Beaufort, itself a sea island, is connected to several other sea islands by a series of bridges over the salt rivers. The town reminds me of a smaller version of Charleston, with shops, restaurants, a marina, and even a battery area along the river. If you visit, be sure to have the low country crab and shrimp chowder at Plum's Restaurant.
We had marginally more fishing success in Beaufort when we'd had in St. Mary's. We launched the boat on Friday and fished in St. Helena's Sound. I persisted in trying for bigger fish and caught only a small shark; my brother yielded to the conditions and caught a series of whiting.
On Saturday we drove out to the Hunting Island fishing pier (above) and tried our luck. We both caught several whiting by casting shrimp away from the pier, and John caught a few small sea bass by dropping his bait among the pilings. Overall, we'd have to admit that the fishing was the least successful part of the excursion.
Hunting Island Light
On the way back to Beaufort, we stopped in Frogmore at the Shrimp Shack to satisfy our hankerings for fresh seafood. My smile is owed to the softshell crab sandwich that I've just consumed.
My brother is an intemperate purchaser of house lots in estuarine locales, and the original excuse for this sojourn had been to check on the condition of his land. It had taken us more than an hour to find his property in St. Mary's (he'd forgotten the address) and a slightly smaller amount of time to find his land on Dataw Island. He was pleased that both locations remain above sea level.Next time, we'll have to check the property in Nova Scotia. See you then.
