I have been visiting Hilton Head Island in August for nearly 14 years, my husband has been coming for twice as long. Today I took my kids on a zodiac dolphin tour with Commander Zodiac. It was an awesome experience.
We went out to the South Beach Marina in the Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island to ride in a zodiac raft on a dolphin tour. I took my children ages 13, 10, 9, 6 and 4 years old with me on the raft. Our Captain was Andrea.
I opted for the one hour tour.
I had never been on a zodiac raft before. They are larger than I expected and feel more stable than I expected. There was plenty of room for the 6 of us and we started out into the water. Luckily for us a shrimp boat was out so Andrea brought us up close to it. She explained that the shrimp boats are required to clean anything that is not shrimp out of their nets, so the dolphins are often found near the boats looking for scraps to eat.
Sure enough we spotted three dolphins almost immediately. I squealed right along with the kids. I had never been this close to a dolphin before. They were surfacing up close the shrimp boat until the men on the boat had their nets mostly cleaned up and then the dolphins seemed to be just hanging out and playing. More dolphins came into the area, there was a group of four to one side, a pair on the other. They were maybe 4 feet away from us. We watched for maybe 15 minutes. We saw one or two jump, we saw a tail slap like they do in the aquarium shows, we even saw a baby.
Andrea helped point them out to the smaller kids and was telling us facts about the dolphins, how long they live (none of us can remember exactly, we think she said 40 years) that they stay with their mothers until they are 4 and nurse until they are 2. Young females learn to be mothers by babysitting and young males buddy up and swim together. We saw a pink belly and Andrea mentioned that as the water warms sometimes the dolphins do get a pinkish hue to their bellies.
Andrea also taught us about jelly ball jellyfish. She scooped several out of the water and handed them to the kids to hold. A few had spider crabs in them. Jelly balls do not sting. Andrea explained that the spider crabs are often found with the jelly balls and that the two will grow together. Sometimes the dolphins bump the jelly balls to knock the spider crabs free and the dolphins eat the spider crabs. Turtles eat the jelly balls.
The 4 year olds attention began to wander so Andrea piloted away from the dolphins and then kicked in the throttle for a fast ride. Oh the kids loved it! She showed us Haig Point Lighthouse which is still a working lighthouse though automated. It is now a B&B and Andrea said it is haunted by a ghost named Maggie who is still waiting for her lost sea Captain. Andrea is a native of Massachusetts and has heard her share of stories about ghosts waiting on sea Captains but noted that this one had made it to a Discovery Channel special on haunted houses. Maggie was not to be scoffed at.
Across from Haig Point Andrea showed us the oyster shells that have made banks in the water. The kids got out of the zodiac to walk along the oyster shells for a few moments. When it was time to head back Andrea gave each of the kids a turn at the wheel. We stopped back by the are where we’d seen dolphins before and found a few still playing in there. We floated and watched a little longer.
It was one of the coolest hours I’ve ever spent on vacation.
To contact Commander Zodiac: 843 671-3344 or online commanderzodiac.com
The one hour tour is $30 an adult, $22 per kid. 1 ½ hour tour is $40 adult and $32 for the kids. Save your pennies and plan for it, it is worth it. Reservations are required.
Our Captain did mention that on the weekends the waterways are less busy as other boat tours often schedule weekday tours only, in her opinion you may see more on the weekend due to fewer boat traffic.
Commande Zodiac add states that they are “selected by Yahoo Travel, National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, and BBC as local nature guides.”