Another spectacular Coastal Expeditions weekend trip! Nothing could be better than spending time with exceptional people in exceptional places. Mother Nature’s weather didn’t cooperate much, but she also wasn’t a total spoiler, and the location was fantastic. Luckily for us, it remained relatively dry, however foggy. For these excursions, the company you keep can make or break a trip, and this group of strangers-turned-friends was one for the ages.
The Island is part of Hunting Island State Park. The state of South Carolina purchased St Phillips island and The Turner House in 2017. The island is open to day trippers, Coastal Expeditions runs a ferry service out to the island. Once the day trippers left (of which we actually saw none of during the trip), we would be the only people on the island.
Our Hosts
From the moment we were greeted at Coastal Expeditions Beaufort Base Camp by Captain Henry, I knew we were in for a great trip. Henry took the best of care of us the entire weekend, (way better than Skipper and that ill-fated 3-Hour cruise). He was charming, personable, knowledgeable, and a great leader for our little expedition. Everyone pitched in and loaded up gear, excited!
John and Claire were our house hosts. They prepared all the meals, planned all the programs, built fires, roasted oysters, built a bridge, took meals with us, and taught us about the island, it’s history, habitats, and future. Coastal Expeditions consistently pulls in the best and brightest people in eco-tourism. Their knowledge, obvious love and respect for nature, attention to detail, and ability to connect with all of us – each on a personal level – was remarkable.
The Gannet
The Gannet provided us transportation to and from the island, and for an excursion we took on Saturday.
Turner House
The Turner House was built in 1979 by Ted Turner. It was his families’ private island for many years. The house is available for rental, with a five night minimum for $12,000, which includes $1,000 food credit. If you prefer, you can rent the entire 4,600 acre undeveloped barrier island, keeping day trippers out during your stay. That runs $20,000.
With neither of those opportunities on my horizon, the much more affordable Coastal Expeditions trip was a lifetime opportunity. The house will soon be gone, as the island erosion battle is a losing one, and the beach will overtake it. When built, the house wasn’t visible from the oceanfront. It is now oceanfront, and within a few years will no longer be viable.
There are no wires out to the island, it is truly off the grid. Power is provided by two big solar panels, and the water system is a reverse osmosis system with a water tower.
New Friends
This was my second solo expedition weekend. Because the expeditions sell out, roommates are to be expected – but I am always pleasantly surprised at how wonderful my roommates have been. Two ladies that had never met before shared a room and a bathroom, and got along famously. We joked about smothering either if we snored, and laughed about the snoring that we could hear – from the adjacent room!
We played a name game, attaching an animal to everyone, using the first letter of their name. It helped us break the ice (not that there was any for this group), and get to know each other. The name animals came full circle on Sunday with our bagged lunch surprise.
There were photographers and naturalists on the trip, willing to share their talents and knowledge with us all. My brain is tired (in the best way possible) from the learning workout. I know I will be researching things to “learn more” for a long while.
Mealtimes – Yum!
Little breakfast, big breakfast, lunch, appetizers, snacks, and dinner were all part of the joy of the weekend! For the sunrise folks, there was coffee and continental breakfast. Then on to Second Breakfast, affectionately dubbed Big Breakfast by all.
In order for the majority of us to sit together, most meals were served on a large covered pool table, which regular height chairs made for a playful, different perspective. No food was dropped, that’s for sure. The coming together of mealtimes was a treat in itself, listening to people’s stories, backgrounds, families, and interests.
The meals were so good, I managed to snap a total of one photo. We all took pictures of this charcuterie board appetizer, we were nibbling on by the fireplace.
Imagine walking out to a secluded, private beach with a boneyard view, with a bonfire, set up next to an a table of appetizers, and an oyster roast. The oysters went straight from the boil to the table, and my mild-mannered naturalist companions, all gloved and ready, used their oyster openers to devour them.
By popular demand, Claire sent out her secret recipes from the weekend, another adventure ahead in trying them out! Everything was marvelous and plentiful.
St Phillips Island
We hiked much of the island, and the beaches. Incredible sights, smells, sounds, and even tastes, as we tasted some saltwort. Even without sunlight, the pink of the bubblegum lichen was so bright an vibrant, as were all the different hues of green foliage.
Treasures
On our last day, we crossed a makeshift bridge to a secluded beach that John from Coastal had constructed for us. Ancient Native American pottery has been found here, and this beach had previously taken some WWII shelling practice, so spent shells have also been found. The maritime forest was to our left as we wandered out low tide, marveling at the boneyard landscape.
Ted Turner’s old golf cart sits along the beach, facing the water. I was told a story about Ted having a cold six pack of beer waiting for him out on the golf cart, when he took an afternoon walk to the beach. It sounded like a magnificent routine.
I found a couple of cool items, one of which stayed with the Coastal team for education purposes, a sea turtle bone. It’s an honor to be able to contribute something to a Coastal Expeditions education table!
I also found an intact bottle. The bottle has many markings on it, which helped me to research some history. It’s a Seagram’s Four Roses bottle from 1962.
My other spectacular find was not one, but two Lightning Whelk shells, both in excellent shape. I have been looking for ONE Lightning Whelk shell for about five years, after learning about their Native American and Gullah spirituality connections after seeing them on enslaved people’s monuments at Brookgreen Gardens. Lightning Whelks are a rarer find, they are sometimes called Left Whelks, due to the counterclockwise nature of their knobs, and the left sided opening.
Birds
Eagles – we saw so many, right from launch. On our beach walk on Sunday, I got to look through a scope at an eagle looking right back at me. On our way back home Sunday afternoon, Captain Henry treated us to this spectacular nest – and a fledgling was home! Enjoy my blurry zoom, trust me, it looked so great in person!
Also added three new Life-Listers for my bird list: a Yellow-throated Warbler, a Yellow-crowned Night Heron, and a Northern Harrier. We saw many other species, I was so grateful to have some world-class birders on the trip. My expedition companions were so willing to share their knowledge, and their delight, it was a real treat to be able to learn from them
Next Up
The group was already talking annual reunion trip. I’d be down! For me personally, I’m sure there will be many Coastal Expeditions this year. I’d like to go kayaking again, maybe blackwater Francis Marion Nation Forest. I am booked for a Dominick House weekend out on Bulls Island in November.
Each trip consistently exceeds my expectations, keeps me following up to learn more, and expands my world. I am looking forward to whatever comes next.
Resources
Official South Carolina State Parks site
Coastal Expeditions Beaufort
Lightning Whelk
Merlin Bird ID
Well written Lisa! Thanks for writing about our great weekend together!
Lisa, our Lizard (nickname) on a spectacular weekend,
Thank you for capturing every aspect of our fabulous time on St. Phillip’s. Your blog is a super reference/reminder of my treasured time with such a special group.
May we have our rain pants interchanged again at our annual gathering. 😜😘 Best, Katherine