CAPERS

Bull Island, SC, is a place I’ve wanted to visit for years. It’s a barrier island on the coast north of Charleston. Unfortunately, camping is not allowed on the island, and it is a long way for us to go for a day trip. However, while researching the area, I discovered that camping is allowed on the next island to the south, Capers Island. Most of the island is owned by the State of South Carolina, and camping is allowed with a free permit. Permits are limited though, and weekends tend to get booked up well in advance. Back in early April, I had secured a permit for us for two nights.

There are designated camping areas at the north and south ends of the island. The south end is more popular, as it is easy to reach from the Isle of Palms marina. Our goal was to camp at the north end on Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturday morning, we would kayak over to Bull Island and then hike to its famous Boneyard Beach.

Garris Landing is the most convenient starting point for a trip to Bull Island or the north end of Capers Island. Unfortunately, overnight parking is not allowed. Our next best option was the Gadsdenville boat ramp farther south. The only problem with that starting point is that it isn’t usable at or near low tide. At those times, a long walk through thick mud is necessary to reach the water. Luckily, the tides were favorable for our trip. Our goal was to arrive in Gadsdenville early Friday afternoon, around high tide. That would enable us to put in, and the outgoing tide would carry us out towards the barrier islands. Low tide on Sunday was around 9am. If we left around late morning we’d return to Gadsdenville close to high tide, at 3pm. Once again, the tide would help carry us to our destination. It would be like paddling downstream on Friday and Sunday.

The weather forecast looked good for our trip. There was a slight chance of storms Saturday night, and a better chance Sunday evening. But we expected to be back on the road by Sunday afternoon.

We were a little behind schedule on Friday, but still managed to arrive at the Gadsdenville boat ramp a little after high tide. The boat ramp isn’t much. Parking is limited – in the fact, there isn’t a parking lot at all. A narrow road leads to an old boat ramp deep in the salt marsh, and everyone just parallel parks along one side of it. There were 2 cars there when we arrived. One was a pair of paddleboarders that returned while we were loading our kayaks. The other was a pair of paddleboarders that were also headed to Capers Island to camp. They were bound for the south end of the island though, so we didn’t see them after leaving the put-in.

It took a while to unload the car and pack the kayaks. It was about an hour after high tide when we finally started. At that point there was still plenty of water, and the outgoing current was favorable. We wound our way through a narrow channel. After a few minutes we passed a small island with a picnic table. I don’t know if it is public or private property, but it looked like a good place to camp in a pinch. We continued on to Copahee Sound, but followed the eastern edge of it. Then we followed another narrow channel into Toomer Creek. My plan was to follow Toomer Creek to the Intercoastal Waterway. After a short stretch in the IW, we would paddle through Santee Pass to Price Creek. We’d follow Price Creek to the north end of Capers Island and look for a nice beach to camp on.

The first highlight of the trip came in Toomer Creek, only minutes into our trip. Christy spotted a mama and baby dolphin swimming nearby. They surfaced periodically, often only a short distance from our kayaks. At one point they surfaced right next to me, and Christy got a classic photo of mama’s fin approaching my boat. She dove and swam right under me before surfacing again along the far side of the creek. We followed them, or they followed us, most of the way to the Intercoastal Waterway.

The Intercoastal Waterway was the least enjoyable part of the trip. It has bigger waves and more boat traffic. Fortunately, we only had to follow it for less than a mile.

Santee Pass was an enjoyable stretch. It looks very narrow on the map, but it was bigger than I expected. I was concerned about how much water it would have. I don’t know what it is like at low tide, but even 2 hours before low tide there was plenty of water. My guess is that is passable at any time. Along here is a dock owned by the State of South Carolina. That was a convenient place to get out and stretch.

Just before we reached Price Creek Christy spotted a small shark in shallow water. It may have been a young shark, or possibly just a small species like a Sand Shark.

Price Creek is a big channel, and the water was turbulent. The tide was still going out though, so we were still cruising downstream. We passed a dock and a small cluster of houses on the north end of Capers Island before approaching the beach at the mouth of Price Creek. We could have camped near there, which would have been convenient for getting over to Bull Island the next day. However, there was a boat anchored there, and my preference was to find a more isolated spot fronting the ocean.

The map doesn’t show it, but a long sandbar extends from the northeast corner of Capers Island into the ocean. There is a channel through it though, which enabled us to kayak south along the shore. It was now an hour before low tide, and eventually we reached water that was too shallow to paddle through. We got out and walked our boats until we encountered the first waves crashing onto the beach. We headed into shore there, and carried our gear up above the high tide line. There are unlimited campsite options between the sand dunes and the high tide along here. It was a long walk because it was so close to low tide, but it was worth it for the view and sound of crashing waves. We carried our boats up to the campsite, too. Before setting up, I walked down the beach five minutes farther to see if there was an even better spot. It was only a short distance to the Boneyard Beach on Capers Island. There, the beach has eroded, and the forest that was once inland now extends out into the surf. Prior to our trip, I was unaware that there was a Boneyard Beach on Capers Island in addition to the famous one on Bull Island. It would be a cool place to camp, but reaching it would be difficult. Essentially we would have to carry everything, including the kayaks, from the campsite we had initially selected. I decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble.

We set up camp and enjoyed some cold beers before we were treated to a colorful sunset. There was one other group of campers in sight, but they were quite a distance away. There may have been other people over near Price Creek, but they were out of sight and hearing. Later that evening, we grilled chicken over charcoal before enjoying a campfire below the high tide line. By morning, all signs of our fire would be washed away. Our entertainment that evening was a crab that kept trying to crawl into the fire. He made several attempts, but each time he reconsidered.

I slept great that night, serenaded by the sound of the crashing waves. The only downside was that we had to sleep in the tent, as there are no trees at this end of Capers Island. We could have set up hammocks down in the Boneyard Beach. Maybe we’ll do that next time. I was a little concerned about bugs, but we only encountered a few biting flies and some no-see-ums. We didn’t see any mosquitoes, though I’m sure that the interior of the island is a different story.

NO BULL

We learned some important things the next morning. The most important was that it isn’t really possible to leave our campsite except near low tide. Low tide came pretty early that morning, and we were enjoying a leisurely breakfast when we should have been starting the trip over to Bull Island. By the time we got the kayaks loaded and ready, it was two hours past low tide and the surf was much more turbulent than it had been when we arrived the previous evening. We don’t have spray skirts, so paddling straight out through the waves wasn’t an option. We attempted to walk our boats in the shallows adjacent to the beach the way we had when we arrived. We didn’t make it far before a wave flipped Christy’s kayak over. She nearly lost her phone and sunglasses, but managed a lucky save. We retreated back onto the beach and bailed out her boat. When we were finished, we reconsidered our options.

Walking the boats through the surf wasn’t going to work. We could have made a long portage along the beach over towards Price Creek, but that would have been tedious. Instead, we decided to skip Bull Island and spend the day on Capers. The whole point of the trip had been to explore Bull Island, but it isn’t going anywhere. We’ll just have to return another time.

We retreated to our campsite and did a little lounging. Then we walked down to the boneyard beach and set up our hammocks. We lounged away the whole afternoon there, enjoying the sound of the waves crashing through the trees and logs all around us. It was a warm but mostly cloudy afternoon. The clouds and the shade from the trees provided a nice break from the relentless sun. A few people did walk by that afternoon, but we still seemed to have the island mostly to ourselves. That evening and the next morning there wasn’t anyone else in sight of our campsite.

That evening we walked up the beach and waded out to the big sandbar at the far end of the island. We saw lots of wildlife on our little hike. Early on we saw what we think was the remains of a loggerhead turtle nest. We saw lots of crabs and birds and jellyfish, and one horseshoe crab. We spent about an hour around low tide out on the sandbar, returning to camp a bit before dusk. That evening we had a dinner of cold cuts and cheeses and crackers and artichoke dip along with a bottle of wine. We also roasted some mushrooms over the fire. Later, thunderstorms threatened, but each time the storm stayed just a bit inland. It seemed like the wind coming off the ocean was strong enough to steer the storms away from us. We started out with the fly on the tent that night, due to the threat of rain. That made the tent too hot though, so I pulled it back. That worked fine until 4am, when it did start raining. I got up and reattached the fly, and it promptly stopped raining. Sigh. At least it had cooled down a bit by that time.

TEAM WATERFALL GETS SWAMPED

Low tide was around 9am on Sunday. We got up earlier, made breakfast, and broke camp. It was a cloudy morning, and it rained for a few minutes while we were eating. There was one boom of thunder, too, but that was the extent of the threat. I checked the forecast, and discovered that the evening thunderstorms were now expected to be more of an all-day event. That gave us extra incentive to get moving. It was closer to 10am when we left, but the surf was still passable. We walked our kayaks through the shallows without any trouble. We paddled back through the channel between the sandbar and the beach and into Price Creek. The outgoing tide took us up Price Creek, and then we turned into Santee Pass. The paddle back was quite pleasant until we reached the Intercoastal Waterway. There we encountered rough surf and steady 30mph headwinds. We struggled through that stretch, and it was a relief to finally turn up into Toomer Creek. After a short distance we reached a spot where we could get out. We took a short break there, and met a friendly local fisherman.

The weather looked threatening, so we didn’t linger long. The incoming tide carried us up Toomer Creek, through Copahee Sound, and back towards the Gadsdenville boat ramp. We were approaching that first island with the campsite when we spotted some familiar faces. We knew Spencer and Carlos were in the area. In fact, they had been plotting to kayak out to Capers Island in the dark Saturday evening. That adventure ended quickly when they discovered that their tandem kayak had a hole in it. Luckily they were able to bail out at that first campsite.

We paddled together for the last couple of minutes, back to the boat ramp. We unloaded, and Spencer and Carlos headed out, as they had a wedding to get to. It took us a little longer to unpack the kayaks and load the car, but we still made it into Mount Pleasant in time for a late lunch, just ahead of the thunderstorms.

Christy and I definitely plan to return to Capers Island. It is a fun kayaking trip with a great destination. And we still need to get over to Bull Island. Hopefully we can do that one weekend soon.

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