Back to the Beach

Seacrets brings a touch of Jamaica to the Maryland shore

Off the beaten path of big-city clubs, Seacrets in Ocean City, MD, is becoming one of the East Coast's hottest nightspots. Located on a sandy beach on the Atlantic seaboard, Seacrets is an indoor/outdoor club decked out in a tropical Caribbean island theme. Its authentic island look and flavor was inspired by owner Leighton Moore's happy recollections of trips to Jamaica as a youth. “I didn't want to live there so I brought Jamaica up here,” he says. He means this literally. Every spring, Moore brings in palm trees and tropical plants to recreate his island paradise.

Moore is also constantly expanding and upgrading the club and has just completed a major remodel. Dealer Buddy Causey of Shore Audio in Salisbury, MD, who helped design the club's lighting and audio systems, calls Seacrets a work in progress. “Leighton never stops — he's always changing things. He's always got new ideas,” he says.

The club features live bands every day, as well as DJ shows, and is known for two big bashes every month — one on the evening of the full moon called “Lunasea,” and the other during the new moon phase called “The Dark Side Party.” Outdoors there are two stages and a DJ booth, and a dance area on the beach. There's also a true “wet bar” where patrons can float on inflatable rafts in the bay and be served by the wait staff.

In contrast to the laid-back island flavor outdoors, Seacrets' indoor nightclub is fast-paced and sophisticated. The decor features lots of wood to carry through the Caribbean theme, but the dance floor is very high-tech, with a spring-loaded diamond-plated steel dance floor, and a 24"×13" video screen surrounded by 15 American DJ Flash Tube lights.

The indoor lighting package features 20 Elation Color Spot 575 moving-head fixtures. Moore wanted to create cutting-edge concert-style lighting for the remodeled club. “Moving heads are the perfect versatile light for any application,” he says, adding that, with lighting, “you try to buy something that's as far into the future as you can, so that by the time you get everything completed, you don't end up with something that won't give you continuity in your design.” Other indoor effects include American DJ Tempest II/As, American DJ Starballs, and two Elation MB-1200 fog machines, all controlled with an Elation Show Designer controller.

The beach area has its own Show Designer controller. Lighting fixtures are positioned on a speaker and light tower across from the stage, with four American DJ X-Tremes located behind the stage and run with an X-Treme/C controller. “The little X-Treme controller is easy to operate from the DJ booth,” explains Causey. With the Show Designer on the beach, “they're doing more scene work than shows. They use lighting to highlight the band and also pan it down on the beach when they're dancing or having contests,” says Causey.

With its mix of laid-back beach ambiance, spring-loaded dance floor, and new lighting system indoors and out, Seacrets is a colorful tropical cocktail that packs a punch.

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SEACRETS