CH2 Magazine (2025)

21/07/2025

For the fourth time in five years, Shelter Cove Harbour and Marina on Hilton Head Island, S.C. has been crowned “Best Harbor in the Southeast” by US Harbors.

Even more impressive: the Mediterranean-style marina vaulted to No. 4 on the list of America’s Top 10 Harbors, up one spot from No. 5 in 2024.

The 2025 “Best Harbor” contest drew a record number of votes for 230 locations nationwide. Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina bested every harbor from Virginia through Florida, finishing behind only Block Island, R.I. (Grand Winner), Bristol, R.I., and Padanaram, Mass.

“To be voted the Southeast’s best — and climb higher on the national list — underscores how strongly boaters and locals feel about Shelter Cove,” said Brad Marra, COO of Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort, which operates the 178-slip deep-water marina. “We credit our team’s service mindset and the upgrades we’ve made, from renovated restrooms and showers to complimentary laundry, Wi-Fi, cable and a seasonal resort shuttle.”

Opened in 1983, Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina (LAT 32° 10.92′ N / LONG 80° 43.56′ W) is Hilton Head Island’s largest deep-water marina and a favorite Intracoastal Waterway stopover between the Northeast and the Caribbean.

Surrounding the harbor is a village of shops featuring apparel, art and gifts, as well as restaurants — plus charter operators offering offshore fishing, dolphin cruises, luxury pontoon boat rentals, sailing, sport crabbing and kayak eco-tours. Summer nights come alive with waterfront concerts and fireworks, while the popular “HarbourFest” series is now in its 36th season.

US Harbors provides coastal and marine weather, tide information and printable tide charts, and harbor-local boating and fishing information for more than 1,500 harbors in 30 coastal states, including the Great Lakes.
Since 2019, the crowd-sourced online contest has invited millions of usharbors.com users to vote for 1,500+ coastal and Great Lakes harbors. Voting runs mid-May to late June; winners receive commemorative plaques and community celebrations. Shelter Cove previously won the Southeast title in 2024, 2022 and 2021.

Each year millions of people around the country have a chance to vote, submit photos and stories, and let the world know what makes their harbor the best. US Harbors makes it a fun event, providing hidden facts about harbors and surprise giveaways on its social channels throughout the voting period.

The contest truly reflects the pride and passion people feel for their local coastal communities.

About Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina
Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina is located in the middle of Hilton Head Island across from Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort, just off the Intracoastal Waterway. Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina offers year round waterfront dining, shopping and entertainment, and water activities and tours. All kinds of water activities may be enjoyed at our Hilton Head Island marina, from inshore and offshore fishing charters to sport crabbing, sailing and dolphin tours, sightseeing and nature excursions. Shelter Cove Marina is your #1 destination for Hilton Head Island water adventures. With 178 slip rentals, Shelter Cove Marina is the largest award-winning deep water marina on Hilton Head Island. For information about activities and slip rentals, please visit www.sheltercovehiltonhead.com.

About Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort
Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort is a 2,000-acre resort destination located in the middle of Hilton Head Island, S.C., bounded by 3 miles of Atlantic Ocean beach on one side and a sheltered Intracoastal Waterway marina on the other. Named No. 3 “Best Resort in the South” in Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers' Choice Awards and to the top 25 World’s Best Family Getaways by Travel + Leisure, the resort features vacation home and villa rentals, three world-class golf courses, Toptracer Range, an award-winning tennis and pickleball center, an 11-mile inland salt-water lagoon system for kayaking and fishing, and Hilton Head Outfitters for bike rentals, canoes, kayaks, fishing and much more. The Mediterranean-style Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina, Hilton Head Island’s largest deep-water marina, located right across from Palmetto Dunes, features waterfront shopping and dining and a wide variety of charters, including nature cruises, dolphin tours, fireworks tours and fishing. For information about activities or reservations, please call 877-567-6513 or visit www.palmettodunes.com.

20/07/2025

Welcome to the Jungle

Eudora Wildlife Safari Park is the coolest place in South Carolina you’ve never heard of.

Article by Barry Kaufman
Photography by Maggie Washo

There are two vital components to the perfect summer day trip: the journey and the destination. The journey to Eudora Wildlife Safari Park from the greater Bluffton/Hilton Head Island metroplex is one that lets you truly appreciate the Palmetto State. Apart from a brief stretch on I-95, the majority of the route snakes through back roads that showcase sights from rolling cornfields to picturesque small-town Main streets.

In places, the blacktop is little more than islands of asphalt held together by patching tar. But you know you’re getting close when the blacktop disappears altogether, transitioning to a sandy ribbon of dust through rows of loblolly pines and red cedars.

And that’s when the true fun begins. Because that dusty trail winds through 150 acres of animal encounters that are unlike anything else you’ll find no matter where in the state you travel.

“It’s amazing how things lined up, being where we are,” said Mark Nisbet, the park’s owner. “You draw a circle two hours around us and you hit all the major populated areas in South Carolina. It’s easy to get to.”
Eudora Wildlife Safari Park is the coolest place in South Carolina you’ve never heard of.

The main attraction is the nearly three-mile-long trail that weaves around the park, traversing grasslands and forests that mimic the creatures’ natural habitat. As you roll through at a leisurely 5 mph, windows down to greet an entire zoo’s worth of animals who come right up to your car, you’ll encounter herds of exotic animals from around the world. It’s a wild experience in every sense of the word, one that takes you around the world without leaving your car.

Opening the park was the culmination of a long journey for Nisbet and his family. He’d spent 30 years working with exotic animals, putting on educational shows that traveled all over the Southeast. “We started out with just 30 acres with camels, a few zebras, and animals we used in the educational show,” he said. “They all lived out in the pasture, and we always thought someday we’d open the park.”

Opportunity struck when the world shut down in 2020.

“We were down in Florida when the pandemic started developing. All the events we had were cancelled and the kids were home from school. We had folks who worked for us who were from this area and we saw that safari parks across the country were doing well,” Nisbet said. “It was kind of the perfect storm.”

During the era of social distancing and compulsory isolation, it was the perfect escape for families looking to get out of the house.

“The first weekend we had 15 cars,” Nisbet said. “By the second week, the half-mile dirt road that leads to our farm was bumper to bumper to get in. The next week, it was a two-hour wait to get into the park.”

The word was out, and Nisbet was able to not only realize his long-held dream of opening a safari park, but he was able to invest back into his business.
The herd now totals around 400 animals, by Nisbet’s reckoning. And they represent a global coalition of some of the most fascinating animals you’ll ever get to feed from your hands.

There are the American Bison, whose trademark move is putting their entire heads in your car and wagging their tongues at you until you feed them. The Blackbuck Antelope, who love a good scratch between the horns as much as they love carrot sticks (which is a lot). The ostriches, who are shameless treat thieves not above snaking their entire neck into your car in pursuit of food.

And among the herd, you’ll start to notice which ones have this whole safari park thing figured out. One particularly robust Brahman likes to camp out by the entrance, wedging himself between your vehicle and the gate so you’re forced to feed him until he’s had his fill.

The addaxes and Scimitar oryxes will sneakily position one of their flock in front of your car, leaving you stuck until everyone has eaten. And then there’s Scary Larry, a feisty ostrich who can be found zigzagging across the park in pursuit of the most generous drivers on the trail.

Of course, it can be a little bit harrowing to see the swinging antlers of a Texas Longhorn mere inches from your car’s paint job, but there are alternative ways to take in the park.
“If you get a big group, the wagon tour is really nice because you get to experience it with all of your friends and we have a safari guide on there as well,” Nisbet said.

Whichever way you experience it, make sure you buy extra food. They’ll tell you that you only need two per person, but it’s very easy to run out early. Especially if Scary Larry is feeling feisty that day.
Eudora Wildlife Safari Park is located at 219 Salem Lane in Salley. Visit eudorasafaripark.com to learn more and book tickets.

MEET THE STARTS OF THE SHOW:
Here’s the full rundown of the animals you’ll meet during a trip to Eudora Wildlife Safari Park:

Giraffe, Blackbuck Antelope, Emu, Water Buffalo, Texas Longhorn, Aoudad, Ostrich, American Bison, Grant’s Zebra, Nilgai, Wildebeest, Dromedary Camel, African Watusi, Miniature Zebu, Rhea, Brahman, Poitou Donkey, Tibetan Yak, Miniature Donkey, Bactrian Camel, Scottish Highlander, Belted Galloway, Addax, Llama, Alpaca, Scimitar Oryx, Gir, Eland, Miniature Hereford

17/07/2025

Bluffton Self Help needs your help, if you’re able.

17/07/2025

The Sea Pines Resort has named John Haskins as its new Director of Golf Sales.

Haskins brings a wealth of sales and golf expertise to this position, having served nearly two decades in a similar role at an award-winning, five-star resort, where he managed incoming golf group leads, meeting planners, and third-party inquiries.

He also served as Golf Sales Manager at Charleston Golf, Inc., a golf marketing auxiliary organization affiliated with the Charleston Area CVB, coordinating all golf sales, incoming leads, and reservation requests for more than 30 hotels and 19 area golf courses.

“We’re thrilled to have John’s expertise and strong golf industry connections put to work on behalf of The Sea Pines Resort’s golf collection,” said Mark Goodwin, Director of Sales and Marketing. “Hilton Head Island offers amazing golf experiences and our three courses are the crown jewels.”

Haskins holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Travel and Tourism Management and a minor in Speech and Communication Studies from Clemson University in South Carolina.

For additional information on The Sea Pines Resort, access the website at www.seapinesresort.com.

17/07/2025

Good spellers, unite!
It’s time for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

By Lynne Cope Hummell
Photography by Maggie Washo

Words matter. Words are critical in life at every age. Without words, how could we ever communicate? The fact that you are reading this article means that you appreciate words, too.

Words sometimes are also fun, and that’s just one reason audiences across the country continue to enjoy productions of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Lucky for local readers, this delightfully peculiar and wacky musical will be performed weekends July 11-August 3 at Sea Glass Stage at Coligny.

“There’s something so lovable about The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” said Alex Clark, who directs this production. “It has quirky humor and eccentric characters, but the root of it is about growing up, finding connection, and learning to laugh at life’s awkward moments.”

Audiences are sure to laugh as well, because the cast is chock full of talented people who happen to be funny.

Appearing as the middle school spellers are Sadie Beaumont as Marcy, Mark Erickson as Chip, Dan Franke as Barfee, Chloe Fry as Olive, Natalie Miller as Schwartzy, and Alyssa Vogt as Leaf. Drake Carney plays Mitch, the spelling bee moderator and also former champion; Ellie Friedman is Rona Lisa, another former winner, who is now a tough but kind-hearted counselor; and Kyle Price portrays the vice principal who is also the word pronouncer.
Beaumont, Fry, Vogt, Friedman, and Carney are appearing on the Sea Glass Stage for the first time.

Friedman is especially happy to be joining this cast. “Theatre is my home,” she said. “I’ve been involved in local community theatre for 30 years now, and I know I will never tire of the process of new and old friends coming together to create ephemeral, mortal art to share with our audience.”
Price was excited to be cast in his second show with Sea Glass, following on the heels of The 39 Steps in May.

“Theatre is the only place I can be a 37-ish-year-old swinging bachelor one month and a disgruntled vice principal at a spelling bee the next,” he said.

Clark said she was drawn to this show because it’s “heartfelt and outright hilarious. It allows actors to be silly one moment and vulnerable the next. That’s something I think every audience member, regardless of age, can relate to.”

The spellers are competitors of varied talent, including a former champion, a politically aware young student, a goofy homeschooler, a know-it-all, a perfectionist, and the quiet kid. (A couple of the students might appear to be a bit tall for middle schoolers, but pay that no mind. Grown men are sometimes thought to be “just like 12-year-old boys,” aren’t they?)

You will want to cheer for these spellers as they navigate the pressures of competition, puberty, and personal growth – all while spelling some of the most impossible words imaginable.
Additional spellers are four real – not planted! – audience members at each performance who are invited to volunteer to come onstage to compete alongside the six spellers.

If you’ve ever participated in a real spelling bee, you might recall there are questions you can ask after the proctor gives you a word. You can ask the language of origin, the definition, and ask that the word be used in a sentence. If you happen to be chosen from the audience, keep these options in mind and use them all to your best advantage!

Involving the audience directly is one of the fun and unusual aspects of this show. While some might be horrified to be called onstage, others will delight in being invited to join in. It’s another fun feature that Clark finds endearing.

“I also love how this show invites community and spontaneity. With elements of improv and audience participation, no two performances are ever exactly the same,” she said. “I hope you laugh, I hope you cheer, and most of all, I hope you see a little bit of yourself in these lovable overachievers.”

The play was written by William Finn, first performed in New York City in 2004, and appeared on Broadway in 2005. The show has won numerous awards, including a Tony for Best Book of a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical.

Choreography is by Jessica Walck, who directed The 39 Steps in May. Music direction is by Bob Adams, who is enjoying his second show with Sea Glass Stage Company.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, July 11 through August 3 at Sea Glass Stage at Coligny, 1 North Forest Beach Drive, Unit I-5, on Hilton Head Island. Tickets are $35 adults, $20 students, and are available at sgstage.org and, if any remain, at the door just prior to each performance.

To assist the potential chosen few audience spellers, following are some words, their definitions, and a sample sentence to study.

Muntjac (MUN-jack)
A type of deer from Southeast Asia, with tiny antlers, large tusks, and a loud barking sound when it cries.
Sentence: The other reindeer used to laugh at Rudolph, but that all ended when the muntjac came to town.

Alkekengi (AL-ka-KEN-gee)
An ornamental arboreal plant consisting of a whirl of bracts that is exterior to the inflated calyx or results from the union of the sepal appendages. Also called Chinese lantern plant.
Sentence: Look at that beautiful alkekengi.

Concinnity (con-SIN-ity)
Neatness and elegance especially in style.
Sentence: Barbara Jean thought that her mama’s new trailer lacked the concinnity of their former double-wide.

16/07/2025

Trolley Hopping: Part 1
maggie + jevon doin' lowcountry stuff

Maggie Washo and Jevon Daly explore The Sea Pines Resort by trolley, with stops at the Sea Pines Beach Club, The Shops at Sea Pines Center, The Salty Dog, Harbour Town and more.

With guest appearances by Susan Rafetto from Peace by Piece, Sarah at Sea Love and a giant Italian family from upstate New York.

Just hop on and see where the day takes you - a fantastic way to get around one of the island's most popular locations.

COMING SOON... PART 2 with BreezeTrolley

15/07/2025

It’s an Anniversary Party for Brim’s on the Bluff! This Thursday, from 4pm-7pm and you’re invited!

15/07/2025

HarbourFest is on Tuesdays- all summer long at Shelter Cove Harbour and Marina

Article by Barry Kaufman
Photography by Maggie Washo

There are few of us who can claim to have grown up here.

But there are a lucky handful of locals who carry fond memories of childhood summers on Hilton Head Island, of making the annual trek down from whatever midwestern or northeastern state we then called “home.” And we owe more to those memories than we know.

It was those remnant thoughts of summer happiness, lingering in our mind, that first nudged us to think about moving. They were the high we chased as we packed up stakes and took the plunge to do what most only dream of – calling paradise “home.” Those memories, ultimately, are what brought us here.

And for a lot of us, those memories sure feel a lot like a Tuesday night at Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina.

As a transplant now in my 23rd year in the Lowcountry, I speak from experience. I don’t remember exactly the first time I experienced HarbourFest, but I still look back on all those childhood visits as a core part of what led me here.

I can remember sitting on the terrace at San Miguel’s, before the Yacht Club Villas were built, enjoying a panorama across the harbour, lit dazzling green by pyrotechnics. I remember seeing a plane flying just above the show, and thinking those people right there were the only ones who had a better view than I did. But, I reasoned, I had easy access to nachos and therefore was ahead of the game.

I was brought back to that memory last month as I brought my daughter down to HarbourFest. By the time we arrived, the terrace at San Miguel’s was full. But just as well. My daughter just wanted to watch Shannon Tanner. She wanted to enter the messy hair contest. She wanted to do the “Flying Purple People Eater” dance. And she wanted a hat.

I acquiesced on the hat. And on a few scoops at Frosty’s Ice Cream (and I’m glad I did, as their Peanut Butter Brownie is now an all-time favorite). And yes, I also did the “Flying Purple People Eater” dance.

In between sets, I looked around and wondered how many other parents were in my exact same situation. How many of them, lured by the same nostalgia, were now bringing their own kids to experience HarbourFest. I know of at least one for sure, a gentleman named John Watkins who has been visiting since he was a baby.

His parents had been making the trip regularly since 1971, and first introduced him to HarbourFest sometime in the late ’80s. They were there with him, that night, now taking their grandchildren. This evening was the first visit for his own daughter.

“It’s enjoyable. We’re definitely excited,” said Watkins, who now lives in Charleston. “My son has seen the fireworks, but she’s never seen them.”

And that simple thread that HarbourFest represents might be the single greatest thing about it. For those of us who visited as kids, it’s our Disney World. It’s that place we come back to with our children to recapture some of that magic and hope we can pass it along.

And like Disney World, the only thing better than the nostalgia of it all is seeing how it has changed. We didn’t have a train that ran through HarbourFest when I was a kid, but I’m glad my daughter can enjoy it. The number of vendors and activities has exploded, giving the next generation even more happy memories.

You can look to the impact the event has had on our community – how it represents the largest multi-week event on Hilton Head, bringing in untold numbers of visitors. How the merchants within Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina can count on a bustling crowd paying them a visit every week. How the community has in turn embraced it, sponsoring it and helping it grow.

These things speak to an event that plays a pivotal role in defining who we are as a community. For those of us who view Tuesdays at HarbourFest as a chance to be a kid again, the greatest part of being there is feeling that thread again. That thread is what pulled us here, and now we have a chance to pass that along to our own kids.

HarbourFest returns every Tuesday during the summer, with entertainment starting at 6 p.m. and fireworks starting when the sky is dark. For the full summer schedule of entertainment and fireworks, visit ShelterCoveHarbourFest.com. Visit the Shelter Cove Harbour & Marina page () for show updates throughout the summer.

Monday	09:00 - 17:30
Tuesday	09:00 - 17:30
Wednesday	09:00 - 17:30
Thursday	09:00 - 17:30
Friday	09:00 - 17:30

CH2 Magazine

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