Islands You Can’t Drive To

Two barrier islands on this coast share a rule you feel the moment you step off the boat: leave the car behind. Daufuskie sits in the water between Hilton Head and Savannah. Dewees floats just north of Isle of Palms, equally cut off from the highway grid. Neither has a bridge, and neither wants one.

Daufuskie: ferry, cart, and almost no asphalt

You reach Daufuskie on the Lowcountry Ferry, which runs from the C.C. Haigh Jr. Boat Landing near Pinckney Island on Hilton Head across to Melrose Landing on the island’s northeast side. Boats leave Hilton Head at 7:00, 10:00, 1:00, and 4:00, then head back at 8:30, 11:30, 2:30, and 5:30. Fares start at $30, and you reserve by phone at (843) 422-1597. The current timetable is on the Daufuskie guide.

There are no cars on the island, so book a golf cart at the same time you book the boat. Daufuskie Life rents gas and overnight carts at (843) 342-8687, and Fuskie Bikes handles e-bikes once you are on the island. Most day visitors step off at Freeport Marina on the Cooper River side, the working public dock where you will also find the Old Daufuskie Crab Company and the cart-rental desks.

Once you are rolling, the island rewards slow travel. Bloody Point Lighthouse, an 1883 keeper’s-house light at the southern tip, now holds a small museum of island relics. Daufuskie Blues revives the Lowcountry’s 18th-century indigo trade inside the old Jane Hamilton School, where you can dip your own textiles. The public beach stretches close to three miles of undeveloped Atlantic sand facing Tybee’s lighthouse. Over on the private side, the gated Haig Point community keeps its own ferry and its own 1873 lighthouse.

Dewees: a nature preserve with a zip code

Dewees Island runs on the same principle with the volume turned up. The only way over is the residents’ ferry from the Isle of Palms Marina, a short ride across the Intracoastal Waterway. There are no paved roads and no gas engines; households get around on electric carts, and the island’s covenants keep roughly two-thirds of its 1,200 acres as protected maritime forest and marsh.

About 150 home sites sit among the dunes, loggerhead turtles nest on the beach every summer, and a full-time naturalist runs programs for residents and their guests. Dewees stays quieter and more private than Daufuskie, with far less to do as a casual visitor, which is precisely the point for the people who choose to live there.

Make the day trip work

These islands reward planning over spontaneity. Book the ferry and the cart together, pack water and lunch since services are thin, and check the return schedule twice before you settle onto the sand. Miss the last boat off Daufuskie at 5:30 and you are staying the night, which a surprising number of visitors decide they would rather do anyway.