.

You can park in the handicapped spots on these side streets for free, also for multiple days.

Have a great trip to OC!

If the operator is handicapped, he or she can use a motorized wheelchair or scooter on the boardwalk. If not handicapped, one cannot ride powered devices on the boardwalk. Scooters (non motorized) can be ridden during bike riding hours listed below:

There are no health clubs in OC with swimming pools and hotels don't sell passes or allow access to non guests. However, just west of OC, across the Route 90 bridge is Ocean Pines. They sell pool passes to Ocean Pines sells daily passes to several of their pools including the Sports Core Pool and Mumford's Landing Pool.

You can rent from any of the rental boxes along the beach. They are generally blue or white boxes just to the east of the sand dunes and are spaced every block or two. You can't miss them. Umbrellas are about $15 a day or $67 a week. They will setup and take down for you. Chairs are about $8 a day and $36 a week. Below is a picture of one of these boxes from 2011 and list of prices from the box at 65th Street from a couple of summers ago. Prices vary a little season to season and vendor to vendor, but not a lot.




Have fun in OC! 

27th Street Bike rentals is on the boardwalk across 27th Street from the Dunes Motel (less than 1 block south of the Dunes Motel). You can call them at 410.289.6022. You can get a longer list of bike rental places here.

The times where riding is allowed on the boardwalk are shown below:

May places require 3 night stays, but these places sometimes will allow shorter stays:

Not a lot of places will rent for just one night, but here are a few that routinely will:

The Castle in the Sand Oceanfront and ocean block buildings at 37th Street (800.552.7263)

The Majestic on the boardwalk at 6th Street (410.289.6262)

Comfort Suites in West OC on Route 50 (410.213.7171)

You can also call places just ahead of your trip and if places have vacancies they may do a one night stay.

Have a great weekend in OC!

You are undoubtedly thinking of the great sandcastles by Randy Hofman and yes, he s still there making these great works of art. You can find them in front of the Plim Plaza just south of 2nd Street. You can often see them on the Plim Plaza's webcam here (select Sand Sculptures to steer the camera to them).

I am not sure what the Univited Shark is, perhaps you can provide more detail in another question (a band? drink? bar?), but I know of nothing with this name in OC. However, when I'm in the water I consider all sharks uninvited! They probably feel the same way about me!

The old tower was washed away by Hurricane Irene last August. The new tower is owned and maintained by the US Coast Guard as a navigational aid. The one in place now is intended to be temporary and to be replaced by a more permanent one that will better withstand the storms it will undoubtedly face. If you want to request a return of the fog horn I suggest you contact the Coast Guard Station in OC (410.289.1905)  or the OC Public Works Department (410.524.7715) as both will likely have a role in establishing the permanent replacement.

However, since you miss the sound of the fog horn, I have great news for you. Fellow Insider Bill F. created a CD that features the Sounds of Ocean City. It includes a recording of the Fog Horn. You can find out more about that CD here and can buy it at various places around town, including at the Lifesaving Museum.

There are entrances to the beach across the sand dunes at the east end of pretty much every numbered street in OC, including 144th. See the image below for the entrance at 144th. The lifeguards' specific locations vary a bit, but you will see a lifeguard within a block or so of the 144th street entrance to the beach.