Charleston Outdoor Adventures Days part 1

Folly Beach Sunrise

I woke up extra early this morning (which was easy because I somehow fell asleep at 7 last night) and made it all the way to the Folly Beach Pier to catch the sunrise.  It was a beauty. Cloudy enough so the pink really came through at dawn.   Luckily, the weather only went down to 50 last night, so it was nice sitting out with my travel mug of coffee. This was a great sign for the morning in front of me, as today was our annual Adventures Days.  I stopped at the Lost Dog Cafe for an awesome sausage, egg, and cheese croissant to go and some delicious coffee on my way to Bowens Island.

My favorite picture from the day

Casey from Tides

Monty looking excellent.

This year, our Adventures Days is really special because it was almost like a grand reopening for us.  "Bigger and Better" is a true statement after the fire last August.  We have more kayaks, more paddle boards, and a new 12 person charter boat to go with our current 6 passenger boat.  The Tides and Vendue Inn each sent a few of their front desk and concierge personnel to come on their own tours with us. COA likes to give back to the community, and especially those who help the visitors of Charleston find out about us and place reservations. By nine o'clock we had 6 people on our dolphin boat tour with Joe, 5 on our kayak tour with Tripp, and 2 on our stand up paddle board tour with Little Bill.

I was just kidding that your smile would break the camera...

I went out on the kayak tour with 4 guys from Vendue, and Brian from The Tides. We swung by the old shrimp boat, cruised past the dock, and landed ourselves in King Flats.  The tide was super high so we didn't have to worry about knocking into oysters and could see clear over the spartina grass. The weather continued to be great too. It was finally warm enough to work up a sweat, but still comfortable with the breeze.  The water was like glass and we just coasted on top.

All smiles here! This was just before you went dolphin chasing

On the way back in we were finally graced with the presence of dolphins.  Swimming right in front of us and then under us. We caught up with Will and the paddle boarders right before heading to the landing.  At the same time Joe was pulling in with his charter.  Apparently, "dolphins had been following us from the beginning", Joe said, they were "cruising right for us". Next time I better keep my ears open from the get go!

We all came back together just before the dock

Even with the early start, I thought today was fantastic. I'm excited for Part 2 tomorrow!!

Thanks for coming out Tides and Vendue Inn!

-Anna, your most bubbly naturalist