Bull Island - Dominick House Expedition (Charleston County, South Carolina)

 A couple of years ago, I visited Bull Island as part of a coastal kayaking trip. This barrier island is one of the many along the east coast and sits across the intercoastal waterway just north of Charleston, SC. I really enjoyed my time on the island. As with many of the other barrier islands I've visited since moving to the Atlanta area, I've found these islands to be the closest environment to my beloved Sierra Nevada mountains. That is not to say the ecosystems, landscape are anything like the mountains, but instead, the feeling of true remoteness is what I'm referring to. Many of these islands are uninhabited and protected as a nature preserves. When you walk around the island, you feel a since of being away from civilization - a feeling that I really savor. When an opportunity arose to spend a weekend on the island with Coastal Expeditions, I jumped on it.

The night before, I drove from Atlanta to Columbia, SC, which only left me a couple of hours of transit time to complete the trip the next morning. Once I arrived at Garrison Landing, where we would take the company's ferry to the island, I met up with my guides and group. We chatted while waiting for the remaining participants, but were quickly loaded onto the boat and on our way to the island. It takes about thirty minutes to navigate to the island through the salt marshes and rich oyster beds. Along the way, we saw a myriad of migratory birds and even a couple of dolphins. I always love seeing dolphins. There is just something hopeful about them.

Arriving on the island, we loaded our gear onto a truck and ourselves onto a flatbed trailer with cushioned seats for the short ride to the Dominick House, where we would be staying the next two nights. This is the only house on the island and was built by a former owner of the island in the 1920's. It's now maintained by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. We were shown our rooms and dropped our gear before coming down to a terrific lunch in the large dining room. We were treated to a great salad, grilled cheese sandwiches, and tomato soup. Not a bad way to start the day.

Once we finished lunch, we headed out for our first hike along part of the Turkey Walk Trail. This a curious name, as there are no turkeys on the island. There are, however, a huge number of other waterfowl who use the richly diverse ponds as a food source along their migratory paths. We see more species of birds than I can remember. Many members of the group are birding enthusiasts and carry large monoculars, some with tri-pods, to facilitate their bird viewing. The most surprising though was a lone flamingo, who is well north of his normal range. According to our guides, a pair of them were blown up this way during a recent storm and while one of the pair flew back to Florida, one has stayed for a few weeks and is often the highlight for the birders.

We also encounter a number of alligators along the way. While the marshes around the island are saltwater, the man that built the house also created a number of levees to trap fresh water into a number of large ponds. He used the island for hunting and the fresh water attracted large numbers of game fowl. At some point, the alligators gained knowledge of the freshwater and decided it would be a good hunting spot for them as well. A century later, there are hundreds of them on the island. Along this trail, we encounter a probably mother on the grassy bank and a number of her offspring of the last couple of years hiding in the reeds. They are interesting animals and one of the creatures I'm most interested to observe on this trip. The short hike is only about 2.3 miles, but it was great to stretch after all the traveling.

Returning to the house, we learn of a potential problem with the electricity and water (which is drawn via an electric pump). Our lead guide has been in communication with Fish and Wildlife and they are seeking a solution, but this may impact our trip. We relax for a short time and wander around the kept grounds around the house. Here the long limbs of large live oaks sprawl out across the yard. These trees are pretty unique and often found in the Southeastern United States. I find them quite beautiful.

After just a short rest, it's time to do some more exploring. While our lead guide remains at the house trying to sort out the facility issues, the rest of us load back onto the flatbed and are transported a ways north toward Boneyard Beach on the northeastern corner of the island. I'm going to write up a separate blog for this area, as it is just that amazing, but essentially, it is an area where erosion has allowed the salty ocean water to encroach into the interior of the island. The exposure to salt water has killed large trees and their bleached trunks and root systems now liter the beach like whale bones. 

We spend an hour or two walking along the beach before heading back to the house to learn of our expeditions fate. Once we arrive, we learn that they will not be able to repair the electricity tonight and will not permit us to stay at the house without electricity and fresh water. I personally wouldn't mind this at all, but Fish and Wildlife are firm in their stance. With sun having already sunk just below the southwestern horizon, we load back onto the ferry for a cold ride back to the mainland. Coastal Expeditions has made arrangements for all of us a nearby hotel and they will be cooking up a low country boil at their headquarters. It's an unfortunate circumstance, but I appreciate our guides and their management doing what they can to still make it an enjoyable weekend. 

I decide to drop my gear off at the hotel before heading to the feast. I admit that I'm a little disappointed, but I cannot fault our guide service. This is completely out of their control and we'll just have to make the best of it. After the short drive to their headquarters, I enjoy a glass of wine and some dinner of potatoes, sausage, corn, and shrimp (standard low country boil). Our lead guide informs us of the plan for the remainder of the weekend. We'll reconvene back at Garrets Landing in the morning and head back to the island for the afternoon. There is a chance the repairs may be completed tomorrow, but if not, we'll end the expedition in the afternoon and head back across dock. While they haven't determined how to properly compensate the participants yet, she indicates there will be some level of refund due to us. Returning to the hotel, I decide to crash and get up early for the next day's adventure. 

After enjoying a quick breakfast at the hotel, I check out and drive back to the dock where the group reconvenes and loads back onto the ferry. Unlike yesterday, we are approaching high tide for the ride over and the salt marshes look a bit different because of it. Once we arrive on the island, we spend some time along the northern part of the island enjoying the waterfowl from an observation deck. We see pelicans, osprey, eagles, and once again, more birds species than I can keep up with. 

Next we walk out to the beach once again, but this time to where that same storm that blew the flamingos in also destroyed two of the levees. This is allow massive amounts of saltwater to flood the freshwater ponds and is actively changing the ecosystem before our eyes. It seems there is some interest by Fish and Wildlife in restoring the levee, but there is still a lot of discussion to be had before a decision can be made.

After loading back onto the flatbed, we head east along the levees with brigades of large alligators sliding into the water as the truck approaches them. I'm not exaggerating when I say that we probably encountered over a hundred of the creatures along this little stretch. At a couple of points, we stop to observe the carnivores. Luckily, we're relatively safe from them as they will only attack if they feel threatened. They eat their prey whole and will not really go after anything too large for that feeding method, which includes adult humans. A small child might be in danger though.

Continuing the drive, we end up at the Old Fort and a historical marker indicating that the first settlers of Carolina first landed near the spot on their way to found colonial Charles Town (now Charleston). All the remains of the fort is a tabby (oyster shell and mortar) wall rising a couple of feet out of the grass and forming an octagonal shape. As I understand it, this was build by the British as a defensive hold. As we wander around, we also remain on alert for a particularly brave 10-11 foot alligator who has stubbornly decided not to move. We give him space, but he's still pretty close to the group. Eventually, he dives in the water as the we reload onto the truck and drive past him.

From here, we head back to the house and enjoy an terrific lunch prepared by our guides, which includes an "oyster roast". In this case, they are simply steaming locally caught oysters until they open and then we each take our shucking knives to reveal the morsel inside. I've only ever eaten oysters on the half-shell and this is a new experience, though, I think I prefer them raw. After our lunch, we load back onto the ferry and head back to our individual next destinations. Overall and even considering the unforeseen electrical problems, it was still a fantastic trip. Our guides were wonderful and I appreciate their efforts to make the very best of the circumstances dealt to us.