Awendaw SC South Carolina, Francis Marion Forest

USA

The smell arrives first: that mix of salt air, warm mud and cut grass that marks the salt marshes of South Carolina. Between Charleston and Myrtle Beach, small ships following the Intracoastal Waterway stop at Awendaw, a village on the edge of Bulls Bay, right at the edge of the Francis Marion National Forest. There's no landmark here, no lineup, no ticket booth: this port call happens entirely outdoors, from morning to evening, among pines, dwarf palmettos, golden cordgrass and oyster beds exposed at low tide.

The Forest of the "Swamp Fox"

The national forest takes its name from Francis Marion, a Revolutionary War officer who mastered guerrilla warfare in the swamps, earning the nickname "Swamp Fox" from the British. Its hundreds of square kilometres of pine flatwoods and bald cypress are home to alligators, turtles and an abundance of birdlife: American oystercatchers, wood storks and brown pelicans take turns working the mudflats as the tide changes. The Awendaw Passage trail, a coastal section of the Palmetto Trail, winds for about ten kilometres between pine forest and cordgrass marsh; even an hour's walk from the first boardwalk gives a real sense of the place, especially at high tide, when the water rises right up under the planks.

The Mystery of the Shell Rings

A short, family-friendly trail leads to the Sewee Shell Ring, a ring of oyster and clam shells built up roughly four thousand years ago by the area's Indigenous coastal peoples. Archaeologists still debate its purpose, whether ceremonial feasting grounds or simply a place for discarded shells; a raised platform on site lets visitors take in the circular shape through the trees. The visitor centre on the main road places these remains within the history of the Sewee people, the area's first inhabitants; it also houses red wolves in an enclosure, one of the most endangered canids in North America, part of a federal recovery program.

Bulls Island and the Beach of Skeletons

Offshore stretches the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, a string of barrier islands and mudflats visited by tens of thousands of shorebirds. When the port call's schedule allows, the crossing to Bulls Island is well worth it: its north beach, known as Boneyard Beach, lines up the bleached trunks of oaks and cedars slowly reclaimed by the ocean, an eerily photogenic sight. Dolphins and pelicans often accompany the boat, and guides know where loggerhead turtles come ashore to nest in summer.

Flavours of the Bay

The bay has fed this village for as long as anyone can remember: the oysters that grow in clusters on its beds are enjoyed roasted, Lowcountry style, and local shrimp fill the plates at roadside eateries. Late in the afternoon, shrimp boats head back in escorted by gulls, and watching them unload at the small dock is a show in itself. A stop at the local general store, among fishing tackle and homemade preserves, rounds out the picture of a community that still lives by the tides.

Awendaw Port Call at a Glance

Once the last buoy is passed, herons return to their posts along the channels and the village goes back to its business of shrimp and driftwood. Awendaw teaches something the bigger ports of call sometimes let us forget: an untouched coastline is a spectacle all on its own. Those who walked the long boardwalk at sunset will talk about it more often than about many a big-city stop.