In the age of cell phones and instant satellite communications, it’s often difficult to truly get away from it all—unless, of course, you head to Bulls Island, a 1.5-by-6-mile spit of sand and salt marsh just off the coast of Awendaw.
The 30-minute ferry ride to the largest of the four barrier islands in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge might as well be a 1,000-year trip back in time. And in this case, the journey really is part of the destination. Boat captains take the scenic route and don’t mind a detour to make sure passengers get an up-close view of dolphins hunting in the estuaries or of orange-billed oyster catchers combing the mud for mollusks.
“It’s a one-of-a-kind place,” says Chris Crowley, captain of the Island Cat and owner of Coastal Expeditions, the guide service that transports kayakers, backpackers, birdwatchers and beachcombers to Bulls Island for day-long visits. “It probably would be developed if it wasn’t so hard to get to.”
The interior of the island features 16 miles of hiking trails and enough freshwater creeks and ponds to support a wide range of flora and fauna, including oak, cedar and palmetto trees and alligators, bobcats and white-tail deer. Bulls Island was even home to a successful red wolf conservation and breeding project until 2005, when the animals were relocated to Alligator River Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina.
There’s also a 7-mile stretch of beach that serves as South Carolina’s largest loggerhead turtle nesting area. It’s teeming with a variety of shells, sand dollars, sharks’ teeth and starfish— perfect for beachcombers. Photographers won’t want to miss Boneyard Beach on the north end of the island, so named for the twisted fallen trees that have been bleached white by the sun and salt water.
Tidal creeks flow through the island, providing a scenic playground for kayakers, but for bird watchers there’s no better perch than the wildlife observation tower. It provides a panoramic view of the salt marshes that are home to more than 277 species of birds, including egrets, herons, eagles and hawks.
Birding is what drew Pete and Bess Roche of Chicago to Bulls Island. “I Googled ‘bird watching’ and ‘South Carolina’ and it popped up,” says Pete Roche. “I’m glad we found it. It’s a beautiful place.”
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Get There
Take U.S. Highway 17 to Awendaw (22 miles north of Charleston) and follow signs to Garris Landing.
Ferry service to the island runs on Tuesdays,
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, departing at 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and returning at noon and 4 p.m. The cost is $40 for adults, $12 for children 12 and under.
Reservations are required and can be made by calling Coastal Expeditions at (843) 884-7684 or via email at info@coastalexpeditions.com.
For more information on touring the island, visit coastalexpeditions.com. For details on the history of Bulls Island and more information on the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, visit fws.gov/caperomain.