This is it. This is your summer.
This is the year you grab life by the wheel and head out to explore the natural majesty and unfettered excitement that has made the Lowcountry one of the world’s most enticing destinations for adventurers. Along our creeks and lagoons, among the waves, and out into the open ocean that stretches to the horizon, there are countless ways to lose yourself, find yourself, and reconnect with your thirst for life.
In a place like this, in a county where the water makes up more acreage than the land, it’s truly the only way to satisfy that thirst. Let the landlubbers play their pickleball. Let them scald themselves on the beach’s alabaster sand. We, those who yearn for adventure with every fiber of our being, know that the sea’s challenges are met only by the daring. And this is the summer we answer that challenge.
So raise the colors, hoist the anchor and rig the sails. We’re heading out to adventure.
A group heads out on a dolphin excusion with Island Explorer.
Feast of the Seas: Outside Hilton Head’s Lowcountry Boil Dinner Cruise
If there is a single name that has become synonymous with adventure on the water, it’s Outside Hilton Head. Since its 1979 inception as a windsurfing school, the brand created by owner Mike Overton has evolved to incorporate everything the water touches. Kayak rentals, dolphin cruises, fishing and shrimping expeditions, family beachcombing getaways – if it floats, they have a hand in it.
CH2’s Maggie Washo and Outside Hilton Head’s founder Mike Overton pose for a photo on the inaugural sailing of Outside Hilton Head’s Lowcountry Boil Cruise.
With Outside’s latest offering, they have completed the final piece of the puzzle in offering every experience possible on the waves.
“One of the most common questions we would get was whether there is a dinner cruise. There was a real hole in the marketplace,” said Matt McKee, director of marketing for Outside Brands. “Up until now, there really hasn’t been one.”
Launching for the first time this past May, Outside Hilton Head’s Lowcountry Boil Dinner Cruise takes guests for a two-hour cruise up Broad Creek and into Calibogue Sound on a relaxing sunset sail. Along the way, they’ll dine on our region’s signature dish, provided by the culinary wizards at Sprout Momma.
The Ohana’s captain and first mate welcome guests aboard Outside Hilton Head’s Lowcountry Boil dinner cruise.
“We use them for catering all the time in our destination marketing division, so they were the perfect fit for this cruise,” McKee said. “It’s a true dinner cruise experience, with lively conversation and so much to see on the water. And it’s very family friendly.”
The Outside Hilton Head’s Lowcountry Boil Dinner Cruise sets off every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Visit outsidehiltonhead.com for details and to book your spot.
Sprout Momma’s owner Kim Tavino serves up a lowcountry boil with Jacqui.
Pontoon boats available for rent at Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina.
Chart Your Course: Aloha Pontoon Boat Rentals
When it comes to adventure, a captain wants but one thing: their hands on the wheel, guiding the way forward. Not to be crew or a passenger on someone else’s journey, but to be the one setting the course.
For a captain, there’s no substitute. And a year ago, Shelter Cove Marina gave every captain their wish when the rental side began offering a ship you can call your own, if only for the day. But these aren’t just any ships.
The Aloha Club Series pontoon boats they have on offer are some of the slickest party boats on the water. Powering through the water under the power of 150 horses, these boats hold up to a dozen passengers, with Garmin GPS to show you the way and top-of-the-line Bluetooth sound to keep the party bumping.
Simple to operate for even the greenest sea dogs, the GPS allows marina staff to set a custom route for you to follow, whether it’s a stirring trip around Harbour Town, a day trip to Daufuskie, or a peaceful sail on the May River.
“It’s a great way to spend the day with the family,” said Mason Lemon, harbourmaster at Shelter Cove Marina. “I always say that seeing the island by water is a totally different experience than by land. There’s so much to see … birds, dolphins, manatees, sea turtles … You can take these boats out fishing or just for a sunset cruise.”
Whatever the captain decides, that’s where these party boats will take you. But get yours early. “They stay pretty steadily booked up, so we definitely recommend booking ahead of time,” Lemon said.
You heard the man. Visit ShelterCoveMarinaBoatRentals.com to book yours.
A family enjoys an all-day boat excusion with Native Son Adventures.
Sail Like a Local: Native Son Adventures
Few people on Hilton Head Island can claim the kind of connection Byron Sewell enjoys with our area’s waterways. The son of famed surfer Hamp Sewell, Byron grew up with salt water in his veins, exploring the islands, shorelines and creeks that surround the island. The water was his playground, and when he launched Native Son Adventures, he did so in order to share that same unbridled wonder that still draws him in.
“I always wondered how I could make a living doing this stuff, and I still can’t believe it’s really happening,” Sewell said. “It’s such a great thing to see families connecting. That’s probably one of my favorite things.”
A Blue Crab is discovered!
Like the wilderness of his youth, there are few limits to what you can do through his Native Son Adventures. There are, naturally, the fishing charters, leaning into Sewell’s lifetime of experience and secret knowledge of the area’s biggest honey holes. But for true immersion, you have to try the Day With a Native tour.
“It’s such a variety. We can fish, if the fish aren’t biting we can paddleboard from the boat … we don’t know what’s going to happen. We just keep moving and following what nature’s giving us,” Sewell said. “We try to make every trip a real adventure. I have my dolphin calling horn, I put the kids in charge of spotting dolphins or baiting a crab trap. … That’s how my dad was with his surfing school, going way over the top in making things super exciting.”
The latest addition to the fleet, a custom-built tiki boat, takes families out on evening trips complete with island music, a full tiki bar, and a diving platform for getting up close and personal with native sea life.
Visit nativesonadventures.com to start exploring.
A happy fisherman snaps a quick photo before the shark is released back into the water. Photo courtesy of Chip Michalove
A Jaws-ome Encounter: Outcast Sport Fishing
Hilton Head Island is home to any number of fishing charters, led by dedicated and experienced captains who can take you out to sea in pursuit of cobia, king mackerel, and the great sportfish that lurk just offshore. But somehow only one of them has found himself consistently in the headlines for his catches. If you ask Chip Michalove why he has maintained such a high profile, his answer is simple: sharks.
“There’s no Tarpon Week on the Discovery Channel,” he said with a laugh. “There are a lot of really great fishermen on Hilton Head and I fortunately picked the species that makes the most news.”
His charter, Outcast Sport Fishing has garnered a reputation for landing some of the most fearsome predators on earth, reeling in hammerheads, tiger sharks, and the occasional great white.
Chip Michalove, owner of Outcast Sport Fishing, poses with a hammerhead shark before it is released.
“Fifteen years ago, we were fishing for edible species a lot. Now we’re all fishing for Instagram pictures,” Michalove said. “It works out for me because I don’t have to spend two hours cleaning a fish. Plus I get to release them, which I like to do anyway.”
The move to start casting out for sharks was a natural evolution from Michalove’s fishing charter. When he used to try to end each trip with a monster shark, he quickly realized that the grand finale was becoming the main event. The thrill of reeling in some gigantic fish is one thing. The adrenaline rush of coming face-to-face with a prehistoric killing machine is something else.
“I’d have charters where’d we catch a sailfish and I wouldn’t hear from them again. But we’d catch a 12-foot hammerhead and they’re calling me six months in advance the next year and booking multiple days. Sharks are a completely different animal.”
Check out outcastfishing.com to book your next great white encounter.
A small visitor learns to ride a wave at Hilton Head Outfitters Surf Camp.
The Sweet Life: Island Life Rentals
Founded by the legendary charter captain Jim Harkins, Island Explorer was already one of the most storied companies in the Lowcountry when Jeremy Gonsalves purchased it last year. Where he’s taken it since, merging it with his own Island Life Bike Rentals, has created an entirely new dynamic to the already incredible experience.
“This has always been something I love doing,” he said. “What I want to do is bring a little bit of my hospitality background to it and really focus on what the customer wants.”
Helping him achieve that goal is a crew of experienced, knowledgeable captains who stayed on as the company changed hands. Piloting a fleet of 12-passenger Carolina skiffs, they take explorers out from the gentle berths of Broad Creek’s Old Oyster Factory. These tamer waters provide a smooth, relaxing start to adventures that encompass experiences from dolphin tours and Daufuskie day trips to one of the island’s most intriguing geographical quirks.
“The vanishing island is by far our most popular outing,” Gonsalves said. “When you get out to the sound, there’s an island that exposes itself only at low tide. We let everyone off the boat and they just get to explore and comb the sand for starfish, crabs, shells … and it’s such an experience doing all of this in the middle of Calibogue Sound.”
To book your next adventure, visit islandliferentalshhi.com.
Beachcombers on an Island Explorer trip search for hidden treasures.
