USVI-On-Line

We took a short trip (Sat - Thurs) to Charleston SC last week. It's beautiful!

This trip actually began in St. John, when our friend Ed (who was with us in STJ) asked "who wants to go to Charleston?" Ed co-founded a destination travel company, and it owns a house there. Ed's the hero of this trip because he got us into this beautiful house! 3 floors of gorgeousness, with 2 big verandas, a kickin' kitchen, pool table, bikes, and lots of space.


I loved the center stairway. Here's a shot from the 3rd floor landing looking down:


We had 10 people total: a family from Colorado (son age 12); family from upstate NY (son age 13); and our family (daughter 11, son 9). These are great friends and it was so nice to spend some time with them!

Beaches: The beaches down there are great and very different than what I'm used to. They are very broad and flat, and the sand is packed really hard - so hard that people ride bikes along the beach! (We did that in Kiawah - pretty fun.) The packed sand means that when the wind blows, you don't get blasted by the sand. Because they're so flat, the tide comes up pretty fast, so we would move our stuff a couple times in the afternoon. There's no shade, so it can get really hot. An umbrella helps, but it's hard to get the umbrella stick into that hard packed sand without a shovel. The flatness of the beaches is really nice for swimming with kids. You can go out a long way before it gets over your head. And the water was really warm - warmer than I would have expected. All in all, I thought the beaches were terrific.

We picked up some nice big boogie boards at the grocery store - gotta love Piggly Wiggly! The kids had a blast with them.

Sunday: Folly Beach. A bit crowded in the afternoon so it was probably our least favorite of the ones we visited, but it was still very nice.


Monday: Sullivans Island - a wonderful beach. No facilities, at least not that we saw, but a big, flat stretch of nice sand.


The bridge that you cross to get to Mt. Pleasant and beyond is really lovely.



Tuesday: Kiawah Island. Ed's travel company owns a couple of places on Kiawah, so he got us day passes to park at one of the houses. (In an area called Night Heron, I think?) The beach was beautiful, but I forgot my camera that day. D'oh.

Tuesday night we did the Ghost and Dungeon tour. It poured rain - really poured. It seemed appropriate for a spooky tour! We enjoyed it and I was really glad I had my Keens on, as we walked through some major, ankle deep puddles.

Wednesday: still raining, so the dads took the kids to the aircraft carrier, submarine, etc., while the moms did a walking tour. I was glad for the rain, as we were nice and cool, and if it was nice out I would have wanted to be at the beach.

Wednesday night was amazing: a friend of Ed's has a son in the Air Force, stationed at Charleston Air Force Base. We had him (Joe) over for dinner, then he took a bunch of us to the AFB and we went on the flight simulator! That was amazing! Everyone got to "fly" for awhile and we had a great time. (No cameras allowed, so you'll have to use your imagination.) We only had the motion on for a short time (to save our stomachs), but even with just the visuals on, you really feel like you're moving. It was so cool and I was really happy that the kids got to experience it.

Thursday: Isle of Palms. Possibly our favorite beach, although Sullivan's Island is up there too. We parked in the County Park lot - small fee, and there are nice showers and restrooms there at the entrance to the beach.


Fun waves for boogie boarding at IOP:


Critters: We saw some small sharks (3 - 4 feet) close the shore a couple of times. I saw the fins but not much else, so I don't know what kind they were. The kids saw a small, black dolphin (?) once, and we saw a gator on Kiawah. Cool.

Food: You foodies out there will be very disappointed in me! We ate out one lunch, and that's it! We'd pack lunch every day for the beach, and for dinner we had more fun staying at the house. The dining room was big enough for us all to sit together (below), and after dinner the kids could play pool or watch the Olympics while the adults had beverages on the veranda. We shopped at Harris Teeter (weird name, nice store) on Bay Street. Good fresh seafood and produce and good prices.


Charleston is beautiful! I'd love to go back.

Glad you-all enjoyed South Carolina, we really like it too (been here 5 years).

We just got back from Seabrook Island (next to Kiawah) and we loved it (again).

We saw two Bonnethead sharks and dolfins off the beach, went crabbing and caught blu crabs and went fishing too. We also went to Charleston for lunch at Bubba Gump's.

I think my favorite part is driving through the grand old southern oaks and other trees with the canopies of spanish moss....that's when we know we are close to Kiawah and Seabrook...

We forgot our camera all together....double d'oh!

Thank you for the report. What wonderful beaches!
And I learned something new. I thought Charlestone only was a dance, so I had to "Google" it.

Linne

As I've said before, I love Charleston and the surrounding beaches. Thanks for the report. But, I was really hoping to see some Kiawah spots.

Guess I'll just have to go see it all myself. Thanks for the post.

So glad you enjoyed your trip! I'm jealous of the gorgeous house.

Thanks for the report!

Thanks for sharing.

I was lucky enough to spend a good bit of time in Charleston and Isle of Palms while in college. Haven't been back since but have great memories of the place.

sherban wrote:I think my favorite part is driving through the grand old southern oaks and other trees with the canopies of spanish moss....that's when we know we are close to Kiawah and Seabrook...

Yes! I love driving through the canopy of trees with all the moss hanging down. So beautiful and serene, and you feel like you have gone back in time.

pjayer: the beach at Kiawah was alot like the others -- broad and flat, very nice sand with no rocks. We had a longer walk to that beach (just under 1/2 mile), but a big wagon from the house where we parked made the schlepping easier. Like you said, you'll just have to go see for yourself! I'm sure you'll love it.

As a native South Carolinian, I am so glad you enjoyed our beautiful and "best mannered" city. There is so much to see and do in Charleston! Although I live in the Upstate of SC, it is an easy weekend trip. I never tire of visiting.

We too were in Charleston during the time you
were! It is also one of our favorite places. Sullivan's Island is our favorite beach. It looks like you were very near us in the photo showing the lighthouse. Did you see the wonderful shallow tide pools that everyone was playing in ( including my hubby and me)? He to saw a shark swimming near him on one visit and decided it was time to get out of the ocean and back to tide pool. If you ever go back, go over to the Charlestown Landing State Park.

It is the original settlement for the colony before developing the now Charleston site. It is a great day
trip ! Joanybelle, I to am from the Upstate of S.C. for the past 40yrs now. Sherban, Have you ever been over to Devil's Fork St.Park? There is a lake there called JOCASSEE that is to die for, we camp and boat there alot!


Sherry from S.C.

Hey Sherry- I haven't been to Devil's Fork or Jocassee yet. We took the kids for a hike in Paris Mtn a few weeks ago... We might try a day trip to Devil's Fork or Table Rock this fall...

We live in the Greenville area so the upper corner of SC and the lower side of NC are all pretty close...

My daughter is only 6 so we keep the family hiking light for now...if ya know what I mean...

Cheers-

philbetm, I've been to Lake Jocassee and Devil's Fork several times--mostly on and under the water scuba diving. The last time I was there was last summer. I'll probably visit again before winter. It's been a busy summer!

philbetm wrote:
...It looks like you were very near us in the photo showing the lighthouse. Did you see the wonderful shallow tide pools that everyone was playing in ( including my hubby and me)? ...

How cool that we were there at the same time! We did take a short walk and saw the tidepools, which were fun to see. However, my son apparently was a fish in a former life, and it's hard to get him out of the water for more than a quick bite to eat. So the kids stayed in the water and I was either in there with them or watching them, for 99% of the day!

DELETED

Hubby and I are heading there next month and it sounds like many of you know the area. I am very excited about the idea of riding a bike on the beach. Can't do that in St John. Since the Chicagoans ate in, I missed the food
reports, although I do look forward to shopping in a place called Piggly Wiggly. Does anyone have any favorite places to eat in the area? We are staying in Isle of Palm but plan on exploring Charleston and all the surrounding areas.