Paradise

Hunting Island is a 5,000-acre secluded semitropical barrier island located off the coast of South Carolina. Since 1935, it has been a state park. The cool part of that is if your camping at night your the only ones allowed in the park till the gates open the next day. The beach is on every list of the top beaches. Behind the beach is a beautifull maritime forrest and then a huge saltwater marsh filled with blue crabs and millions and millions od fiddler crabs that move away in waves from you at low tide. The fishing is just okay this time of year. I caught mostly small sharks and rays. There were a few guys catching flounder in the surf. The secong day I had a run on a finger mullet and set the hook and the surf rod bent to the breaking point as line went screaming out. Finally after a battle that had my arms and back feeling it I landed a ray that was an inch or two wider than my three foot tape measure. I felt a bit like Jeremy Wade on river monsters. But then came the scarey part unhooking the thing. Even the small rays sport a pretty serious looking barb on their tails and are a bit of a project to unhook safely. I finally stood on the tail and grabbed the steel leader and miracle of miracles the hook popped out. I was pretty happy. I'm pretty sure I looked pretty awkward wrestling it back into the water. Both me and the ray were pretty tired as it just rested in the waters edge for a while before finally swimming off. A day or so later I saw another guy land one almost as big. He caught his at midday and drew quite a crowd, I was glad no one was around for mine. Blue crab were everywhere and one day I caught a big stone crab in the crab trap too. The best campsites are right on the beach but those you have to reserve way in advance. I think we reserved ours six months ago. You could grab a bucket and fill it with seawater and boil your crabs as pelicans and seabirds flew overhead and the sound of the surf filled your ears. I especially loved walking and fishing the beach at night with miles and miles of beach all to yourself. Lots of wildlife, sea birds, aligators and crabs in the marsh, and all kinds of wierd sea creatures to look at at low tide make the place a paradise in my book. I highly highly recommend the place. This is our second year of going and its on the way to becoming a family tradition. Even the two grandaughters didn't want to leave, lord knows I could have stayed all summer...