The must-see superstar of the Carolina coast is the loveable, always entertaining Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Local outfitters offer a number of ways to get out in the creeks, rivers and ocean where you’ll find the marine mammals feeding and frolicking. Among the options are kayaks, cruising yachts, inflatable Zodiacs, sailboats and Jet Skis.
With Thomas Outdoors Water Sports in Myrtle Beach, you get a double dose of excitement – riding a personal watercraft and seeing dolphin. The two-hour Seadoo tour sets sail from Anchor Marina with a stop at Bird Island before heading out to the ocean. Led by an experienced guide, you’ll ride alongside a shrimp boat, watching for dolphins which often follow the trawlers in hopes of a free meal.
Cost of the dolphin tour is $145 for a single rider, $5 each for up to two more riders. Riders must be at least 30 pounds.
Designed to introduce visitors to Hilton Head Island’s coastal ecology and cultural heritage, the museum features indoor and outdoor exhibits, interactive stations, a 1,200-square-foot butterfly enclosure, self-guided tours of the 68-acre historic plantation and a dozen different “walk” and “talk” programs.
Among the most popular on-site tour is “Salt Marsh Discovery,” a 90-minute nature walk that takes visitors on the museum’s three boardwalks overlooking Jarvis Creek.
The tour docent will pull up traps and plastic crates from the creek’s brackish waters to reveal a sampling of the organisms that make their home in the marsh, such as sea squirts, ghost shrimp, stone crabs, barnacles, mussels, clams and blue crabs. Participants also will learn how to throw a cast net from the dock.
On “Beach Discovery,” visitors will explore the seashore near the Folly.
“Salt Marsh Discovery” costs $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 4 to 12. “Beach Discovery” is $12 for adults, $7 for children.
Next to dolphins, alligators are the next most popular wildlife attraction in the Lowcountry. If you want to see the prehistoric-looking reptiles from the safety of a boat, take a tour with H2O Sports.
The Hilton Head Island outfitter offers one-hour guided trips on the freshwater lakes of the Sea Pines Forest Preserve. Traveling in a covered 12-passenger electric boat, guests will have the opportunity to see a variety of wildlife, including turtles, aquatic birds, Golden Eagles and, of course, the native American alligator.
The Alligator and Wildlife Tour is $25 for adults, $20 for children 12 and younger. H2O Sports also offers a guided one-hour walking tour of the 606-acre preserve, which features an Indian shell ring and the remains of antebellum rice dikes.
A two-hour tour, which includes bicycle rental, is $35.
The pristine ACE Basin, the largest undeveloped estuary on the East Coast, serves as the backdrop for Beaufort Kayak Tours blackwater river excursions. Certified master naturalists David Gorzynski and Kim Gundler will take you on the Combahee River where you’ll paddle past rice plantations dating back to the 1800s.
On any given day, you may see bald eagles, osprey, alligators and armadillos. You’ll also learn about the Lowcountry’s rice culture and the incredible feat of labor it took to carve hundreds of acres of rice fields out of marshland. A half-day trip costs $40 for adults, $30 for children.
A number of outfitters also offer eco-tours by motorized vessel. Capt. Michael Rutenberg of Coastal Eco-Charters in Myrtle Beach will customize a trip to suit your preferences, whether it’s exploring a barrier island beach or salt marsh or seine netting for shrimp and puffer fish on a sandbar.
A high school marine science and biology teacher, Rutenberg carries a microscope on board his 19-foot boat to allow passengers to get a closer look at the plankton in the area waters.
A four-hour trip for up to five people is $250.