The two we (I took this trip by myself but keep in mind that, you’ll find it super easy to make friends while using other hostel guests) attended were Fuel and Hominy Grill. Hominy Grill was good but a tad too upscale making it our go-to restaurant of choice. But Fuel, oh sweet sassy molasses was that ever good! Housed in an ex- gas station, Fuel oozed funky repurposing as thick as crude oil but much more appealing. Tables made from fuel-cost placards, lamps produced from the gas pump handles a huge open-air bar where the service bays used to be, and endless creativity using the food made for any dining experience that’s a moment hit. Add to these completely reasonable prices and a good beer list so we found the well-known restaurant in every of Charleston. Try the mediocre ones, it’ll be delicious and fun I’m sure, but you’ll always get back to Fuel.
For more sightseeing, I teamed up with my hostel-mates so we went towards the Middleton Place plantation, a very beautiful and historic example of the extravagance with the old plantation owners. You can easily spend an entire day wandering the gardens, barns, and outbuildings on this place so plan accordingly. Oh, and watch for alligators popping out from the pools inside gardens. We saw somewhat nipper (about four feet long) sneak out with the pool and try to create his long ago to the wilderness with the river. We also took the ferry in the market to Fort Sumter for many more American history and continued a Haunted Charleston ghost tour that met up at the Griffon Pub, an incredibly old English style pub in the city center. This was plenty of fun and since many with the tour guides are also performing arts students so that it has an advanced of polish with it. Chances are good you’ll wind up pretty scared towards the end.
After this all fun the time had come to wave goodbye to my wonderful NotSo Hostel as well as the friends I made there and commence my kayak trip. The trip was through REI Adventures and run by Coastal Expeditions, a local kayak outfitter on Shem Creek just outside of Charleston. Chris, the property owner, was also a tour guide and just could not are better. An astute naturalist, father, kayak, and outside gear junkie and businessman, he could easily slip into and out of a conversation with everyone around the trip. He’s and a natural leader and could easily guide an organization with outdoor experience ranging from allowed to “Anthony Bourdain” during very challenging conditions so well that everyone left with a smile. And by challenging, I mean weekly of solid rain, swamp water, 99% DEET to prevent to the worst onslaught of mosquitos the world population has experienced(and perchance create the worst onslaught of cancer. Ugh, DEET…), salt water, and this all without a shower. And every single person left wanting to do all this once again. Now what a good guide.
All told it was a fun trip though. Kayaking from the mangrove swamps and black-water rivers, using the old river-front entrance to historic plantations, seeing simply how much guarana and water life changes when going from fresh-water swamps for the estuaries then fully to the salt-water environment across the barrier islands. We camped on Bull Island throughout the last night we had been there and I don’t think a bedroom of mine has had a better view. We ran into and paddled having a couple of dolphins on the way out to the island, and about the in the past, some of our group just barely spotted the back of a manatee breaching the surface. And now that’s exactly how I remember the kayaking trip, and Charleston as an entire. Full of life, on the land, and inside water. And it’s no surprise that this population from the area is really intelligent, fun-loving and easy-going. The people on the land have to have learned all this off their neighbors within the water and also the rhythms of the sea.
