Turtle Season! 🐢

The year is 2022, and I’m not sure what the hell is going on with American politics anymore. Regardless, 4th of July is always a great time to party and drink a lot… I mean, celebrate the freedoms we have here in America! We invite you to come along on our journey!

We spent our week dressed in red, white, and blue at the beautiful Edisto Beach State Park located on Edisto Island, SC. We don’t have enough to say about this lovely, quaint place. As a South Carolina resident myself, I’ve actually never been to Edisto. Traditionally, I’ve vacationed at Myrtle Beach or Charleston because of the vast amount of things to do in these places. They are super touristy, and if you’ve ever been there then you know! Sometimes it’s nice to really take a step back and relax away from the craziness of the world. Especially in these “dark” times (considered by many…). Edisto Beach might of just been the place for us!

The second we got into the campground, we were enjoying beautiful views of the marshlands, and could hear the ocean right near by. Our spot actually had a point right on the marsh where we could sit out and let Luna (our puppy) play! Instant highlight for us. She’s a Chesapeake Bay Retriever mixed with a Labrador Retriever, and let me just say that she loves water and hunting any type of bird or duck. We had campsite #74 which is right at the entrance of the beach campground, across from the Camp Host. If you don’t know, a Camp Host is someone who typically volunteers to help campers as they come into the campsite with any questions or information, often in return for themself getting to stay free on the campground for weeks, or months at a time. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the common sense to look at the map and drove around aimlessly looking for our spot which we passed multiple times! It happens.

Oh, another thing I should mention, CRABS! 🦀 There are hundreds of those little pinchy monsters. You will discover that they live all over the marsh and at most of these sandy campsites. Luna spent the majority of her time chasing them like the hunter that she is. I will say a good thing about the crabs is that they scatter the second you get near them. This is a major upgrade over ants 🐜 and constant annoying bug bites at other places that we are used to being at!

If you have dogs and are worried about fireworks here during the 4th or New Years, we didn’t hear a single firework. They truly take the rules seriously here. HUGE WIN! They did have a fighter jet fly over by the military, and a golf cart parade going on. Again, no crazy BOOMS for the doggos.

Don’t get me started about the beach. WOW doesn’t even do justice for this one. If you are tired of tourists and being crowded on your vacation, Edisto Beach State Park has over a mile of private beach you can enjoy. No tourists and hardly anyone there (even during the 4th of July!) If you are used to beaches like Myrtle Beach, SC or Panama City Beach, FL then you know that crowded is an understatement. Spring Breakers come to these places quite often to PARTAY! We did not get that vibe with Edisto even in the slightest.

Another super exciting thing to us is that Edisto Beach is known for turtle nesting. From the months of May-October you can walk down the beach and see hundreds of Loggerhead turtle nesting areas. There are local DNR and Turtle rescue volunteers (I know what you’re thinking, no not Ninja Turtles) that help track and locate all nesting sites where proud mama turtles lay their eggs.

Typically they do a guided tour at night to walk the beach and witness all of the turtle nest areas, with the chance of seeing baby turtles hatching and making their first journey into the ocean. Although they were not doing the tours while we were there, because it was only certain days of the week. We took things into our own hands and went out at 2am with our red light and walked the beach for an hour looking for baby turtles. I think we found one site that was close to hatching because of how it was staged by DNR, but no luck actually seeing them!

Let me say, it honestly felt like ghost hunting this late at night with a tiny red light in the darkness. Definitely do not recommend this to the feint of heart. Not to mention that the moon was behind the clouds, and there’s no ambient lighting anywhere. Total. Darkness. Except. You. And. The. TURTLES! That we didn’t see. We will be back to find them!

In Conclusion – Edisto Beach

We have nothing but great things to say about Edisto Beach, especially if you crave the most natural experiences possible. There isn’t a ton of touristy things to do like rides, shopping, or museums in our experience. However, you will enjoy your well sought after relaxation nonetheless. We hereby name Edisto as a word meant for natural relaxation, baby turtles, and pure Southern beach bliss.