Bulls Island Alligators

During our stay in South Carolina we took a kayak trip exploring the edge of Charleston harbor and Shem Creek.  It was an interesting but pretty tame kayak adventure.  At the end of the trip they kayak company handed out flyers for an eco tour of Bulls Island.  It sounded fun and there was room on the tour the next day so we went.  
Bulls Island is part of the Cape Romain  Wildlife Refuge

They mentioned that there would be alligators on the island, but I was expecting to see a pen with a few toothless alligators. It turns out that the alligators roam the island and as long as you don't get between the alligator and the water there is no problem. Much of the island looked like this, and it was a little worrisome tromping through the jungle wondering if you were going to stumble upon an alligator.

Actually there were alligators in the water on either side of this walkway. They didn't seem to mind posing for pictures, but if you got too close they just headed back into the water.

The alligators were the high light of the day for me, but the beach was pretty nice as well.

I found this beautiful shell on the beach, brought it back to the house we rented, rinsed it out and put it in the dish drainer to dry.  Sadly, that is where it stayed.  I forgot to pack it.

I did notice when I got home that I have a rather large number of shells scattered around the house, so forgetting one in South Carolina is probably not a great tragedy.