During our most recent stay in Hilton Head, we decided that we wanted to visit Daufuskie Island. Visible from the Harbour Town Lighthouse, Daufuskie Island sits across the Calibogue Sound and is only accessible by boat. There are several ferry or water taxi options, but once we decided to take a tour through Tour Daufuskie, we were left with two choices: the Daufuskie Island Ferry or May River Excursions.
The Daufuskie Island Ferry leaves from Buckingham Landing at the foot of the Hilton Head Bridge. (It is across the bridge so actually off the island.) Round-trip tickets cost $35 (children under 6 are free) and the trip takes about an hour. The boat is a typical ferry boat and offers both indoor and outdoor seating. They make the back and forth trip 4 times a day on a set schedule.
May River Excursions leaves from Old Town Bluffton, which is actually not much beyond Buckingham Landing. Round-trip tickets cost $45 (all ages) and the trip takes about 25 minutes. The boat is a “water taxi” – it is smaller, fits fewer people, and has no covered seating. It is, however, much faster and more fun than a ferry! Trips are made by reservation so they work on your schedule. We opted for the faster, more scenic May River Excursions and were very happy that we did.
We had some confusion about the time – we were told by the tour company to arrive 30 minutes early. We took that to mean 30 minutes before the tour (since it was a 25 minute boat ride) but apparently they meant 30 minutes before the boat was supposed to leave (i.e. an hour before the tour). So make sure to confirm the actual time you should be there, not just “30 minutes before”.
Fortunately we were the only ones on the boat so our being a few minutes late did not hold anyone else up. We got a little lost in Bluffton looking for the May River office where we were supposed to check in and ultimately ended up at the dock. That worked out fine, as the captain was waiting for us and it saved us the extra step of parking at the office and walking down. There was plenty of free parking in the street right above the dock.
I was immediately glad we paid the extra $10 per person for this boat. It was so much fun! My youngest son just lit up as soon as the boat pulled away from the dock and took off. He loved the speed and the wind and the bouncing around. It was a great adventure.
The other benefit of using May River Excursions is that their trip is both shorter and more scenic. The route on the ferry goes through the river and is longer, slower and not as interesting. On the water taxi from Bluffton we wound through tiny creeks and inlets, making sharp turns into small openings in the marsh that I hadn’t even seen. We marveled at the captain’s navigation skills, as my mom (very accurately) compared the experience of winding through the marshes to being in a corn maze.
And being in the creeks and marshes meant more opportunities for wildlife spotting, which was one of our main reasons for taking this trip. (We were going to the island to take the “Wild Daufuskie Eco-Tour”.) We saw tons of beautiful herons and egrets, as well as some playful dolphins swimming near the boat.
We arrived on Daufuskie right on time for our tour. Our captain pulled up to the dock, let us off, confirmed the return time, and was off. The tour company’s golf carts and guide were there at the landing. The whole process was easy. Tour Daufuskie took care of all the logistics – we paid them for both the tour and the water taxi and they arranged the time and details with May River Excursions. We had the small confusion with the departure time but other than that it was well organized.
Our captain was a man of few words. In fact, I don’t think he ever even told us his name. I was hoping he would point things out and teach us about them, but the trip really fell more into the category of “transportation” than “tour”. We saw wildlife as we sped by but never stopped or even slowed down to take a closer look. I will admit that our lateness may have factored into this approach on the way out, and on the way back we were trying to outrun a storm. But I was a little disappointed that we only saw things at high speed, especially the dolphins, which would have been fun to linger around.
But even with that, I highly recommend using May River Excursions. The drive to the dock in Bluffton is only 5-10 minutes longer than the drive to the ferry. The boat itself is a speedboat and more fun for kids. And the route is amazing – off the beaten path is an understatement. We didn’t pass any other boats as we wound through the marshes amongst the birds and dolphins. We had the beautiful scenery and wildlife completely to ourselves. Instead of being a boring step in the travel to Daufuskie, the ride with May River Excursions was an integral part of our overall Daufuskie experience.
