Hi am going to south carolina,Charleston area for trip & was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on good paddling locations…love ocean, but not big wave/surf action; the more remote the better.
bulls bay
The kids and I went kayaking up the intercoastal waterway and out into Bulls bay. We saw oyster beds, shell mounds, and a manatee. The manatee was traveling south in the intercoastal waterway. We were there around the end of July.
bulls bay
I’ve heard of bulls bay; sounds wonderful…thanks for the info!
…
Also Caper’s Island can be done as a day or overnight trip…see the trip report below:
http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?710
I already got yelled at for being so hard on the powerboaters…so you don’t have to yell at me 
BeachAV8R
Highly recommend the Caper’s trip
– Last Updated: Apr-25-04 11:33 AM EST –
wich can be done in a day. Also, paddling Charleston Harbor is great.Coastal expeditions has a great map of area trips.
http://www.coastalexpeditionsmaps.com/
McCellanvile
I used to live near there,it’s on the edge of Bull’s bay and the neatest shrimping village you’ve seen,public boat ramp, friendly locals and less than a half mile down or up the ditch you would swear you were 100 miles from civilization,take bug spray,the skeeters ate the size of swallows.
caper’s
Thanks for the info…sounds like a great paddle.
Ha! No argument here about the powerboaters!
caper’s again
Second person recommending caper’s…will have to go. I’ve heard all good things about Coastal Expeditions…will check them out when I’m down there…thanks for the information!
McClellanville
I thought this sounded like a lovely area…and you can acess bull’s bay, which has been recommended. Thanks for this info!
Mclellanville, etc.
Be careful where you park, the boat landing now requires a permit ($100/year, but they may sell you a temporary permit). You can probably launch at the ramp and park in the small city hall lot, or on the street. It is a good ways down the channel from Mclellanville to Bull Bay, and the tide usually runs fairly fast on the SC coast, make sure you have the tide with you, especially coming back.
http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow.cgi?site=Five+Fathom+Creek+entrance%2C+South+Carolina
Sandy point, the bit of land at the entrance to five fathom creek, is a great place to get out and walk the beach and pick up shells.
South of Mclellanville maybe 5 or 6 miles is the Buck Hall ramp and campground. the channel to Bull Bay is very shallow at the entrance, you should be wearing thick sole water shoes on any SC coast trip to keep from getting all cut up by the oyster shells. A little further South is Moore’s Landing, the one you want if you plan to go out to Bull Is, a great trip. You should have a chart and compass because at boat level, you cannot easily tell which channel is the main one, and there are lots of side channels. Also, it is difficult to find the entrance to the channel leading to Buck Hall, from the bay it all looks like marsh. be carefull where you step out of the boat, the bottom will be either silt or sand, if it is silt it might as well be quicksand.
Some notes on Five Fathom Creek ( you don’t have to have a chart here, the channel has markers)
http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/tsarchives4/index.cgi?read=239217
james island county park
very beautiful, there is a dock that has access to beautiful salt marsh creeks and inland waterway. also a lake , swimming pool in summer, 50’ climbing wall, primitive and motor camping. i also like the back side of folly beach, its somewhat protected, theres a couple of ramps and you can paddle out into the ocean if its not too rough. or you can launch through the surf on the ocean side. there are countless opportunities in the area. and try to stop in at the mediterranean deli for a great meal.
buck hall
glad to hear the Buck hall landing is operational again,I had a house near shellmore, next door ,back in 89’, after Hugo all that was left was the concrete slab.Buck hall was ground zero for the Hurricane,that area was under 18 ft of water that night. the pine trees were twisted like lawn grass under a weedeater, but I learned valuable lessons, Liquer bottles,gas cans ,float; many essentials can be found in the high water line if you’re willing to pick past debris and dead pelicans…we found fish a half mile inland,save your pictures most everything else can be replaced…
reply from Dwight
Hello…thanks very much for this valuable info…the Moore’s Landing site sounds like it would be better for me.
Happy sailing!
Joanne
Reply from Danny
Hi & much thanks for this info…food recommendations especially appreciated! I see you also go out around Hunting Island. Do you think it’s quieter/more remote in that area than the SC coast?
Thanks,
Joanne
yes, less developed around beaufort
the ‘low country’ is full of paddling opportunities including the ace basin, edisto, combahee, ashepoo rivers, hunting island state park etc etc beaufort county is mostly islands and salt marsh. i feel that i’m in the wilds whenever i’m in a salt marsh creek even if its right in front of my trailer. one of my favorite places is station creek landing off lands end road, st helena island. from there you can paddle for miles in creeks and larger estuaries and out to the ocean between uninhabited islands. this estuary system can also be accessed from hunting island state park, a nearly undeveloped barrier island and sc’s most popular park. feel free to call or write if you decide to come down to beaufort!
map
string - looked at the site - thinking about ordering - is the paper quality good, or will it fall apart like most road maps =:-/ - OR - is there a quality book about SC paddling that would include maps - thanks - john