2013 Summer Trip to Kiawah

The 2013 family trip to Kiawah was fun as always and included a few new activities.  The temperature for the last week in June averaged a high eighty degrees Fahrenheit and was extremely humid. The water temperature of the Atlantic appeared in the low 80’s and the tidal pools were even warmer. It is interesting as the tide recedes and leaves behind several of these little pools for the kids to play in. One of these tidal pools left behind several horseshoe crabs resting on the pool bottoms. These crabs sort of camouflage themselves by burying themselves on the sand bottom floor and are very difficult to spot. These prehistoric looking crabs are very sinister looking, but totally harmless as they do not bite or sting.

As fun as the beach was, I had my limits with a very hot low country summer sun. Day one of vacation was spent almost entirely on the beach. Despite the constant re-applying of sun block, I managed to get the tops of my feet and my head (was wearing a visor) burnt. Next time I will dedicate more time under the umbrella.

We managed to get in some biking on day two. We biked the trails in the East Beach area through Tennis Club, Turtle Point, and up along Dolphin Way. We found a few golf balls by the Turtle point golf course as we biked. We also managed to circle back by Night Heron Park. We took a stroll through the Night Heron Nature center to show our youngest the cool island critters on display. He was enamored with the Alligator pen featuring four young gators. This trip also allowed me to check out the recently added Night Heron water park which was very impressive. The downside to this water attraction is that the resort does not allow non resort guests to pay daily admission for use of the pool. You have to rent though the resort to get access to the pool. Biking back to the villa, we saw several species of birds along the trail including Osprey and a few herons.

The golfing for the week included a trip to Kiawah’s Oak Point just off the island. The course was in pretty decent shape and played very quickly as there were not too many golfers pushing us during mid day. It was a very hot round of golf, though we had a cooler of several bottles of ice water to keep hydrated. Our other round of golf for the week was at Legend Oaks in Summerville (over an hour from Kiawah).  That course is also in decent shape due to numerous rains the low country has experienced in June.

One of the highlights of week was the Wednesday trip to Bohicket Marina for the Children’s fishing derby. The marina hosts this event every Wednesday in the summer. The derby lasts one hour and costs only five dollars. The admission includes use of fishing poles that are already baited with squid. The top anglers in their respective age category receive a t-shirt. I am proud to say two of my three kids won. My youngest caught a 13 inch Whiting and my daughter caught an eleven inch toad fish. Toad fish are very ugly and seem to have numerous teeth. I was happy that the staff unhooked  that little monster and spared  me that unfortunate task. Our middle child came up empty at the fishing derby and was a little upset. He was a good sport congratulating his siblings, but I felt I had to make it up to him. His grandfather and I took him to Rhett’s bluff pier/boat launch later that day to try and catch him a fish.  His good sportsmanship paid off as he caught a baby shark off the pier. He was elated to finally land a fish.   

This was our 12^th or 13^th trip to Kiawah (I have lost count) and it was as fun as our previous trips. We added a few twists and turns this time around such as Kiawah River fishing, Marina fishing, and a half day trip to Folly Beach.  I am already missing the low country and look forward to the next trip and creating more family memories.