8 South Carolina Islands That Are Harder to Visit Than Tourists Expect

You can see the island from the shoreline, and it looks like a short hop away.

For some South Carolina islands, though, getting there takes a boat, a reservation or both.

Here are the islands that take more work to reach than tourists tend to expect.

1. Dewees Island

Dewees Island sits just north of Isle of Palms, and reaching it depends on a passenger ferry many visitors will never be cleared to board.

That ferry isn’t public transportation.

Every seat goes to a preregistered guest of a property owner or an approved real estate agent.

Owners even have to log each visitor’s name and travel dates with the ferry terminal before the boat leaves the dock.

Show up at the marina without your name on that list, and the crew turns you around.

Cars never make the crossing either, since Dewees Island bans personal vehicles outright.

Every errand happens by golf cart, on foot, or on a bike.

No charter company can sell a seat onto Dewees Island, invitation or not.

Dewees was never for sale to begin with.

2. Bull Island

Bull Island makes up a big share of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, and one concessioner runs the only public ferry allowed to land there.

That ferry doesn’t run daily.

Coastal Expeditions sails a handful of days a week in spring, summer, and fall, and every seat requires a reservation booked ahead of time.

Winter trims that down to Saturdays only, with a single morning departure.

Anyone who misses that boat can wait days for the next ferry.

That’s the only way onto Bull Island without a private boat.

3. Fripp Island

Fripp Island is the rare island a public highway reaches, and that’s exactly what tricks tourists into thinking it’s an easy stop.

U.S. Highway 21 runs straight through Hunting Island State Park and crosses a bridge directly onto Fripp Island.

The road doesn’t stay public for long.

The resort that runs the island describes Fripp Island as a private, gated community, open only to guests, members, and property owners.

That’s not the hard part.

Skip any one of those three, and the gate sends a car right back toward Hunting Island.

A public boat ramp near the bridge lets kayakers paddle the shoreline instead, which is about as close as many tourists get.

4. St. Phillips Island

South Carolina’s St. Phillips Island belongs to the state park system, which runs every route onto the island.

The only way in is a reservation.

Coastal Expeditions runs a paid ferry-and-tram tour that carries visitors across the water and three and a half miles inland to the beach.

A separate admission fee comes on top of that ferry ticket.

Overnight visitors can rent the Turner House, the only home on St. Phillips Island, instead of camping.

No walk-ins, ever.

The only options are a boat tour and a house rental, never a private boat.

Skip the reservation, and there’s no other way onto St. Phillips Island.

5. Deveaux Bank

Deveaux Bank is a sandbar-built island near Edisto Island, and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources locks most of it shut for more than half the year.

The closure runs from April through October, covering the nesting season for thousands of brown pelicans along with several declining shorebird species.

Only the southwest tip near Edisto Island stays open during that stretch.

Walk past the posted line during closure, and the fine reaches $465, with up to 30 days in jail attached to it.

Dogs aren’t allowed, ever.

Paddle up during closure, and a rope line with a posted warning sign is all that’s waiting.

6. Capers Island

Capers Island Heritage Preserve has no ferry service of any kind, and that single fact rules out the easiest way tourists reach nearby barrier islands.

Getting there means anchoring your boat at the dock on Capers Inlet, or hiring a private charter to do it for you.

Boaters who miss the channel markers can run aground in the shifting sand around the inlet.

Bring everything you need.

There are no facilities on the island at all, no store, no restrooms, nothing waiting once you land.

Overnight camping needs a permit arranged ahead of time by phone with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, not a walk-up registration at a kiosk.

7. Morris Island

Morris Island has no bridge and no public dock.

A chartered boat, or a private boat run up onto the sand, is the only way to set foot there.

The lighthouse everybody comes to photograph doesn’t even sit on the island anymore.

Shoreline erosion moved the water in around it, and the tower now stands roughly 1,600 feet offshore, closed to visitors and surrounded by strong currents.

Nobody climbs it.

Many tourists settle for the view from Folly Beach’s eastern end instead, a short walk from Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve.

Charter tours like Coastal Expeditions’ Beach Drop tour usually run two to four hours, giving visitors time on the sand before the boat heads back.

8. Daufuskie Island

Daufuskie Island has no bridge, so a boat is the only way across no matter which company runs the schedule that week.

Its old ferry lost that county contract in January 2024 and stopped taking reservations.

Beaufort County handed the route to Lowcountry Ferry within weeks.

That boat still runs four public round trips a day between Hilton Head Island and Daufuskie's Melrose Landing.

Every seat still needs an online booking first, since it doesn't sell walk-up tickets at the dock.

If you miss the last sailing of the day, the next ferry doesn't leave until morning.

Private water taxis out of Hilton Head Island and Bluffton still run too, just as they did before the contract changed.

Nobody drives onto Daufuskie.