bohicket boat - day tours

During our stay on Kiawah Island, we wanted to spend one day on a tour to watch dolphins and do shelling. Most of the well-known tours were either booked or inconvenient for various reasons or did either shelling or dolphin watch, or simply expensive. We almost gave up on finding a tour that would work for us until I saw this company recommended by one of the contributors here on TA as being always friendly and accommodating. Truer words have not been spoken, and friendly and accommodating they were. We called them, and their schedule was flexible. We booked the first morning tour for both dolphin watching and shelling. In the morning, Capt. Bill texted us that the rain cell was moving in the area so we may want to postpone a tour for an hour. An hour passed, but it was still raining. We decided to go for it anyway and hoped the rain would stop by the time we got there. The rain didn't stop, so the Capt. Bill found some rain ponchos for us and even gave us a bucket for the shells. On the way to the island we explored many creeks and saw herons, pelicans, and a variety of crabs up close. When dolphins showed up, he would stop the motor so we could observe them and take pics at our own pace. He would tell us where we were at that point, showed the location on the map, talk about the life on the islands, the wildlife, specifics of a fisherman's trade, etc. When we got to the shelling island, he said we had all the time we wanted. By that time the sun came out and the weather was beautiful. There were lots of shells, mostly oyster shells, but also whelks, baby ears, moon snails and olives. Most of them were chipped or cracked and we never found that perfect whelk or a sand dollar, but the point was to just have fun discovering different shells, putting washed ashore horseshoe crabs back in the water, showing the child a real jelly fish up close and just enjoying the solitude and nature. On the way back more dolphins made an appearance and came closer to the boat. The beauty of the river and the islands was quietly stunning. When we approached the dock, Capt. Bill explained the design and mechanics of the shrimping boat. We definitely have a new level of appreciation for what fishermen have to go through to get seafood on our tables. The company also sells fresh shrimp which we bought. It was the best tasting and freshest shrimp we have ever had. This tour was certainly one of the brightest highlights of our vacation. Special thanks to Captain Billy for being such a knowledgeable, flexible, caring and personable tour guide.